Why Adults Should Get Braces Too

September 10, 2019 Austin Orthodontics

When you picture somebody wearing braces, the immediate image in your head is probably a pre-teen or teenager. While the majority of people who get orthodontic treatment fall into this age group, braces aren’t just reserved for the younger years. There are plenty of great reasons to consider getting braces or clear aligners as an adult.

Orthodontic Treatment Isn’t Just for Looks

Yes, getting braces will result in your smile looking straighter than ever, but that is far from being the only reason you should get treatment. In fact, your smile can look basically perfect and you could still benefit from having braces. 

Many issues of crookedness are often found in the rear teeth, causing a wide array of possible problems. Crowding, which occurs when your teeth are too close in proximity, can make it easier for food to get stuck in between your teeth and cause decay. Crowding can also cause height differences in your teeth, leading to a disproportionate amount of pressure being applied on the taller teeth. Over time, this pressure can erode the enamel or even cause cracks in your teeth, leaving them more susceptible to infection or chipping. 

Even problems with excess spacing can lead to long-term oral health concerns, along with overbites or underbites. Overall, choosing to get orthodontic treatment is well worth the investment for more than just for looks.

Gain Confidence for All Aspects of Adult Life

Lets face it, navigating your career and social life can be intimidating enough as it is. If you’re not confident with your smile, you’d be surprised how much it may be affecting your confidence in yourself overall. Your smile is a huge part of your first impression, and having a bright, straight smile you are proud of can go a long way in boosting your confidence when you meet potential new bosses, new friends, or people at networking events. Many people getting married also find it worth it to straighten their teeth by getting braces before the big day. 

If you’re worried about the appearance of braces during the course of the treatment, keep in mind that braces don’t look like they did when you were a kid. Plus, you can get invisible treatment options, like ceramic braces and Invisalign, which will help you maintain your confidence during treatment. 

Fix Issues if Your Teeth Shifted

In a perfect world, every patient would wear their retainer exactly the way they are supposed to. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case for many people. Retainers either get damaged or lost and patients fail to follow up to get a new one. Or, patients simply give up on wearing their retainer. In any case, your teeth very could have shifted if you stopped wearing your retainer, causing noticeable crookedness and creating potential oral health problems. Luckily, these issues are very easy to fix and can require short treatments with partial braces or accelerated versions of Invisalign like Invisalign Lite or Invisalign Express. 

It’s never too late to get the smile you’ve always wanted. To see if adult braces could be right for you, schedule your free consultation at Austin Orthodontics today! 

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Why You Still Might Need Braces Even if Your Teeth Look Straight

July 25, 2019 Austin Orthodontics

For people who are unhappy with their smile, getting braces makes sense. However, if you like the way your teeth look, you may not think you need braces. While this could be the case, there may also be issues that aren’t as noticeable when you look in the mirror.

Unseen Crowding

Even if you have a good-looking smile, there could be problems you can’t see. When you get orthodontic treatment with braces or clear aligners, it fixes far more than cosmetic issues.

One common issue is crowding, which is caused by a shortage of space between your teeth. When your teeth are crowded, it often affects the appearance of your smile, but some people can have crowding in the back of their mouth, leaving their smile still looking straight. The problem with crowding is food can easily get stuck in between your teeth, making it difficult to thoroughly clean them. This will inevitably lead to tooth decay and possibly worse oral health problems.

Crowding can also cause one or two teeth to be positioned higher than the surrounding teeth. This will cause a disproportionate amount of force to be put on those teeth, which erodes the tooth over time unevenly or causes cracking, both of which you want to avoid.

Underlying Issues

Not all orthodontic issues occur above the gum lines. X-rays often discover problems that need to be fixed but are currently not affecting a smile’s appearance. For example, some patients have adult teeth that have never erupted, either because there wasn’t enough space or the baby teeth never fell out. These trapped teeth can even end up sideways under the gums in an attempt to move into their proper positions.

Braces are often needed to fix these types of underlying issues, either as part of the initial treatment, or after the fact to return the smile to its straight, healthy state.

