Metal Braces
from St Andrews orthodontics
Choose your colour!
Transform your smile with metal braces
Metal braces are the most common brace system. Small metal pads (brackets) are glued to the front of your teeth. A metal wire is attached to the brackets and is held by ligatures. There is a wide range of ligatures available to choose from transparent to coloured.
Once you have had the assessment of your teeth and your records examined, a treatment plan will be put in place for you to decide if you would like to go ahead with the treatment.
We will adjust your braces every 5-8 weeks. Your brace is adjusted to do a certain amount of movement to your teeth over a certain period of time. If you miss your appointment, damage may be caused to your teeth and delay your treatment, making you wear braces for longer.
Once the treatment is completed and you are happy with your results, we will schedule an appointment to remove your brace.
After your treatment, you will have to wear your retainers to preserve the result. If you do not wear your retainers as instructed, your teeth will move and you may have to pay to wear more braces.
Caring for your metal braces
It is more difficult to brush your teeth with fixed braces. You need to use a special orthodontic toothbrush only. Please do not use your normal toothbrush on the teeth that you have braces on, whether it is manual or electric. The normal toothbrushes as well as electric toothbrushes may cause damage to your brace and lengthen your treatment time. We will show you how to use the orthodontic toothbrushes when we fit your fixed braces. You can buy the orthodontic toothbrushes from big pharmacists or from the reception. They need to be changed once every 3 months. With fixed braces you need to brush longer, more thoroughly and more frequently. If you don’t, the braces will cause damage to your teeth. You need to brush after each meal. You might want to consider getting an orthodontic toothbrush to carry with you when you are not at home. You can use any fluoride toothpaste that you would like. You also need to use a fluoride mouthwash at least once a day.
Diet
The fixed braces are glued on to your teeth. The glue is deliberately designed not to be strong so the braces can be removed without causing damage to your teeth. The downside is that your braces can come away from your teeth if you eat anything hard. When the brace breaks off a tooth or any teeth, your brace may not function as it should do. This will increase your treatment time; hence you need to wear your braces for longer than you need to.
Anything chewy can damage your brace. Use your common sense! The usual suspects are biting into apple, raw carrot and toffee. Also crusty bread and pizza crust should be avoided. Chewing gums of any kind are an absolute no no! DO NOT HAVE CHEWING GUM! The other things that can break your braces are lollipops, ice-lollies and popcorn. If you fancy an apple or carrot, cut them into thin slices before eating.
Acidic juices can dissolve the enamel of your teeth. With fixed braces on, these juices damage the enamel a lot quicker as the brace acts as a reservoir to keep the juice in contact with the enamel for a longer period of time. Acidic drinks include fizzy juices, diluted squash juices, most fruit juices and flavoured water. If you have to drink any of those, limit them to your meal times, use a straw and try to rinse your mouth after drinking. The best drinks are plain water and milk. Remember, any drink that has a taste, it is probably due to it being acidic!
To find out if metal braces would be right for you, call us now on 01334 474 203 and we will be happy to answer any questions you may have.
