If you could get your teeth straightened without looking like a teenager, would you go for it? Of course, you would. You wouldn’t be alone in your choice either, as we have found out here at Orpington Dental Care in Orpington since we introduced clear braces.

We offer 2 types of clear braces, both designed to deal with mild to moderate misalignment issues. One type is fixed, the other is removable.

Fixed braces

Our clear fixed braces are called Six Months Smiles, so named because the average amount of time they take to straighten your teeth is just 6 months. They work on the front 6-8 teeth only. These are the ones most visible when you talk, eat and laugh and they have only one root. This means that the forces required to move them are less and so the braces themselves can be smaller. The brackets are smaller than traditional metal braces and are made of clear ceramic. There is just one wire, which is finer than usual, and coated in a tooth-coloured material. The wire is tightened through the brackets, which are cemented onto the teeth at carefully calculated angles. Together they pull the teeth into position. You need to be careful with these braces to keep your teeth scrupulously clean in and around the brackets.

Removable aligners

These come from Invisalign and feature transparent, very thin plastic aligner trays that look like mouth guards. You get a series of them, and wear one after the other, each for about 7-10 days. Each one has a slightly different set of pressure points built into it and these nudge the teeth into alignment. You take them out to eat and to clean your teeth. You need to be disciplined to wear these every day for at least 20 hours to keep the alignment process going.

Retainers

Moving teeth is a process of removing and replacing bone tissue around the tooth. Once the teeth are in alignment, you will need to wear a retainer while the bone settles down around the teeth properly. Otherwise, they might start to wander about.