Clear Braces London

If you’ve been considering getting your teeth straightened, or perhaps you are looking for a more aesthetical looking option for your dental misalignment, then clear braces might just be your next surest bet!

Clear braces are becoming a more popular alternative to the conventional metal braces because of the unique benefits they provide. In essence, they are rarely noticed than the traditional metal braces. These braces offer interesting benefits to its users and are very discreet with fast impressive and long-lasting results.

Clear braces vs invisible braces; are there any striking difference?

Before we jump right in, let’s get a clear glimpse of what we are talking about here.

Clear braces are just like the popular traditional metal braces, just that they come with clear brackets, and sometimes with a tooth-coloured wire. People often add invisible aligners to this grouping since they are made from transparent or clear materials.

Both clear braces and invisible braces are effective in discreetly straightening misaligned teeth. However, the striking difference between the two is the function, their appearance, cost and what it feels like to wear them

Hence, we will be diving a bit deeper into the world of both, to give you a better understanding between the two

Who can wear these braces?

Teeth straightening are often useful during the teenage years, when the teeth and jaw are still in their development stages. However, this does not mean that you can’t wear braces after your adolescent years. Well, thanks to modern technology, there is an increasing number in the number of adults undergoing orthodontic treatment with the use of clear braces, and exceptional results have also been recorded in the past. These invisible aligners work in such a way that they are rarely noticed.

While they may record several benefits, they are not applicable for all cases especially in situations where the teeth are badly misaligned

Another option for orthodontics patients who want a more subtle way to straighten their teeth is with the use of tooth-coloured ceramic braces. The choice between tooth coloured braces and clear aligners will be generally based on the colour of your teeth.

In other words, people with naturally bright teeth, the use of clear braces will be the best suitable option, while for individuals with darker tooth shades, tooth-coloured ceramic materials will be the most appropriate option for such patients. Aside from this, both ceramic and clear aligners are known to function in the same way.

How do clear aligners work?

Clear aligners function in a completely different way. During your appointment with your orthodontist, you will be given a series of clear aligners, also known as trays which are fitted over the teeth. These sets of clear aligners are custom made for each patient after a series of scans and impressions have been taken from your teeth. The set of aligners are switched to a new one routinely, every two weeks until the teeth have been completely moved to their desired position. The treatment time will possibly take between 9 and 18 months to elapse. However, the treatment time is highly dependent on how severe the patient case is.

A significant benefit of clear aligners is that they can easily be removed, although for a short period; say 2-4 hours per day. This gives the wearer so much flexibility to eat and drink what they like. They are also less noticeable than any other type of braces, which is why they are preferably used compared to other types of braces.

Drawbacks of clear aligners

Asides from their numerous benefits, they also have some drawbacks, including the following:

• Frequent cleaning after a meal: clear aligners can present some level of inconveniences. If you have invisible braces fitted to your teeth, you have to clean them after eating or drinking anything asides from water. This is very important in removing substantial bacteria build-up in the teeth. Otherwise, the food particles may get stuck to your teeth, which may result in some other dental complications. including gum disease and dental caries
• Limited in what they can accomplish: clearaligners are best used to treat moderate malocclusions that are less complex. Hence, when patients have severe overbites and over gapping, they can barely produce satisfactory results with aligners, and traditional metal braces are the best possible option for treating such delicate cases.

Other drawbacks may include:

• the high tendency of losing the aligners during treatment
• temporal slurring of teeth
• frequent pain, when changing the aligners

How does a traditional clear fixed brace work?

Just like traditional metal braces, clear braces are fixed to each tooth, which is connected with a wire. This system is also very active since they can treat all forms of tooth misalignment.

Your orthodontist can carefully manipulate your teeth to their desired position and alignment through proper placement of the brackets. Although a lot of other brands may offer faster treatment process, some treatment process can take up to18-24 months to complete.

During your routine checkups, your dentist is required to tighten and adjust the wire until the teeth are adequately straightened. Most orthodontics patient often reports sore teeth for a day or two after each tightening.

Nevertheless, with the use of advanced technology, the system can employ a self-litigating technology, which is adjusted gradually during treatment, until a more desired result is achieved. This system is more comfortable while reducing the number of checkups.

Clear braces are usually made from either plastic polycarbonate or ceramic materials. Some other system may use metal wire to connect the clear brackets; wearers may decide to choose white archwire over the normal metal wire. These are usually more expensive, since the braces are barely noticeable, especially from a distance.

When making use of clear ceramic braces or aligners, it is recommended that you take proper care of your teeth, by individually cleaning those areas that are hard to reach with regular brushing. This is essential to avoid food particles from getting stuck in these areas, and also avoiding other possible complications.

