Braces Aren’t Just For Kids

Julia was a little girl, who was only 8 years old when she got her glasses. When she went to her new school, she was the only girl in her class who had them, and she was taunted by the other girls in her class for it. This made Julia extremely aware of her appearance, and she became meticulous about what she wore, how she looked and how she presented herself. When it turned out that she needed orthodontic braces, she was 14 years old, and had just managed to be at peace with her appearance. She flat out refused, and although her parents tried to force her, she ended up not getting the braces she would have needed.

Fast forward 15 years. Julia is about to celebrate her 30th birthday and is a successful business woman. The problem? She has a crooked smile and snaggleteeth that ruin her appearance and make her self-conscious and unable to smile or laugh in public. This has a negative effect on her career and her social life, and is holding her back from reaching her true potential.

Braces for adults

Do you know someone who fits this description? Many self-conscious teenagers go down this road, only to incur dental problems, crooked smiles and negative stereotyping as a result. Luckily, even though bad decisions have been made in the past they do not have to affect your entire life. With new technologies in the field of orthodontics, it is never too late to start orthodontic treatment, and it is never too late to fix the orthodontic problems you may have developed:

• Problems of the bite (like open bite, cross bite, overbite etc.) that cause damage to your jaws, your teeth and can cause frequent headaches and joint pains in your jaws
• Dry mouth, snoring, and the dental problems (like gum disease and excessive tooth decay) that are associated with a mouth that does not close properly
• Back pains, problems of posture and of the spine are frequently linked to orthodontic problems
• Frequent headaches are sometimes caused by the jaws not aligning properly
• Most tooth decay can be traced back to some kind of orthodontic problem

Options

The good news is that there are many different kinds of braces that can be used to correct most orthodontic problems. Clear brackets are one such tool of adult orthodontics. Because many adults cannot afford to appear with braces, clear brackets, made out of see through plastic, sapphire crystals or tooth coloured porcelain can do all the things that traditional fixed braces can do, but without looking childish and immature. Aligners- clear tooth guards that go over your teeth and are completely invisible- can be used to correct only less severe problems, but are very popular as they are removable, comfortable, and can align your teeth while you sleep. The third option is getting lingual braces, which are just like regular fixed braces, but are placed on the side of the teeth facing the tongue, so they remain completely invisible.