Types of braces

FIXED “train-track” braces

FIXED “train-track” braces consist of individual brackets which are glued onto your teeth. Wires are then held into the brackets by means of elastics (this is where the choice of colour comes in!) This appointment takes up to 40 minutes but is painless – it is just a matter of cleaning the tooth surface with a special solution, washing and drying the teeth and then just pressing a bracket onto each individual tooth and setting the glue on the bracket with a blue light. Once the wires and elastics have been placed we are very careful to ensure that you fully understand our instructions on care and cleaning of your brace.

Once a brace is fitted, your teeth start to move after a few hours. This is when they will probably start to ache and this can last from 2 days to a week or so depending on each individual. We advise your usual pain killer as necessary during this time. It takes about a week to get used to how a brace feels in your mouth and it is common for some soreness to occur on the insides of your lips or cheeks – we provide special wax to put on the brace to relieve this.

REMOVABLE braces

REMOVABLE braces are made in our laboratory from the moulds that we take of your teeth – this usually takes two weeks. They are fitted by carefully pushing them onto your teeth – we make sure that they fit well and are comfortable. Again, we give you instructions on how they should be worn and cared for. This appointment takes about 10 minutes.

Invisalign is a removable brace system which uses a series of clear aligners that are custom-made for the patient. These aligners are hard for others to see and most people won’t spot them. Each aligner is made to gradually reposition the teeth and is worn for a couple of weeks, after which the next aligner in the sequence is used and so on until the teeth are in their desired positions.

Advantages are that the aligners can be removed for cleaning and eating, your lifestyle is not greatly changed and a big improvement in your smile can be achieved without wearing conventional braces.
www.invisalign.co.uk

Incognito Lingual Fixed Appliances

is the ultimate in “invisible braces”, as the brace is worn on the tongue side of the teeth. Again this brace system is custom made for you, and this allows detailed positioning of the teeth and an excellent end result. A greater range of problems with the bite can be treated with this system, but still with the advantage of a brace which does not show. This is probably the most advanced brace ever developed for wear on the tongue side of the teeth. Because it is custom made for the patient, the attachments can be very thin, so that speech is very quickly normal and discomfort is minimized.
www.lingualtechnik.de