What Are the Orthodontic Options for Straightening Teeth?

What Are the Orthodontic Options for Straightening Teeth?

August 3, 2023

Are you hiding your smile because of crooked teeth? Does your dental situation cause you to avoid socializing for fear of people noticing your orthodontic imperfections? Have you considered straightening your teeth using orthodontic treatments to enhance the looks of your teeth and your smile?

What Is Teeth Straightening?

Generally, all teeth straighteners move your teeth by pressurizing them into their appropriate positions. It includes fixing crowded, crooked, and uneven teeth spaced further than you like. The teeth straighteners also help correct underbites and overbites.

Different Types of Misalignments

Malocclusion is the name for teeth and bites misalignment. Malocclusions exist in different forms, and you might have more than one simultaneously. The different versions of malocclusion that might affect you include crossbites, overbites, open bites, underbites, a diastema, and overcrowding. If you discuss your situation with the dentist in Little Rock, they will examine your situation’s complexity before recommending orthodontic options best suited for your needs.

Orthodontic Options for Straightening Teeth

Orthodontic options to straighten teeth have evolved since their introduction over a century ago. Presently orthodontic treatments entail non-invasive methods, removable appliances, and minimal treatment time. Depending on your situation’s complexity, the Little Rock dental clinic near you may recommend the below-mentioned options for teeth straightening.

  • Traditional Braces: if you require teeth and jaw alignment, the best option available is traditional braces consisting of fixed brackets mounted on your teeth, wires, and elastic bands working together to move your teeth and jaw into the proper position. Stainless steel helps make the brackets, and metal alloys the wires. Present-day braces are smaller and lighter than earlier, allowing you to select the color of the brackets and wires.
  • Ceramic braces: the working of ceramic and metal braces is similar. However, ceramic braces are tooth-colored to remain less visible on your teeth. Porcelain helps make ceramic brackets and metal alloys the wires.

Metal and ceramic brackets are excellent for complicated orthodontic situations and require around two to three years to complete treatment. However, they deliver results you desire to reposition your teeth into their appropriate places to eliminate the complications you confront with your teeth and smile.

Besides the above, dentists can offer confident lingual or Damon braces for straightening teeth if you desire because they, too, are suitable for most orthodontic issues.

If you are affected by mild or moderate orthodontic problems, you can receive treatment for the situation from the dental office near you, providing different types of clear aligners that help straighten teeth while remaining virtually invisible in your mouth. Clear aligners are comfy to wear and do not seem ungainly like metal braces. In addition, they also deliver faster treatments for straightening your teeth within six to 24 months, again, depending on your situation’s complexity.

If your dentist determines the situation’s complexity as mild or moderate, you can straighten teeth using clear aligners, remembering that you must wear them for at least 22 hours daily and replace them every two weeks because the aligners arrive in a series with each customized tighter than the earlier one to pressurize your teeth to move into proper positions. Clear braces are more comfortable to wear and will not annoy your gums or cheeks as you undergo treatment. In addition, the removable feature of clear aligners enables you to remove the braces when eating or drinking anything but water and maintain excellent dental hygiene.

Clear aligners do not require monthly visits to the dentist for adjustments or tightening because they fit snugly on your teeth. However, you must visit the nearby dentist after every eight weeks to assess your progress and collect fresh batches of aligners to continue your treatment.

Whether you qualify for metal and ceramic braces or clear aligners, you must wear retainers after completing orthodontic treatment to ensure your teeth remain in their new positions without reverting to their original positions.

Why Should You Consider Teeth Straightening?

Your smile is not the only casualty of crooked and misaligned teeth. Your dental health also remains impacted because you cannot clean your teeth appropriately and leave food particles and plaque remaining in the mouth to become vulnerable to dental infections like tooth decay and gum disease. In addition, crooked and misaligned teeth also impact your speech. Therefore if you have orthodontic imperfections, it helps if you seek treatment from the Little Rock dentist to improve aesthetics and dental health over the long term.

If embarrassment overcomes you because of malocclusion, seek treatment for the problem from Knight Dental Care, offering various orthodontic options to straighten your teeth. Besides helping you avoid embarrassment, the therapy also restores your smile and dental health.

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