Both braces and clear aligners are meant to straighten your teeth for the purpose of making them more visually appealing and improving your oral health. They both have the same purpose and outcome, so what are the major differences? How do you know which one suits you better?
Traditional braces are consistently evolving and changing to enhance the visual outcome and the patients’ experience. Braces are used by orthodontists to straighten the teeth using brackets on each tooth and a wire that connects them all. The movement of the teeth occurs based on the tightening and adjustment of the interconnecting wire. The orthodontist will “adjust” your braces, typically every six to eight weeks, to ensure the braces are moving the teeth in the optimal time frame, but without causing severe discomfort. Essentially, the wire is tightened to give way for the teeth to move to a certain “checkpoint” on the way to the final goal. If the wire was never tightened, the teeth would remain at that stage or checkpoint for good.
With braces, many patients neglect to take good care of their teeth simply due to how difficult and time consuming it can be to clean around the braces. Each tooth has an individual bracket, and there is a wire connecting them all, so flossing can be complex. It is recommended that patients with traditional braces either use braces-specific floss or a water flosser. Brushing is also more difficult because cleaning around each individual bracket can be tedious. Not taking great care of your teeth with braces can cause cavities, stains, and other dental issues.
Clear aligners work in a very similar way to braces, just minus the metal. Experts create aligners specific to your teeth that are nearly invisible when worn. The aligners are manipulated just enough from your current teeth alignment to gradually straighten your teeth. However, since the aligners still have to fit and appear “invisible,” aligners are usually changed as often as every two weeks. If you wear your clear aligners faithfully, this method can give you a perfect smile very quickly. Also, taking care of your teeth is much easier with clear aligners because you can simply take the aligners off to floss and brush thoroughly.
At Cakmes Dental Studio, we offer clear aligners called ClearCorrect. We are firm believers that everyone deserves a smile they feel confident showing off, so we do our best to help you gain that confidence. Contact us to learn more about our ClearCorrect aligners and schedule a consultation today!