Dr. Sanjay Sheth

Dental braces have become more common nowadays. In fact, nearly 4 million people in the United States are wearing braces at any one time, according to the Pennsylvania Dental Association. While dental braces used to be all metal, you will find many different types of braces today.

Discovering the Different Types of Braces

If you’re considering braces for yourself or your child, you have many options. Your orthodontist will help you make the best choice for your scenario, but here are the basics of each type.

• Traditional metal braces are made of the stainless steel brackets and wires that inspired the term “metal mouth” years ago. Fortunately today’s metal braces are noticeably smaller. And new heat-activated arch wires move your teeth more quickly and less painfully as they respond to your body’s heat.
• Ceramic braces mock metal braces in shape and size but they use tooth-colored or clear ceramic brackets that blend more naturally into your teeth. Some even use tooth-colored wires to keep your treatment even lower profile.

  

• Lingual braces use the same metal brackets and wires used in traditional braces, but the brackets and wires are installed on the inside of your teeth to keep them hidden.

  

• Invisalign consists of a series of customized, clear BPA-free plastic tray aligners that are removable and typically replaced every 2 weeks to keep your teeth moving in the desired direction.

  

Other braces may involve the use of nickel-titanium or copper-titanium for the wires and brackets. These metals may last longer and require fewer adjustments than stainless steel wires.

Most dental braces also involve the use of tiny rubber bands to help move your teeth. If you have any sensitivity to latex or certain metals, your orthodontist can help find a suitable alternative for you.

Assessing the Pros and Cons of the Different Types of Braces

So let’s take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of each type.

Treatments with both braces and Invisalign typically involve some use of retainers or mouth guards afterwards to maintain the new position of your teeth.

Kids should be evaluated for orthodontics by age 7, according to the Indian Orthodontic Society. By this age, your orthodontist can detect even subtle issues with jaw growth and emerging teeth.

While most kids begin treatment between ages 9 and 14, your orthodontist will help determine whether it’s best to wait or begin treatment right away. Many orthodontists recommend treatment while your child is still growing because it can take longer and be more intensive to treat teeth after they’ve stopped growing.

Lastly, kids who receive early orthodontic treatments (like appliances to correct cleft palates) may still need braces later. But the early treatment attempts to prevent further issues from developing while providing a healthier environment for the growth of permanent teeth.

Keep in mind that while some dentists perform orthodontics, an orthodontist specializes in treatments like braces and Invisalign, having 2 or 3 more years of education and training than is required for a dentist.

Root Canal

I’m Dr Mehul Chawla, practising, in Gurgaon. I’m practising dentistry since 2011. Since inception, I was always into two things, first was root canal treatments and second is dental implants. Both these fields are closer to each other. Root canals help to save the tooth the implants help to replace the tooth that is spoilt. So let me just tell you briefly about root canal treatments. So root canals, a root canal is a procedure of aeronautic and causative department of dentistry. So it is a procedure to save a tooth for a long time that has been decayed due to the past neglect of the person.

In root canals, they clean the canals of the tooth with an instrument so that to make sure there is no microorganism remaining. Finally, the root of the canal is filled with dental filling material. So let's come to implant now. See implants are not very recent procedures. They are in the market for the past 30 years now but these days they are very famous in India now because the implant cost has drastically decreased.

Implants is basically a procedure to replace one or number of teeth with better than before fixed prosthesis. Also, the implants are more promising replacement options than others because it gives a success rate of more than 98%. So replacement of one tooth to the number of teeth is actually possible with the help of dental implants.

So thanks for watching me. If you wish to see me again or wish to know more about dentistry, just put on the Lybrate. You can email me, you can call me. You can go online and do the video chatting with me.

I will be very happy to share my knowledge with you.

Thanks.