When it all comes down to it, the way that your teeth look is something that a lot of people seem to almost obsess about. This is probably because, you know, we are a very vain species, and because we are pretty much hardwired to never be happy with the way that we look. No matter what the case may be, though, if you aren’t happy with the alignment of your teeth, one thing that you can do to make sure that it looks better is to go and see your local orthodontist, and to see if they can offer you anything to improve that smile of yours.
Now, like any time that you go to see a health professional of any sort, whether they do the work of keeping your liver working or your body in shape or whether they clean your teeth, you’re going to have to do a couple of things before your teeth are as perfect as they can be. Here’s just a few of the things that your orthodontist will do to help you fix your teeth.
1. Examination
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The first thing that you’re going to need to do, before anything else can be done, is to have your teeth examined. In the early stages of this, you’re going to be reminded a lot of your average trip to the ol’ dentist, the poking, the prodding, having your teeth examined with metal implements that will allow them to see what’s going on in your mouth.
As the examination progresses, though, you may be exposed to some more interesting things. Dental x-rays are pretty standard, but after that comes things like computer modeling of the teeth and the like. It’s really all dependent on the particular office that you go to and what kind of technology they have available, as well as their comfort with said technology.
2. Diagnosis
Once you’ve got all the information that you need, then comes the time for getting a diagnosis from the practitioner of board-certified orthodontistry that you’ve chosen to visit. They’ll be diagnosing your malocclusion (this is a fancy word that basically means ‘misaligned tooth’, and you’ll probably never have to know this for anything at any point ever, so do with this info what you like. Use it at parties to sound smart, that always works out well) on a scale, telling you how bad it is, things like that. Once that’s done, we move on to treatment. Now, for a few issues, the treatment will be something strange, like having to wear orthodontic headgear (no one wants to wear that. Trust me. That’s basically the worst case scenario here, followed closely by needing surgery to remove a tooth to resolve an overcrowding issue). For everyone else, you’re probably just going to end up getting braces.
3. Braces
Braces are pretty simple; a bunch of metal brackets, mounted on the teeth with the use of a long-term dental adhesive, over the top of which is run a long metal wire that will be hooked around the brackets to provide the right kind of pressure to realign the teeth, and then will be held in place with rubber bands.
They’re also the most commonly used method for putting the teeth back into alignment in the world, really. The fact of the matter is that if you go to the streets of any third world country, you’re going to be able to find quite a few people who are walking around with braces on their teeth, because it’s such a simple and effective method of fixing the teeth. Of course, you can find more modern ways to fix your teeth these days.
4. Invisalign
So, basically, Invisalign is the most modern method of realigning your teeth that we have available to us today. They basically consist of hard plastic aligners, which, when placed on the teeth, are pretty much invisible. This allows you to fix the alignment of your teeth in a way that is not only a lot more convenient for your life, but also one that is far more discreet. In fact, discretion is pretty much the buzzword for when it comes to the way that dental technology is heading. The more discreet it is, the better off you’re going to be.
So, if you need braces, you should absolutely consider spending the money on them. You’ll be able to get the smile of your dreams, and you can do so without a lot of hassle, and, most importantly, let’s face it; orthodontics these days are quite affordable.