Lingual Invisible Braces Update

Having provided braces to straighten teeth for over 24 years now, I thought I’d write a few words about the history of the provision of braces here at Woodcock Lane Dental Care.

The workhorse of most orthodontic treatment used to be the upper removable appliance, but this rarely produced very good results and the fixed or “traintrack” steel braces were recognised to be far superior in producing a perfect result. Originally we used bands around the teeth, but then moved to the more hygienic and aesthetic bracket based steel fixed appliances.
Allied to the fixed braces, are the removable “functional” braces, used almost exclusively for children who are in the growing phase of life, typically aged about 11 to 13 years old. These appliances can produce near miraculous results, often enabling a great smile and occlusion (the way the teeth all bite together) to be produced, often without the need to remove teeth.

Over the past 10 years or so, there has been an increasing interest in decreasing the visibility of braces, especially from adult patients who are keen to achieve straight teeth and a great smile but don’t want to show a mouth full of metal!
Now available are four basic types of so called invisible brace:

1. The Inman Aligner type of appliance is a removable brace with clear plastic and also metal parts which can be worn in relatively minor cases to produce a fairly good result. Please see the website for more details
2. The clear removable aligners type of appliance, such as Invisalign, can align many cases of mal-aligned teeth, but not all, and usually not to the straightness achieved with fixed appliances. a series of these removable clear aligners are worn full time, each one pushing the teeth slightly more towards the final position.
3. Tooth coloured fixed appliances are available, which, especially when using white coloured wires (where possible), are fairly invisible and produce excellent results. An example of a trade name for this type of appliance is the Sixmonthsmiles system.
4. Lingual orthodontic appliances are the most invisible of the available systems for straightening teeth. The appliance is fixed onto the tongue or lingual side of the teeth and so is invisible to all. The brackets used are metal and are now very much smaller profile than they used to be meaning that there are fewer problems with rubbing or speech interference than in the past. I have been providing lingual braces for four years now and they have proved to be very popular with patients who want discreet orthodontics. Please see our website for more details.

As we approach our 25th anniversary of the provision of orthodontic appliance treatments and producing straight teeth and a great smile every time, I am pleased to say that we can still provide a full range of braces for everyone who wants them, be they NHS or private, removable or fixed and visible or invisible braces. Our costs of treatment are also lower than most, you may even think they are cheap!

If you would like to talk with a member of our team about our orthodontic services, or arrange a free consultation, please do not hesitate to contact us.