Types of clear braces

1. Clear smile brace: clear smile provides both a fixed brace system and an aligner system for patients looking to straighten their teeth. The aligner system is used to straighten only the front teeth. Patients with serious misalignment issues in their back teeth cannot make use of this type of braces.

The fixed brace system, on the other hand, is self litigating. The archwire used in clear smile brace is always coated white, which makes them barely noticeable. Generally, the treatment time can take just 4-12 months to complete.

• Damon clear braces: Damon brace has a self–litigating system that tightens the teeth continuously until the teeth are appropriately aligned.

Damon clear aligners have some unique benefits over the traditional metal braces; they can be summarised in the below:

• A less dental check-up is needed, because of the self-litigating feature of Damon braces.
• The adjustment process is continuous, which is much more comfortable than when the adjustment process is in stages.
• They can be easily cleaned and taking care of since they don’t make use of ligatures or elastics
• Have clear parts rather than visible metal parts
• The sliding feature means that the teeth will experience less pressure.

Regardless, Damon clear braces are often expensive because of the unique feature and solution they provide.

• Invisalign braces: Invisalign clear aligners are the world leading brand of clear teeth often employed to treat various misalignment issues.

The company behind the development of Invisalign braces were the first to develop clear braces that are used for different orthodontics treatment. Since the inception of clear aligners in 1999, they have grown other varieties of aligners that are known to solve diverse needs. Some of these include the Invisalign teen (designed for teenagers with a unique technology that tells your orthodontist how long the aligners was won.) and Invisalign lite, which are specifically used for mild dental cases.

• Clear step braces: clear step braces is another company that manufactures a set of clear aligners that are required for teeth straightening. The brand is growing and is majorly available in both Europe and Asian countries.  They are entirely removable but should be worn for an extended period, at least 22 hours a day.

They also produce a set of teeth whitening gel, which can be used with their clear aligners, while performing more than one job at the same time. Nevertheless, you should talk to your orthodontist on the possibility of teeth whitening while using braces, since the whitening gel may not get to some other part of the teeth.

• Clearcorrect aligners: clearcorrect aligners is a growing brand, but are available in both the US and UK. They were uniquely designed and manufactured in London, but are often known to work in the same way as the Invisalign clear aligners.

During your treatment period, your orthodontists will recommend you wear your invisible aligners for at least 22 hours a day, to ensure you get the best possible result from your treatment.

Choosing a brand

Generally, most orthodontists prefer to work with few brands, rather than a wide variety of brands. Some of these specialists may want to work with entirely different brands from the brands we have listed above since there are varieties of brands for clear braces in London and abroad. It is quite essential to note that a lot of other less famous brands may have used more refined technologies than which may have numerous qualities than most established companies. Regardless, avoid newly established companies, since they may have few experiences in the field of orthodontists technology; nothing bits experience you know!

This is why we often recommend that you ask your dentists why they are supporting a specific brand since they may have a particular preference based on the cost, quality, performance, and many others.

Taking adequate care of your teeth during orthodontic treatment, what you need to know.

Taking appropriate care of your teeth during orthodontic treatment, especially with clear braces, is very important. It is crucial to take adequate care, to avoid unnecessary complications in the teeth.

Your orthodontist will give you a specific guideline on how to properly clean your teeth and braces. This may take extra time every day, as braces have different delicate areas where food particles can get stuck, leading to other dental issues. This is why it is essential to clean your teeth routinely after a meal.

Below are some foods that are best avoided while wearing braces. These may include:

• Strong food like nuts and biscuits
• Crunchy food like apple, raw carrot, etc
• Chewy foods like bubble gums and sweets
• Staining drinks like coffee and red wine

Some of these foods can cause either damage or stain the teeth if adequate care is not taken. Ideally, it is recommended you follow your orthodontist’s instructions, to ensure you achieve an optimum result

After the treatment, what next

This is where most orthodontic patients often get it wrong. Most people believe that after treatment elapses, less work is needed. Well, it’s a no-no!

Imagine spending all that money on clear braces, and having to go through the inconveniences of wearing your aligners, and you can’t look after your teeth, or you probably don’t know how to take care of your new set of teeth, here is what you can do:

• Wear your set of retainers: just like every other treatment process, it is important to wear your retainers every night, for as long as you want your teeth new position to remain the same. In other words, wearing a set of retainers will prevent your teeth from going back to its initial position.
• Brush and floss daily
• Clean your retainers daily
• Consider visiting your orthodontist occasionally
• Rinse your teeth with fluoride mouth wash.
• Some patients may consider having thorough dental cleaning to remove any plaque or stains that have built up while they were wearing their clear aligner braces

Are you searching for clear braces clinic near you? Find your nearest dental clinic in London for teeth alignment today!