This is one of the many reasons we don’t recommend mail-order orthodontic treatment. These providers rely on impressions and selfies submitted by their customers, which means any issues hiding under the gums are not addressed.

Misaligned Bite

While your smile may look straight to others, many people have to force their smile to look normal due to an overbite or underbite. Both of these conditions can complicate your oral health by leading to uneven pressure in your mouth, speech or eating problems, or jaw pain. By getting braces or clear aligners, you can get your bite to a normal position and always bite down comfortably while never having to adjust your jaw to make your smile look straight.

To schedule a free consultation and see how braces can improve your oral health, contact Austin Orthodontics today!

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Is Mail-Order Orthodontic Treatment Right for You?

July 9, 2019 Austin Orthodontics

Throughout the history of orthodontics, there have been several key innovations that have made orthodontic treatment more effective, convenient, and comfortable. One of the most significant developments in orthodontics is the Invisalign Clear Aligner system, which allows you to get straight teeth with invisible, removable aligners. 

One fascinating and slightly disconcerting development in orthodontics more recently is the trend of companies marketing mail-order aligners similar to Invisalign. The treatment is completed entirely at home and you get your aligners delivered to your doorstep. Sounds like the next big thing, right? Unfortunately, there are several major issues with this new type of treatment that should make you seriously think twice before using it. 

No In-Person Visits

Interestingly enough, the main selling point of mail-order braces is that you never have to leave your home to get orthodontic treatment. However, with no orthodontist, there is no actual orthodontic treatment. Instead, there’s mostly a lot of guesswork while you attempt to take care of your teeth on your own. Any help you get is all done remotely through images on computer screens.

This means you can never get the precision and personalized guidance that comes with having a certified expert looking at your teeth in person and taking xrays to uncover any underlying issues in your smile. During the whole process, you have to do the work yourself, trust the images you take, and hope it ends up well. You also miss out on the personal relationship you develop with an orthodontist and the team when you are seen at an office.

Inaccurate Impressions

The aligners you receive during the whole course of your treatment are based on impressions you take yourself. Again, this is meant to add to the convenience factor; however, and no offense to you, you’re not an expert at taking dental impressions. Sure, you will get instructions, but there are nuances to getting accurate impressions that can only be learned through the years of training and practice, which all orthodontists and their teams are required to complete. 

Possible Damage to Your Teeth

Without professional, in-person guidance, the inherent risks of doing mail-order braces go beyond just getting subpar results. For one, the at-home impressions often result in aligners that don’t quite fit the way they should. This can result in severe discomfort while your teeth are adjusted in the wrong direction. And since you don’t have anyone looking at your teeth, it is very easy to miss problems under the surface. 

Even if your mail-order braces give you teeth that look straight, that’s not the only reason you should get orthodontic treatment. You can have perfectly straight teeth but still have underlying issues that need to be fixed. If you simply rely on mail-order braces, those problems will never be addressed, leading to long-term oral health problems. 

When you see an orthodontist for the first time, he or she will draw up a comprehensive plan to treat all of your issues. However, this plan may need to be modified slightly throughout your treatment if things are not progressing as planned. With no follow-up visits, mail-order treatment cannot be altered, which means you may not be getting the treatment you really need.

To learn more about how expert, personalized guidance can get you the smile you want while setting you up for long-lasting oral health, contact Austin Orthodontics today to set up a free consultation.

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How to Take Care of Your Retainer

June 13, 2019 Austin Orthodontics

Once your braces are removed and you get to see the amazing results of months, or possibly years, of hard work, you want to make sure you maintain your healthy new smile. That’s why it’s important to wear your retainer for the time your orthodontist prescribes. Of course, this also means taking good care of your retainer.

Keeping Removable Retainers Safe

There are several different types of retainers you might get from your orthodontist, and the length of time you need to wear your retainer depends on your specific needs. Sometimes, you may be required to wear your retainer for most of the day soon after you get your braces out. If your retainer is removable, you’ll want to be careful to take it out for meals to avoid damage. Be sure to store your retainer in a distinct case while you eat instead of on a napkin, especially if you are at a restaurant. This will ensure servers don’t accidentally toss it in the trash with your napkin.

