Adios, Heavy Metal
More and more adults opt for orthodontics to improve their smile and oral health and are choosing alternative techniques to do so.
Orthodontia is usually associated with teenagers, but an increasing number of grown-ups turn to this area of dentistry in order to resolve problems ranging from overall malocclusion to smaller, more specific cosmetic defects. The advent of alternative techniques that make for less “heavy metal-ness” has increased the popularity of braces among adults and made the road toward a more beautiful smile, as well as much healthier teeth, more of a stroll than a hike.
Invisible Orthodontics Systems
An alternative to the chunk and funk of metal brackets are ceramic, tooth-colored ones; “lingual” brackets, which are cemented to teeth on the back side so that they can’t be seen when the patient smiles, are also a very valid option. However, a third possibility, that completely eliminates brackets altogether and substitutes them for transparent, removable splints that are changed periodically as treatment advances, is the latest and most appealing of all.
With regards to the validity of these splints, Dr. Ana María González, Orthodontics Coordinator at dentalDoctors Centro Odontológico VLC, assures us that “invisible orthodontics is indicated in a great majority of cases and allows both partial and more complex treatments to be performed successfully.”
This efficiency, together with the you-used-to-see-them-now-you-don’t subtleness, is making this system an option in growing demand. More importantly, splints can be removed when eating and brushing, both of which increase comfort when compared to conventional orthodontics.
In any case, Dr. González emphasizes: “Before opting for one system or another, and regardless of the objective, a complete study should be performed for each case in order to determine which are the causes that provoke the incorrect position of teeth and/or maxillary bones and establish the best treatment to correct those causes.”
Total treatment
Orthodontia is a discipline that is interrelated to other areas of Dentistry, and its value resides in “allowing teeth to be moved to more favorable positions and thereby avoid the unnecessary preparation of healthy teeth for crowns or bridgework and for opening spaces in order to place implants,” Dr. González comments.
Modern Dentistry, after all, is a multi-disciplinary field in which professionals with different areas of expertise work together to coordinate a total treatment plan in order for a given patient to have a perfect smile.
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