Heart Health: Don't Neglect Dental Care

Many patients turn to braces when they have crooked teeth. However, many people find traditional metal braces unattractive. Invisalign is an alternative option to braces, and it may be the perfect choice to improve your smile. If you would like to know more, keep reading.

What Is Invisalign?

Traditional braces use wire and brackets (made from metal or ceramic) to pull teeth into the desired position. Invisalign, however, uses clear, plastic aligners. The dentist creates a series of aligners by taking a mold of your teeth. The computer maps a series of different aligners that slowly reposition the teeth into the desired position.

How Effective Is Invisalign?

Invisalign is extremely effective at correcting many orthodontal issues. It's a popular choice for fixing crooked and overcrowded teeth, but it also corrects misaligned bites (overbite, open bite, crossbite, and underbite). It can correct some mild gaps between teeth, but larger gaps are best left for traditional braces.

Unfortunately, Invisalign can't fix everything. It's unable to adjust the height of the tooth, and it can't help severely rotated teeth. Finally, some teeth are not a good choice for Invisalign or braces. Weakened teeth may break when exposed to the stress of braces. Gum disease may cause teeth to move incorrectly.

What Are the Benefits of Invisalign?

There are many benefits of Invisalign. First, they are clear, so most people won't know you have braces. Traditional ceramic braces can reduce the appearance of your braces by using clear brackets and tooth-colored wires, and lingual braces sit on the back of your teeth, but Invisalign aligners are fully see-through.

The aligners are also smooth, so they won't scratch or poke the inside of your mouth. Getting a new set of Invisalign aligners is usually less intense than getting braces tightened.

Unlike traditional braces, you can easily remove your Invisalign aligners. This means you don't have to avoid certain foods because you can better clean your teeth. You will need to remove the aligner to eat, and you must brush your teeth before reinserting the Invisalign aligners. (The downside, however, is that if you continue to remove and forget to put back in your Invisalign, you won't see good results, if any.

Invisalign is a great option to consider if you want braces. It may not be able to fix some issues, but it corrects most common complaints without being seen. If you would like to know more about Invisalign, contact a dentist in your area today.