How do braces move teeth?
It’s amazing how far orthodontic treatment can move teeth through bone. Your bone responds to the tension created by these brackets and wires by making special cells on each side of a tooth. These cells remove bone on one side of the tooth and make bone on the opposite side. That’s what allows the tooth to move. It’s harder to clean your teeth once braces are on, so regular cleaning appointments are more important than ever. Permanent white stains or cavities may form on teeth if plaque isn’t regularly removed. After treatment, retainers are used to hold the teeth in their new alignment. Some retainers are designed to be removable, while others are cemented in place. It’s nice to know that, thanks to orthodontic treatment, you’re never too old to improve the health of your mouth and have a beautiful smile! We can straighten teeth at any age!
Teeth move in response to the forces we apply to them. Brackets are the attachments that act as a holder for the wires. Brackets are engaged on the wire with gray, clear, or colored ligatures onto a wire that connects the brackets to each other and provides the forces to steer the teeth in the proper direction. We also work with and offer braces that require no ligature ties at all that are called “self-ligating brackets.” During tooth movement, wires and elastics are what actually move the teeth. We have three-dimensional control over the movement of the teeth based upon manipulations of the wire. Sometimes patients will need to wear elastics or rubber bands, or use functional appliances and removable appliances.
Teeth move in response to forces applied by the orthodontist. The forces activate biological systems in the ligament surrounding the root of your tooth, which also happens to be positioned between the root and the bone holding your teeth in place. Cells called “osteoclasts” and “osteoblasts” remove and add back bone in response to the force, thus allowing the tooth to move. The rate of tooth movement may be different in each person since their biology and rate of change is also different. The same force will cause different rates of tooth movement in different patients. It is the job of the orthodontist to match the amount of forces applied to the teeth of each individual to move their teeth at the best rate. The amount and direction of forces used are where the orthodontic practitioner comes into play. He/she design forces systems to act through the braces attached to our teeth to move them to the desired position. It is NOT the braces moving our teeth, but instead the orthodontic pra
No matter what type of bracket, wire or invisible aligner, braces move teeth by applying light, constant force to the ligaments that support the teeth. As these ligaments stretch or relax in response to the force being applied by the appliance, the supporting bone begins to change shape and allows the teeth to move in the direction of the orthodontic force.
