Braces

Braces are the most common appliance used in orthodontics. The brackets are directly bonded on the surface of the tooth, in some cases, we use band for the molars.
A wire set against the slot of the bracket and maintened by alastik ligatures creates the moving of the teeth and needs to be changed at regular intervalls. We have a big choice of different alloys, sophisticated, with titanium and the wire can be round, square or rectangular.With these new alloys, the strength applied on the teeth is weaker and more constant , so the time between apppointments can be longer because we don’t need to replace the wire so often.
The alastik ligatures can be grey :

Grey ligatures

or colored if the patient prefers :

Alastik colors ligates

Recently, new brackets appear on the market, we call them : self-ligating appliance. The wire is maintened with a clip, so the friction is decreased , strenght is weaker and the teeth move a little bit faster. (check 3 M Unitek website for more details).

self-ligating appliance

If the patient requires aesthetic braces, we do use ceramic brackets for the upper teeth, they are not invisible but very discreet.
During the treatment, we sometimes need to use elastics which link some teeth with others :

Elastics

A new appliance can be used instead of elastics : it is called Forsus , very efficient and well accepted. ( see 3 M Unitek website for more details).

Forsus appliance