How Treatment Works
The process of orthodontic treatment is often complex and detail oriented. Depending on the needs of you or your child, a treatment plan will be designed based on X-rays, dental impressions, and photographs. Once your orthodontist creates a treatment plan, your braces (or another form or treatment) are adhered to your teeth and monitored closely over the next few years.
Braces have one aim: to use gentle pressure to move teeth into proper alignment. Treatment time varies depending on age, patient compliance, and the severity of the condition. Generally, treatment lasts for 24 months and is facilitated by ideal patient cooperation.
There are four basic components to traditional metal braces:
- Brackets- made of metal or ceramic, this is the piece that is attached to the tooth, and holds the wire in place.
- Bonding Material- often it is a type of glue (made safe for inside the mouth) or a metal band that goes around the tooth.
- Arch Wire- this is the thin metal wire that runs from tooth to tooth, and connects the brackets to one another. This is also the mechanism that puts gentile pressure on the teeth.
- Ligature Elastic- this is the small (sometimes colored) piece of elastic that goes around the bracket and hold the arch wire in place. These elastics are often changed every visit, although some types of brackets (self-ligating) do not require elastics.
If you are in the Chula Vista, Eastlake, Oceanside, and greater San Diego County area, please
contact our orthodontic and pediatric dentistry offices today. Our experienced staff is here to address your every question and concern. To learn more about other types of braces than discussed above,
click here. If you are looking to become one of our patients, we also invite you to
click here for related information.
To make an appointment for you or your child, call The Super Dentists' office at (619) DENTIST today!