What are braces?
Braces are special fixed appliances (which patients can not remove) that consist of specifically designed brackets (metal, ceramic or hard plastic) and arch wires that are made of certain materials (stainless steel, nickel titanium and other material). Each bracket is bonded to the tooth surface (in a very precise area of the tooth) using non-toxic dental bonding adhesive. An arch wire will be selected by the orthodontist to start the treatment. This usually happens with the pressure exerted from the wire, onto the teeth, which results in tooth movement.
A. The main parts of your braces are the brackets and archwires. Brackets are placed directly on your teeth, and their job is to hold the archwire in place. If you don’t have all of your adult teeth yet, you may only get a few brackets. The archwire is a thin metal wire which moves your teeth by applying a gentle force to them. This wire has to be changed and adjusted which is one of the reasons that you’ll have regular visits. Our state-of the-art brackets hold the wire in automatically. Elastics may also be used to move your teeth. Elastics are small rubber bands that are stretched between two or more teeth to provide extra force in a specific direction.
