Clear braces are a popular choice for teeth straightening. They combine a number of benefits from traditional braces with those of clear plastic aligners. This makes them a terrific choice for patients for whom aligners are not appropriate.
At Greater Hartford Orthodontics, we offer our patients clear braces with tieless ceramic brackets and high-tech archwires, resulting in a comfortable fit and excellent teeth straightening results. While clear braces aren’t quite as unobtrusive as aligners, the ceramic brackets are created to blend with your teeth for a more natural looking appearance. They are smooth, have a low profile, and won’t stain the way clear braces did in the past.
And, the results from wearing clear braces are invaluable, providing our patients with a healthier mouth and a more confident smile!
Types of Clear Braces
You’ll find a number of different types of clear braces, and today, clear braces require no more care than traditional braces to keep clean. However, you still want to make sure that you keep them clean. While staining and discoloration are no longer common with clear braces, not keeping them properly clean can negatively affect your dental hygiene and appearance.
Brush, Rinse and Floss After Eating
No matter what type of braces you have, it is recommended that you brush your teeth, rinse them, and floss them after you eat to remove food particles. This will keep your clear braces clean and your mouth healthier, preventing tooth decay both around and behind your clear brackets.
Keep Your Clear Braces Damage Free by Eliminating Certain Foods
As is the case with traditional metal braces as well, certain foods should be avoided when wearing clear braces, such as hard or sticky foods that can become lodged in your brackets, causing both unsightly looks and damage to the brackets of the braces or your teeth.
Avoid Smoking
Smoking is never good for you, or your oral health, and it is not good for you brackets, either. The sticky nicotine smoke can stick to both your teeth and your brackets.
Visit your Orthodontist for Follow Ups
It’s also important to keep your regularly scheduled orthodontic appointments when you wear clear brackets. While clear braces are durable and strong, you’ll still want to make sure both your braces and your own natural teeth are in the best condition. You’ll usually spend around 18 months in clear braces, so making sure treatment is progressing properly and your oral hygiene is in great shape are both important. Adjustments to your braces are routinely made every eight weeks.
For patients who can benefit from aligners, we also offer Invisalign® clear aligners as well as clear braces. Invisalign is a comfortable, removable solution to teeth straightening. The Invisalign process uses a series of clear aligners that gradually and incrementally straighten your teeth rather than using wires. These aligners are shaped from images that are computer-generated and based on a digital scan of your teeth which is taken by your dentist. These custom trays realign move your teeth into the desired position by using trays that are each shaped for teeth that are just slightly straighter than your teeth.
Learn More About Options for Clear Braces
Are you ready to learn more about clear braces? For more information on how your dental team can successfully realign your teeth, reach out to us and schedule an appointment, today.