{"id":2079,"date":"2021-07-16T09:20:49","date_gmt":"2021-07-16T08:20:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.auradentallondon.co.uk\/blog\/?p=2079"},"modified":"2025-02-12T07:42:53","modified_gmt":"2025-02-12T07:42:53","slug":"which-is-better-braces-or-aligners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.auradentallondon.co.uk\/blog\/which-is-better-braces-or-aligners\/","title":{"rendered":"Which is better-braces or aligners?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There is no answer to the phrase which is better;\na more useful question would be which is a more appropriate treatment for me in my personal case, Invisalign in St.\nJohn’s Wood<\/a> or their braces? What are the pros and cons?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"invisalign-in-st-john's-wood\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Braces suitable to a wider range of conditions\ncompared to aligners, which have convenience and comfort in their everyday use\nto their advantage. This is a loose generalisation, so let’s look more closely\nat them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Standard metal braces<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The focus of the traditional orthodontic metal\nbrace is around it’s arch wire. This is a metal rod that is around the arch of\nthe mouth (where it gets its nickname). Attached to the arch wire is the\nbracket glued to the front of the teeth. When a similar arrangement is glued to\nthe back of the teeth it is called a lingual brace. This is related to the\nstandard metal brace but it’s much harder to fit and less noticeable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The brace allows an orthodontist to apply\npressure to the patients teeth, which is done by tensioning the arch wire. Once\nunder tension, the archwire will continue to press on the teeth and the brace\nloosens. This is done during a trip to your orthodontist every 4 weeks\nthroughout the treatment and is called brace tightening. It can be quite\nuncomfortable and over-the-counter pain relief is recommended for a few days\nafter a tightening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Invisalign style clear aligners<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The aligners we use (Invisalign in St.\nJohn’s Wood<\/strong>) are a lightweight plastic othoditic tool looking very\nsimilar to a gum shield only transparent and less noticeable when worn in\npublic. This is what has led to the nickname invisible braces even though they\nare technically not a brace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They are only worn for about 2-weeks each and one\nis used in a sequence, which comes together to cover the course of the\ntreatment. This can be anywhere between 6 months to 2 years. Each of the\naligners is a slightly different shape and the force that pushes on the teeth\ncomes from the elastic tension and the tight fitting. Aligner adjustments occur\nevery two weeks compared to the 4 weeks with an orthodontist. They are smaller\nsteps making some far more comfortable than a brace tightening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maintenance and everyday use<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditional metal braces are fixed in place and\nthey have to be worn when eating and drinking. This can lead to missing certain\nfoods when making your meal choices, like sticky toffee and popcorn, as these\nhave a habit of becoming stuck between the brackets and the archwire. After you\nfinish eating, you have to take care to thoroughly clean your braces. If you\nhave any food left which is stuck so close to your teeth, it will become a\ncavity risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not an issue with Invisalign in St.\nJohn’s Wood<\/strong>, which you can remove before eating. As long as you\nbrush your teeth before replacing aligners there should be no increased cavity\nrisk and this is much easier than maintaining a brace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Treatment effectiveness<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both treatments have limitations; this is particularly\npronounced with clear aligners who are only considered an effective treatment\non the front 4 teeth and lack the necessary force to alter the position of\nmolars in any significant way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is no answer to the phrase which is better; a more useful question would be which is a more appropriate treatment for me in my personal case, Invisalign in St. John’s Wood or their braces? What are the pros and cons? Braces suitable to a wider range of conditions compared to aligners, which have … Continue reading Which is better-braces or aligners?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2080,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"Which is better-braces or aligners? | %%sitetitle%%","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-invisalign"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.auradentallondon.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.auradentallondon.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.auradentallondon.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.auradentallondon.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.auradentallondon.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.auradentallondon.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.auradentallondon.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.auradentallondon.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.auradentallondon.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.auradentallondon.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}