Having healthy nutrition, following a good oral hygiene routine, and attending dental checkups do not guarantee a patient might not need a root canal, might lose dental pieces, or have cracks that require veneers, crowns, or dental bridges in adulthood.
But how in the world could someone be so careful about their dental health but, at some point, oral problems unchain and require immediate treatment? The answer is dental patients must also care about its bite functionality, and the sooner, the better at Sturbridge Orthodontics.
Indeed misaligned teeth and a jaw malposition might make a tooth produce unwanted friction onto another tooth, wearing them both off. Teeth-wearing also damages the teeth’ outer layer, named enamel, debilitating them and letting bacteria penetrate further layers of a tooth.
Consequently, a non-functional bite or malocclusion might lead to severe problems from unwanted friction or bacteria penetration. Solving these problems requires a preventive and timely orthodontic approach.
Also, Sturbridge orthodontic treatment might be lengthy, and depending on the type of device suggested by your orthodontist, either braces or clear aligners, a patient must work on expanding oral hygiene measures and complying with the specialist’s recommendations.
How Long Do Braces Take To Straighten Teeth?
There are several factors influencing a brace’s treatment length. Also, patients must know treatment plan depends upon the type of braces used. So, we separate these factors into two groups:
Patients Compliance
Research findings account for patients’ cooperation as the most critical factor determining orthodontic treatment success. Strangely, in clinical investigations, the rate of default attendance to visits increases after the second visit.
However, compliance goes beyond attending checkup visits. Patient compliance means following the orthodontist’s recommendations, including an outstanding oral hygiene routine, complying with dietary restrictions, and visiting the orthodontist for checkups.
Oral Hygiene Routine
Your oral hygiene routine with braces is different from what used to be before them. In short, wearing braces requires a commitment to clear all debris and food removal you might find with a visual inspection, so to get the best results, we advise patients to:
- Extend their brushing for at least one minute per month quarter
- Use interdental brushes to complement their flossing routine with a floss threader and identify difficult spots where food gets stuck with a water irrigator splash;
- Use a mouthwash at least every night before getting to sleep and;
- Attend dental checkup visits at least twice a year.
Dietary Restrictions
Braces can detach from teeth, and wires might bend, derail or break. So, specialists recommend patients care about what they eat to avoid these inconveniences.
In short, patients must avoid eating hard-to-bite foods like meats to the bone or foods like whole apples that patients must tear down with the front teeth braces. In general, the easiest forms to comply with these restrictions are:
- Cut hard-to-bite foods like apples or meats into small bite-size pieces;
- Soften foods like vegetables by boiling them and;
- Avoid crunchy or sticky foods.
Patients Physiology
Not all bodies react similarly to therapies or treatments, which also applies to orthodontics. For example, braces move teeth that sit in the alveolar bone. But, as you might wonder, they are both hard tissue and are affected by an external force.
How wouldn’t these external forces cause friction between two rigid bodies? A thin, soft tissue layer named the periodontal ligament wraps the tooth, providing a cushion and allowing infimal mobility.
Braces exert a bit more force than expected by the ligament, slightly breaking the tissue that sends a signal to the brain asking for reinforcement.
Reinforcement tissue follows the tooth’s new location, and so does the bone that forms a bony callus according to the tooth’s displacement.
This process occurs without patients noticing, but it might be quicker or slower depending on the physiological response to strain.
This response might be affected by factors such as:
- Age;
- Genetics;
- Health conditions and;
- Nutrition.
Types of Braces
Treatment options with Braces might also impact the efficiency of the treatment.
To summarize, depending on the type of malocclusion, treatment with braces might extend to a couple of years for complex cases and one year to solve a mild malocclusion, with moderate cases fluctuating in the middle.
Damon Self-Ligating Braces
The most effective orthodontic treatment is the advanced technology offered by Damon Self-Ligating Braces.
These braces use clips instead of rubber bands to control the wire strain exerted over teeth, reducing friction and making treatment more comfortable, offering the shortest time up to seven months quicker than with traditional braces.
How Long Is Invisalign Treatment?
Treatment with Invisalign is shorter than treatment with braces, but there are some notes to make before we jump to a conclusion, so let’s check them out.
As does treatment with braces, some of the same rules apply with Invisalign, especially the one where the patient does most of the job, and that particular rule is compliance, but in different forms:
Use
Invisalign is detachable, so patients might decide when to use removable aligners, but orthodontists’ recommendations indicate patients must use them for at least twenty-two hours per day.
Hygiene
You can practice your daily dental hygiene routine with Invisalign, with the sole difference you must detach your aligners to clean them after meals and sanitize them at least once every night.
There are no dietary restrictions when using Invisalign, but patients must avoid eating and drinking anything but water with the aligners on.
However, Invisalign cannot escape patients’ physiology, which is the patients’ body reactions and acceptance of treatment.
This means that in a few cases, treatment might extend for a few months for a dazzling smile. Also, there is Invisalign First, a dedicated product for kids to start early interceptive treatment at Sturbridge Kids Invisalign Treatment, which could make things easier for adolescent patients, making treatment shorter.
After we mentioned these essential factors, it is plausible to say Invisalign provides results that are fast as six months and up to a year in some mild cases. Invisalign is proven effective in solving mild to moderate malocclusions quickly.
How to Speed Up Invisalign Treatment?
Patients might speed up their Invisalign treatment by following the orthodontist’s instructions to the letter. This means wearing the aligners for at least twenty-two hours daily, never eating nor drinking anything but water with them on, and sanitizing the trays to eliminate bacteria.
Can I Cancel My Invisalign Treatment?
Yes, patients might cancel their Invisalign treatment before approval of their Clincheck. But what is Clincheck? Invisalign differentiates from other teeth alignment systems for its use of technology to predict the final results.
Clincheck is a software the orthodontist uses to show the patient how their mouth will look even without having used a single tray yet. So, to get to the prospect of the final result implies following a profound analysis of the patient’s mouth structure.
So, it is essential to note there is a planning process associated with treatment; canceling it will disrupt it. Moreover, stopping the treatment at any point after getting alignment trays will eventually produce a relapse in its progress.
Can I Switch From Braces to Invisalign Mid Treatment?
Patients can switch from braces to Invisalign and, conversely, from Invisalign to braces. However, in the first case switching to Invisalign depends on the orthodontist’s evaluation, and the patient might need to wait.
But why do patients need to wait in some cases? From our discussion about the types of braces, you might remember metal braces are formidable for treating complex malocclusions.
As severe malocclusion treated with traditional metal braces progresses, getting less severe with time, your orthodontist might approve of moving to Invisalign.
Conversely, patients wearing Invisalign clear aligners can switch to braces anytime during treatment.
Your Sturbridge Orthodontist and You Make the Best of Your Smile.
At Sturbridge Orthodontics, we look forward to helping our patients lead the band to a rocking healthy, and beautiful smile. Our job is to take care of the details so you succeed with our recommendations for quicker results.
Schedule an appointment, or call us at (508) 347-7540. Our friendly staff will receive you with a guitar solo, so you get confident you are in good hands for a perfect smile.