Dental Braces are appliances used to correct the position of teeth. The earliest age to start the orthodontic treatment may be 7 years, but the treatment has no upper limit of age to begin.

Types of Braces and Aligners

· Metal Braces

o They are the conventional and most commonly used form of braces. They require metal brackets, wires and elastic ligatures to work upon. The patient has to visit the Orthodontist after every 15-25 days as per the treatment advancement. The normal duration of completion of treatment ranges from 8 months to 26 months varying from case to case. After the treatment an aligner is given to the patient to maintain the newly corrected positions of teeth.

· Ceramic Braces

o These are similar to Metal braces except the brackets and wires are white in color and appear to be almost invisible. All the rest is similar to Metal Braces.

· Lingual Braces

o These braces use Metal brackets and metal wires, but the brackets are adapted on the inner side of the teeth, to avoid any appearance on the front side of teeth. The treatment duration has minor variation to conventional Metal braces.

· Invisible Aligners

o These grade plastic aligners are the latest advancement in the field of Orthodontics. They do not require any wires or brackets. Being transparent plastic, their aesthetics are the best as compared to the rest of types. Normally 20 aligners are needed for mild cases, where every aligner has to be worn for 2 weeks and so on. The treatment duration time remains similar to other options. However, for complex cases the patient has to visit the dentist otherwise in this treatment modality, the patient may use the aligners on their own.

Precautions with Braces

· Avoid eating sticky food like gums, toffies etc.

· Avoid carbonated and fizzy drinks.

· Visit your dentist for every follow-up visit to ensure timely treatment and avoid complications.

· Don’t chew on hard food or ice.

· Don’t bite on your nails or chew pencil.

· Maintain good oral hygiene especially making sure no food particles are stuck in braces after every meal.

· Eat with small bites and avoid eating hard food and chewing on bone.