Braces – Dr. Vora's Dental Care

TYPES OF BRACES

Metal Braces:

Traditional metal braces are the most common type of braces. With metal braces also you have the option of adding colored elastics (rubber bands) for a more unique and colourful smile.

Crystalline braces:

It is made of a high tech glass-like composite material. They are less noticeable than metal and are extremely comfortable to wear and very efficient at moving teeth.

Self ligating – Clip braces:

Self-ligating brackets (SLBs) are a type of dental Brace that use a movable clip to hold the archwire in place, which reduces friction between brackets and wires This advanced bracket system can be of metal or crystalline. In this bracket system lower level of forces are used to move teeth as friction is less and hence they more comfortable and easy to clean.

Lingual Braces:

Dr. Naman Vora had received Personal training from Dr. Hee Moon Kyung (South Korea) in 2009, who iwas the pioneer in Lingual orthodontics in world. Dr. Naman Vora was also one of the earliest Lingual orthodontist in India who was also Incognito (USA) certified.

Lingual Braces required high maintenance and were very uncomfortable for speech and caused tongue irritation initially. Earlier patients who required completely invisible braces used to choose lingual braces .However with Invisalign aligners being widely popular, lingual braces are no longer preferred

WHY CHOOSE DR. VORA'S DENTAL CARE FOR BRACES

✓ Our orthodontist, Dr. Naman Vora is Gold Medalist ISO (Indian orthodontic society) certified Specialist with more than 20 years of experience in teeth alignment.

✓ Has Designed 4500 + smiles in various National and International patients.

✓ Globally trained (USA, Germany, Korea) in various smile Enhancement procedure .

✓ He is available 5 days every week, unlike other dental clinic in Mumbai and around where orthodontist visits only monthly once or twice.

✓ Our clinic is open all days including Sundays and public holidays

All this ensures you are treated by Highly skilled and experienced Orthodontist at our clinic, who gives his personal attention to each and every patient throughout your smile journey to get that long lasting smile you always wanted.

BRACES CARE & INSTRUCTIONS

Food & Habit Precautions

What you eat that can fuel dental problems. Every time you eat foods containing sugars or starches, the bacteria in your mouth rapidly grow and produce acid which dissolve the tooth enamel to cause decay. These acids can attack for 20 minutes or more each time you eat! So think about these points before you eat.

It’s important to avoid certain kinds of foods that can damage your braces. Don’t eat hard and crispy food like chikki, chakli hard nuts or chocolates and sticky foods, such as chewing gum, caramel, popcorn, eclair. They can bend wire or break braces.

Don’t cut foods from front teeth like carrots, apples or toast sandwich, burger or Pizza crust etc you can cut them into small pieces & chew from back teeth.

Remember, Breakage Delays Treatment.Food stuffs to avoid during braces treatment

Ice
Popcorn
Hard Candy
Chewing Gum
Nuts
Crispy Chips
Caramels
Dry fruits (you can have soaked ones)
Corn (Should be cut off the cob)
Never bite pizza, burger, apple, corn etc . from front teeth. (you can cut them with knife and chew from back teeth)

Bad habits to avoid.

Nail biting
Fiddling at your wires
Playing with removable retainers with tongue
Unnatural tongue thrusting
Chewing on pencils

Orthodontic Brushing Procedure

Without braces also, you should brush your teeth two to three times a day, especially before sleeping and stay away from sugary foods in order to avoid tooth decay.

But those with braces need to practice not good but exceptional oral hygiene. Because braces can collect food and plaque, you need to be extra careful about keeping your teeth clean.

Not looking after your teeth may permanently damage your teeth, during braces procedure.

“Braces don’t cause cavities, but not brushing can.”

When: 4-5 times per day preferably after each meal.

With: A soft-bristle Orthodontic toothbrush and interdental wide space brush.

How: Use a brush with a small amount of toothpaste. Use circular motions around the gum lines and the surfaces of your teeth, 2-3 circular strokes on each tooth. Then brush the chewing surfaces of your teeth and brush your tongue and the roof of your mouth as well. Rinse thoroughly.

One can use interdental wide space brush for cleaning tooth surfaces behind wire not easily accessible with routine brushing.

Concentrate on the danger zone that is space between the brackets and the gums.

Additional aids to keep your teeth clean and healthy

Water jet spray (Oral-care water jet)
A fluoride mouth rinse for extra protection
Always use fluoridated tooth paste
Go for professional fluoride application before and during treatment. (especially in high risk patients)

Instructions

Playing sports while wearing braces.

You can continue to participate in any sport you choose. When playing sports where there is a possibility of getting hit in the mouth, a specially designed mouth guard will need to be worn. The mouth guard, made of durable silicon, is designed to fit over your braces and will protect the soft tissues inside your mouth. Sports like boxing and wrestling should be avoided. Fighting should also be avoided.

Elastic Instructions.

In certain situations you will be instructed to wear elastics daily to correct teeth alignment.
In order for force to remain constant, elastics must be worn all the time and changed as prescribed by the orthodontist. Any time missed in wearing your elastics will only make your treatment time longer.
You are responsible for placing the elastics on your braces and make sure to wear them as instructed. Remove them only when brushing your teeth and during meals. Then put your elastics back on immediately.
Always carry a few elastics with you, so if one breaks you can replace it right away. If your supply is low, call us and we will provide you an additional supply of elastics.
Elastics become worn out. When they loose their elasticity, they do not provide the proper pressure on your teeth and jaws. It is very important to change them as directed, even when they are not broken.
If your elastics break frequently, a wire or band loosens, or a hook breaks off call us at +91 22 2567 8000-01 immediately. Do not wait until your next appointment. These problems need to be corrected as soon as possible.

