Whether you are a teen or an adult with teeth that need straightening, you feel lucky to have been able to avoid wearing traditional braces, with their brackets, wires, rubber bands, and springs for a number of reasons you’ve heard about from those who have them:
- It takes two to three years to finish the process of fixing crooked teeth (which in itself might induce a frown, instead of a smile). It’s embarrassing to walk around that long as a “metal mouth,” but sometimes you may even have to wear extra headgear to put pressure on certain teeth (though usually just at night).
- They are not just real uncomfortable, especially after they’ve just been tightened to keep the teeth moving towards their ideal positions, the wires can cut your gums and the insides of your cheeks.
- They involve a lot of visits to the dentist to make adjustments.
- Cleaning teeth is really challenging: you have to use special brushes to very thoroughly remove every particle of food and need to floss carefully around the braces to avoid moving the wires. You may need to also use a Waterpik or AirFlosser. If you aren’t diligent, your dentist will have a tough time fixing cavities or treating gum disease.
- There are a lot of food restrictions, including ice, nuts, hard candy, gum, caramels, gummies, apples, bagels, carrots, and pretzels:
The good news is there is an alternative that has none of these negatives: Invisalign transparent aligners, plastic trays that are custom-made to fit over the teeth you want to move and push them towards their correct positions.
There are no food restrictions. You just remove the aligners whenever you eat: you just slip them off, put them in a case so that you don’t lose them, and place them back on when you’re done. You’re supposed to wear the aligners every hour other than when eating if you want the Invisalign magic to happen on time: it can take anywhere from six to 18 months to complete the process, depending on how complicated your case is. There are also fewer visits required so the dentist can check on your progress and give you the next set of aligners.
Once the Invisalign treatment is completed, personalized retainers for the upper and lower arches will be created that you wear for a time. As a dentist serving the areas of Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Lawndale, El Segundo, and more, Dr. Gutierrez will specify, to be sure the teeth stay in their new positions long enough to become part of your permanent new smile.
