For most people, a beautiful smile is the most obvious benefit of orthodontics. After your braces come off, you'll feel more self-confident. During your treatment, we want you to feel as comfortable as possible.

How Orthodontic Treatment Works

Orthodontic appliances can be made of metal, ceramic, or plastic. They may be removable or they may be brackets bonded to the teeth. By placing a constant, gentle force in a carefully controlled direction, braces slowly move teeth to a corrected position. This is a great time to wear braces! Gone are the days when a metal band with a bracket was placed around each tooth. You can choose brackets that are clear or metallic color. You can choose the color of the ties that hold the wire in brackets. Wires are also less noticeable than they used to be and the latest materials move teeth faster with less discomfort to patients.

Duration of Treatment

Treatment time typically ranges from 12-18 months, depending on the growth of the patient's mouth and face and the severity of the problem. Patients develop at different rates and will respond variously to orthodontic treatment, so the time to case completion may differ from the original estimate. The patient's diligent use of any prescribed rubber bands or other appliances is an important factor in achieving the most efficient treatment. Interceptive, or early treatment procedures, may take as few as six months.

Braces

Braces have come to mean almost everything to do with orthodontics (straight teeth). While there exists many different modalities for the correction of malocclusions, the braces have long been the mainstays used to straighten the teeth. There has been a tremendous evolution in the appliance systems (braces = brackets and archwires) over the last 100+ years. Today with many recent technological advances, we are proud to provide our patients with the latest state-of-the-art appliances. Attached to each tooth is a bracket in which there is a slot. The slot is used to hold the archwire. When the archwire is engaged, a force is exerted on the tooth that signals it to move in a prescribed direction. The direction of tooth movement is determined by the position of the teeth and the brackets. The slots cut into the brackets determine the amount of movement the tooth should experience in all 3 planes of space. Thus, it is evident that careful and precise placement of brackets on the teeth is necessary. The type of material from which the brackets are created is very important as is the way in which the wires are held within the brackets.

    
          Metal Braces (Left)                             Esthetic Braces (Right)

Brace Types: We proudly use only the finest orthodontic appliances produced and continue to update our inventory with state-of-the-art braces.

• Metal: Our stainless steel braces are self-ligating in that no colored rubber band is required to hold the wire into the bracket thus reducing friction and improving treatment efficiency (less time in braces!). The colored rubber ligatures can still be used to "decorate" the braces but can increase the time required to wear braces and make it more difficult to keep your teeth and braces clean. The "silver" braces hold every mechanical advantage over the "clear" braces.
• Esthetic: Our cosmetic clear esthetic braces are the latest in orthodontic bracket technology. They offer the advantage of being less visible and are self-ligating like our metal brackets. While most "clear" braces result in longer treatment times than metal braces, ours do not.

Wire Types: The wires we utilize are engineered to the most exacting standards for performance and comfort.

• Copper Nickel-titanium (CuNiTi): Nickel titanium archwires have been used in orthodontics since developed in 1969 by Dr. George Andreasen at the University of Iowa. The properties of the wire include superelasticity, shape memory, and thermal regulation. Basically, lower, more constant forces are exerted by the NiTi wires resulting in force applications that are more physiologically compatible thus the tooth movement is accomplished more efficiently or quickly with less discomfort. Force levels are controlled in the manufacturing of the wire. The wires are "activated" intraorally at temperatures below 37º C. Copper (Cu) is alloyed with the NiTi to accurately control the activation temperatures of the wires.
• Titanium-niobium (TiNb): This wire is utilized in the final stage of orthodontics when detailing the esthetics and functionality of the teeth. TiNb wires can be bent as desired but has a stiffness that is about half that of stainless steel.
• Stainless Steel: In orthodontic history, this is the most frequently used wire. It is now reserved for those times when increased stiffness is needed to minimize unwanted tooth movements. For example, when closing spaces between teeth or bringing impacted teeth into the dental arch. It is a very effective stabilizing wire and can be used in finishing similar to TiNb wires.