Orthodontic Retainer

Retainer is must after every braces treatment. Once teeth are moved to desired correct position it takes many months for bone to adapt tooth in new position. Many patients don’t consider retainers very important part of treatment which may later leads to repeat braces treatment at additional treatment fees. There are mainly different types of retainers available. Our braces specialist will suggest you ideal type of retainers for your particular problem. See below video to know why retainers are important part of treatment.

Removable Retainer

They are placed after the fixed appliances have been removed, your teeth need to stabilize while the bone builds up around them. There are 2 types of removable retainers available today.

1. Wired / Hawley retainers:
These retainers are made out of wires, clasps and plastic and are constructed for the purpose of holding teeth passively after active teeth alignment with Braces. They create slight discomfort in speech for first few days initially and thin wire is visible from front teeth but are sturdier than Essix retainers.

2: Essix retainers:
The other type of retainers which are currently very popular are the invisible clear plastic retainer. As the name suggest they are not visible from a distance. These retainers are delicate and removable, hence their use and care is entirely dependent upon the patient. Strict attention to instructions is absolutely necessary.

Instructions for removable retainers:

Your retainers should be worn ALL the time except when eating and brushing.
When your retainers are not in your mouth, they should be kept in the box and in a safe place, do not put them on top of a table where they can get knocked off or in a pocket where they may be easily cracked.
Keep them away from pets as they will very quickly chew them if given the opportunity.
When you are eating away from the home, be sure NEVER, NEVER to wrap them in paper towel, napkin or tissue. This is the most common way of losing them. ALWAYS put them in the plastic box.

How long do I need to wear retainers?

- After the braces are removed, most patients must wear their retainers all the time, 24 hours a day. If your teeth seem stable after approx. 6 months, we will advise you to reduce the wearing time to evening and night to alternate night to twice in week to once in week.
- Never ever start reducing retainer wear or stop using them without permission from our orthodontist.

Adjusting to retainers

- At first, your retainers will feel bulky. Speech may be a problem and sometimes they will cause a slight lisp. Practice reading loudly few hours a day to get used to the retainer. In a few days speech usually returns to normal, so don’t worry about it.
- The day after you receive your retainers your teeth may be a bit sore. This won’t last long. Should sore spots develop, call us and we will adjust them.

Keeping retainers clean

Retainers need to be cleaned 2-3 times a day and always after eating.
Once or twice a month soak them in retainer cleaner (available at a chemist).
Brush both sides of the retainer, use toothpaste too if you wish.
Dropping your retainer breaks it.
Flicking it up and down on your teeth (playing with it) breaks the wires.
Don’t keep them in your pocket and sit on them.

Fixed Bonded Retainer

These retainers are delicate and require on-going maintenance. We advise not to bite anything from front teeth till these retainers are there, (if it has chipped off, or come away from any tooth, please call us immediately.) We recommend these retainers be in place permanently (especially when teeth are spaced to begin with and have high tendency to relapse), but for minimum period of two years. Please note that should you decide to remove these fixed retainers after two years, you should at least wear your removable retainers otherwise there is always a chance that some shifting of teeth may occur.

In high relapse cases we prefer to give both removable and fixed retainers for double safety, our braces specialist will suggest you ideal type of retainers for your particular problem.

TRADITIONAL BRACES VS INVISALIGN

So among the two treatment modalities, one with fixed braces and with removable, invisible Aligners like Invisalign, what we have realized over a period of time is that problems which were there in the traditional way of Braces are taken care in Invisalign system, like for example,

1. Food restriction in Braces : With hard, sticky and crunchy food many times leads to Broken braces and loose poky wire, while in aligners , you can remove them and eat.

2. Ulcers/ rash: No chances of rashes or ulcer in aligners because they are quite smooth unlike wires and braces.

3. Decay around braces: lot of food gets stuck around the braces and it requires additional hygiene efforts , which if not followed can lead to lots of decay and swollen gums ..while aligners can be easily removed while brushing,.so maintenance is lot easier.

4. Visibility :Crystalline braces are also visible from talking distance ,while aligners being very transparent are quite discreet,

Hence lots of adult patient now a days choose it because of this single most important reason.

OTHER ADVANTAGES OF INVISALIGN ALIGNER SYSTEM

1. Better comfort :

The force are also controlled unlike Braces, whether the force level gets divided in all teeth because of the continuous wire and unlike monthly tightening in case of braces, pressure is divided in 3-4 parts with aligners weekly or 10day change planning. Hence comfort is better.

2. Know the end result before you start:

In Invisalign system we take face scan while planning treatment digitally, which helps patient to check end result before starting with actual treatment.

3. Precise planning: As a clinician, we observe that due to digital planning the

tooth movement is very precise and finishing is better compared to traditional manual technique in braces

4. Lesser visits:

As with precise digital plan, every tooth movement is build into aligner system hence , we can check patient once in every 2 months compared to every month visit for braces .

5. Remote treatment monitoring:

20% of our patients today are outstation (other cities in India or abroad) and they visit us every 6-12 monthly for follow up in clinic, while they are always connected with us virtually for treatment monitoring and instructions to follow via My Invisalign app So overall to summaries, In terms of hygiene, over all comfort, No food restriction, invisibility and precise planning, Invisalign Aligner system is far superior and gives great results when all aligner wear and change instructions are followed.