Dental Braces Specialist in San Jose, CA

Commonly used in teenagers, braces may also be used in adults who either didn’t get braces earlier in life or whose teeth have shifted later in life for one reason or another. The typical age to get braces will vary from one person to the next and your dentist or orthodontist will be able to tell you the best time for you or your child to get braces for the best results. In most cases, the orthodontist will want to wait until all of a child’s adult teeth have come in and their jaw has stopped growing, as these two things will affect the success of wearing braces.

Dentists are starting to assess children once their adult teeth start to come in to determine the likelihood that they will need braces later on. Your child’s dentist may recommend initial treatments to help make room in the mouth for the adult teeth to come in if their jaw is looking crowded. While this may not mitigate the need for braces entirely, it can help to shorten the time your child needs to wear braces and make the treatment more manageable.

Braces are used to straighten teeth, fill in gaps, and realign teeth that have grown crooked or have shifted due to overcrowding. There are a couple of different types of braces available, that will provide varying results based on the severity of the alignment of the teeth at the start of treatment. A course of braces treatment will typically take up to 2 years to slowly shift the teeth to their proper space, however, the actual time needed will vary from one person to the next. This needs to be done slowly over an extended period so that the gums around the teeth and supporting bone structure can also shift and properly support the teeth without the risk of going back to their original position.

Changes can be seen as quickly as a month following the application of the braces or the initial use of a clear aligner. However, changes will be minor and patients will start to see noticeable changes in about two to three months. Your dentist or orthodontist will want to see you frequently, typically once a month, to tighten or adjust the wire on your braces that is gently apply the pressure that will force your teeth to move. For clear aligners, you will need to swap out your aligner tray every two weeks for a new one that will keep pushing your teeth toward the perfect alignment.

When people think of wearing braces, they imagine having nice, straight teeth. While this is true, as braces are intended to straighten out crooked or misaligned teeth, they can also have an impact on the alignment of the jaw. When the jaw is out of line, it can cause pain and discomfort when eating or talking, as well as ongoing pain in the jaw. It can also cause people to grind their teeth in their sleep and severe headaches, both from the misalignment and from the teeth grinding.

The clear aligner trays are typically better suited to adults, as children and teenagers have a higher risk of taking them out and forgetting to put them back in. To be effective, the aligners need to be worn for the majority of the day and night, only being taken out to eat and clean them. Advances have been made in fixed braces to make them more comfortable and less noticeable, with options available for different types of brackets that get mounted to the teeth to be less noticeable.

There are a couple of different types of braces that can be used to help straighten and align the teeth. The most commonly used type of braces for teenagers and young adults are fixed braces, recognizable by the brackets adhered to the front surface of each tooth and attached with a wire. Also popular, but more so for adults, are removable braces made from a clear plastic tray that is custom-made and fitted to the patient’s teeth. The most widely known example of clear braces is Invisalign, which is best used in people who have mild to moderate cases of crooked teeth. To find out the best option for braces, whether for yourself or your child, reach out to the team at NuSmile Dental & Orthodontics today. Contact us or schedule an appointment. We serve patients from San Jose CA, Los Gatos CA, Campbell CA, Santa Clara CA, Cupertino CA, Sunnyvale CA, Saratoga CA, and Mountain View CA.