Many people who have maligned teeth / crooked teeth are simply living with it just because of the fact that they are not even aware of the normal orthodontic procedures ( braces ). Today we will discuss everything about braces.
One of my patient questioned that we all have teeth which are harder than bone but still why teeth are least prone to fractures due to biting forces? We have a ligament cushioning our jaw bone called as PDL (periodontal ligament) which is actually a shock absorber! This ligament has mechanoreceptor cells like if you accidentally bite onto a hard thing maybe a spoon or a fork , then these mechanoreceptors signal the brain to stop biting so that you don't hurt yourself.
So, when our teeth are maligned, braces correct this with the help of PDL. The forces applied by the braces on the teeth (pulling them together or pushing them apart) when sensed by the mechanoreceptors, signals osteoclasts and osteoblasts cells to dissolve and rebuild the jaw bone into a new shape. So in other words we can say that braces work by breaking and rebuilding our jaw bone and thus repositioning teeth into their correct place. Now, the myth is braces weaken our jaw bone for lifetime ! This is not true - During the braces tenure ( 1-2 years ) because our jaw bone is getting repositioned, so definitely it is weak, but once the braces are removed, the reshaping is done, the jaw bone becomes equally strong as it was before . And this is the reason why an orthodontist asks the patients to avoid chewing hard food while braces are on as PDL may get affected.
FEAR OF EXTRACTION
It is not mandatory that a person wearing braces will have to undergo extractions of premolar teeth. Only in a few cases, when there is tooth size and arch length discrepancy, there is no space in the mouth for the teeth to move. And even if we manage to move the teeth, the desired corrections may not be achieved completely because of the lack of space. Or say the relapse is more frequent. So in such cases , extractions of premolars are advised. But still if the patient chooses to go ahead without extractions, the treatment can be proceeded but expectations should always be kept low in such a case. (Maybe possible that you even get awesome results, but always keep this in mind before proceeding further in case you have such discrepancy.)
BRACES LOOK WEIRD
Yes the conventional braces (metallic specially) may look weird. But nowadays metallic braces is not the only method we have ! There are ceramic braces (tooth coloured braces) with even ceramic brackets (tooth coloured brackets), lingual braces (braces placed lingually on inner side of mouth) without anyone knowing about it, and aligners (Invisalign - the transparent trays which are put in our mouth with effects equivalent to braces but nobody can make out that you are wearing them). So you can always choose from the above options.
RELAPSE
No braces treatment can guarantee you 100% results. There is always a possibility of relapse for which retainers are given after the braces treatment is over. Now it completely depends on the patient that how often he wears those retainers. If we wear the retainers properly and regularly, chances of relapse gets reduced but if not, the relapse is more likely to occur.
In conclusion, getting braces is overall not an easy job. It generally takes around 2-3 years (including retainers time) to achieve the desired results . Think well and then choose!