Nothing makes a first impression quite like a smile. It’s the first thing you do when you meet someone new, so you should make sure you’re putting your best foot forward, so to speak. For some, that means making life-changing smile corrections using orthodontics.
While braces may conjure an image of a mouth full of metal, with colorful rubber bands highlighting each silver bracket & maybe even headgear bringing the look outside the mouth, orthodontics have changed. For a high tech, lower fuss treatment, we use Damon braces.
What Are Damon Braces?
Damon braces are an innovative upgrade from traditional braces. The brackets are smaller & less noticeable than traditional braces, & you can even choose “invisible” braces for a less noticeable transition to straight teeth.
Not just a teeth-straightening system, Damon braces improve your entire facial aesthetics using natural, gentle pressure on your teeth. Patients often complete treatment with a wider smile that not only looks better, but improves their health. Straight, uncrowded teeth are easier to clean, leading to a healthier mouth & body.
How Do They Work?
In many ways, Damon braces are similar to traditional braces. They both use brackets that are attached to each tooth & an archwire that goes through each bracket. Over the years the archwire has been upgraded & now it is common to see orthodontists using high tech wires that are pliable when cold & return to their original shape when warmed up. Because of this, the archwire does most of the heavy lifting as it aligns teeth to its original shape. The main difference between the two types of braces is that Damon braces are self-ligating.
What Does Self-Ligating Mean?
Simply put, it means that the brackets hold the archwire without additional equipment. In traditional braces, the archwire is held to the brackets by elastics. These elastics are how children & teens add color to their braces, but they also add friction. The brackets on Damon braces use a sliding door to hold the archwire, which allows them to slide freely, eliminating friction. It turns out this makes a huge difference in the braces experience.
More Comfortable
More friction between the archwire & the brackets means more forces moving the teeth & more discomfort. With no friction, Damon braces exert a much more gentle & consistent force on the teeth to move them, which affects how much pain patients experience. Additionally, Damon brackets are smaller in profile & have rounded edges, which reduce discomfort even more.
Faster Treatment & Fewer Trips to the Orthodontist
Because there is less friction, the teeth are unhindered & can move more quickly into place. Also, whereas traditional braces require frequent “tightening” appointments to replace worn-out elastics, Damon braces require less frequent check-ins simply to make sure the archwire is doing its job & everything is moving as planned.
Less Likely to Need Surgery
With traditional braces, patients with a great deal of crowding often need to get one or more teeth extracted to make space for the other teeth to move into place. Adding surgery adds cost & extra time to heal before the orthodontic treatment can begin. With Damon braces, extraction is less likely to be necessary due to the way the braces move the teeth into place. However, some cases are more complex & surgery may be necessary after all.
Clear Braces
For patients who are concerned about the metal appearance of braces, Damon braces come in a clear option. The brackets are made of ceramic material, which is strong & virtually invisible on top of your teeth. Damon clear braces still use an archwire like traditional braces, making them a more versatile option compared to clear aligners.
Damon braces are a great option for kids & adults. Moving teeth becomes more difficult as you age, but the frictionless brackets & clear options make treatment more comfortable, less noticeable & much quicker, which can be especially appealing to adults who want to upgrade their smile.