If you only have to wear your retainer for part of the day, which is often done at night for convenience, your retainer will be stored much of the time. You’ll want to pick a safe spot away from kids or pets but that’s still easy for you to access so your retainer doesn’t get damaged and you still remember to wear it.

Keeping Your Retainer Clean

After meals, brush your teeth thoroughly with a soft-bristled toothbrush and do the same with your retainer separately. This will prevent food from getting trapped underneath your retainer and causing tooth decay.

When your retainer spends a large portion of the day in its case, you run the risk of bacteria growing on it, which can lead to plaque buildup. Needless to say, this can become very problematic for your teeth. One strategy to prevent plaque buildup is to store your retainer in a case that has small holes near the top for air circulation. It also helps to keep it on a shelf or counter rather than inside a closet or cabinet where there is no airflow.

Another problem that can come up with retainers is calcium buildup, which can interfere with the bite. You can keep your retainer soaked in a denture solution or in water with baking soda to prevent this buildup. Just be sure to avoid harsh chemicals, such as bleach or mouthwash, when you soak your retainer.

Any time you might need to bring your retainer along with you, such as for road trips or if you simply need to get more hours in during the day, be careful about subjecting your retainer to heat. It can be easy to forget about your retainer if you have it in a bag in your car. Summers can get pretty hot in Austin, and the heat can warp your retainer.

If you have any other questions about how to store your retainer, feel free to contact Austin Orthodontics.

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What Is Orthodontics?

April 17, 2019 Austin Orthodontics

At Austin Orthodontics, we are proud of what we do and how we enhance our patients’ lives. But if you’ve never gone through orthodontic treatment, you may be wondering what exactly orthodontics is.

What Is Orthodontics?

Because of the similar technology and setup used, it’s understandable when someone visits an orthodontist office for the first time that they think they’re walking into a dentist’s office. However, orthodontics is a specialized practice that focuses on fixing irregularities in teeth alignment and jaw shape through the use of braces, Invisalign, expanders, retainers, and surgery.

Another common misconception is that orthodontics only improves the look of your smile when it actually is beneficial to your health as well to have straighter teeth and properly aligned jaws. In fact, orthodontists often fix issues that aren’t even noticeable without looking at x-rays or digital images.

Orthodontic Education

All orthodontists graduate from dental school, which is typically a four-year program completed after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in a related field. To become an orthodontist, however, requires even more training. A doctor who wants to become an orthodontist will need to be accepted into a residency training program where they will learn in-depth details about tooth movement, correcting irregularities in face shape, biomechanics, and other necessary knowledge to practice orthodontics. These programs are highly competitive, and once training is completed, all orthodontists must pass a rigorous board exam to become licensed.

Types of Orthodontic Treatment

The most well-known type of orthodontic treatment is having teeth aligned with braces. Traditional metal braces use a combination of brackets, superelastic metal wires, and elastic bands. At Austin Orthodontics we use a slightly different type of braces, known as self-ligating braces, which eliminate the need for the bands around the brackets. As your wires are changed throughout the course of your treatment, your teeth will slowly move into place, resulting in a straight smile. Braces may also include elastic bands that run between your upper and lower jaw to correct an overbite or underbite.

The most discreet option for tooth alignment is the Invisalign clear aligner system. This treatment straightens your teeth using progressive sets of clear, plastic trays that snap over your teeth and can be removed when eating, drinking, and brushing your teeth.

A lesser known type of orthodontic treatment involves early intervention to correct jaw shape, size, and tooth spacing issues. Children should be seen by an orthodontist at age 7 to see if there are any problems that can be more easily corrected before their adult teeth are all in and their jaws are fully developed. For different types of corrections, particularly in teens and adults, surgery may be needed to achieve the best results. Another issue that can often be treated by an orthodontist is temporomandibular disorder, or TMD. This condition is related to the joints between your upper and lower jaws, and can cause pain in your face and neck and headaches.

As you can see, orthodontics is different than dentistry and consists of more than just giving people pretty smiles. Contact Dr. Briggs and the team at Austin Orthodontics today to learn more about what they can do for you.

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