Say Goodbye to Braces: Explore Alternatives to Straightening Your Teeth

Some people say that the best decoration for a person is a charming smile with straight teeth. But not everyone is happy with their teeth.

While braces are usually the best way to straighten your teeth, not everyone is comfortable with the look of traditional metal braces. Fortunately, we can straighten our teeth without braces. The specific method depends on your dental problem.

Prevent Crooked Teeth

Don’t sleep on your stomach. Crowded, inward-overlapping teeth are caused by long-term slight inward pressure. The most common cause of stress is sleeping on your stomach. Sleeping on your stomach puts a lot of force on your face, which puts strong inward pressure on your teeth. If you put your arms or something hard under your head while sleeping on your stomach, the pressure will be even greater. To prevent your teeth from gradually tilting inward, even if you like to sleep on your stomach, it’s best to sleep on your side or back instead.

Don’t hold your chin with your hands all day long. Many people study or work at desks for a long time, and poor posture can easily make them develop the habit of holding their chin. When you lean into your desk and support your face with your hands, you put pressure on one side of your jaw. This pressure will slowly tilt the teeth inward, causing the teeth to be crooked on one side.

To avoid this problem, it’s best to sit upright and not hunched over. Adjusting your lower body will help your upper body maintain good posture. This avoids neck fatigue and prevents you from holding your head with your hands.

Don’t suck your fingers or other objects. Just like chronic inward pressure, chronic outward pressure on your mouth can also cause your teeth to become crooked. This problem is common in children who suck their thumbs excessively. Additionally, teens and adults also have habits that put outward pressure on their mouths. Habits such as using straws, biting pens, and blowing gum can also cause outward pressure and cause teeth to protrude, just like sucking on your fingers. Try to break these habits and avoid putting outward pressure on your teeth.

If you must use a straw, at least hold it toward the back of your mouth without resting it on your teeth.

Eliminates gaps caused by tooth loss. It is normal for children to lose teeth and sooner or later their permanent teeth will grow in. However, adults need to worry when they lose their permanent teeth, which may cause problems such as uneven teeth. Missing teeth in adults can be the result of tooth extractions, dental problems, injuries, or failure to grow permanent teeth after primary teeth fall out. The gaps left by tooth loss can cause uneven stress on the teeth when chewing, putting more stress on the remaining teeth and causing them to shift. This results in crooked teeth. Braces, bridges, dental implants, or dentures can eliminate these gaps and prevent teeth from shifting and misaligning.

Teeth will naturally move into the existing space. This process is called mesial displacement of adjacent teeth, and it indicates the tendency of the teeth to move forward.

Wisdom teeth are removed when appropriate. However, some studies have shown that retaining wisdom teeth (without removing them) will not cause the teeth to squeeze against each other due to lack of space. But not everyone’s teeth are like that. If your wisdom teeth are in the wrong place, or your existing teeth are already crowded, they can quickly cause other teeth to move out of place.

See your dentist regularly for x-rays of your mouth and jaw. This way you can know in advance whether you have any problems in this area. If your doctor recommends that you remove your wisdom teeth, you should follow your doctor’s advice. Delaying the removal of wisdom teeth will only cause pain, infection, chewing problems, and even crooked teeth.

Contact a Orthodontist

Figure out what you don’t like about your teeth. You first need to figure out how you want to change your teeth, and then communicate your goals to your orthodontist. Some treatments can only solve part of the problem, so figuring out what kind of results you want is key.

Find a licensed orthodontist in your local area. General dentists are different from orthodontists. In addition to general dental knowledge, orthodontists need to understand the complex processes that shape teeth and faces. You need to find an orthodontist, not a regular dentist, to help you design a treatment plan. You also need to find doctors who are qualified so you can ensure they have received the most advanced and sophisticated training and are capable of performing high-level treatments.

In some cases where the situation is complex, the orthodontist may need to work with an oral surgeon or maxillofacial surgeon to formulate a complete treatment plan.

Make an appointment with your orthodontist to discuss treatment options. You’ve probably done your research, but only your dentist can “precisely” choose the dental tools that are right for you. Sometimes, only braces can straighten your teeth. If braces are not the only possible option, discuss these options with your orthodontist and follow your doctor’s recommendations. You can ask some helpful questions:

What does the recommended treatment plan include? What will happen if I don’t get some of these treatments now?
How much does it cost? What payment methods can I use? What kind of insurance is available to me?
What kind of after-care services can I receive after completing this treatment?
Can you provide reference pictures of other patients, or comparison photos of other cases before and after treatment?

Learn about other options. Before committing to a certain treatment, learn about other options. If you need to have a tooth extracted, or if your situation is more complex, it is even more important to prepare two or three alternatives. In many cases, orthodontists will recommend braces even when other options are available. But many experts agree that no one approach is “quite right.” See several orthodontists so you can find an acceptable and affordable treatment option.

Choose an orthodontist and receive initial treatment. Once you have chosen an orthodontist you trust, it’s time to schedule your first treatment. At this time, the doctor will usually make a mold of your mouth and take panoramic X-rays of your face and jaw. Armed with the molds and X-rays, the orthodontist can figure out how to straighten your teeth and explain to you the details of various treatment options. Armed with this information, you can better weigh the options and choose the best treatment.

Choose the Best Treatment Option

Choose clear aligners. Clear braces are retainers that are custom-fitted to your teeth and fit tightly onto them. It fits over the teeth and slowly straightens them. Children’s mouths are still developing, and clear aligners are more suitable for teenagers or adults whose mouths will not continue to change. This method is also particularly suitable for correcting teeth that are mild to moderately dense or sparse. However, it cannot handle severe front crossbites, buck teeth, or other more complex issues. It takes approximately 10 to 24 months to use clear aligners. Due to the varying duration, the total cost is approximately between 30,000 and 50,000 yuan. Other things to note are:

One of the benefits of clear aligners is that they are removable, making them easier to clean and maintain oral hygiene.
Another benefit is that clear aligners are less conspicuous than traditional braces. If you don’t like the look of traditional braces, clear aligners are a good option.
The use of clear aligners requires a “high degree” of cooperation from the patient. If the clear aligners are not worn long enough, the treatment period may be extended.

Ask about lingual braces. Lingual braces are similar to traditional braces, but they are placed on the back of the teeth. They work on the same principle, using metal wires to slowly straighten teeth. Lingual braces can be worn for between 6 and 24 months, depending on the complexity of the treatment. This method is best suited for people aged 10 and above who have moderate to severe tooth gap problems. Lingual braces are difficult to spot. For those who care about appearance, it and clear aligners are both good choices. However, it is more expensive than traditional braces, with prices ranging from 30,000 to 80,000 yuan. The exact price depends on the complexity and duration of the treatment. Also remember:

In order to fit perfectly inside the teeth, the material used in lingual braces is gold. This is one of the reasons why it is expensive.
When you first wear lingual braces, you may feel uncomfortable and it will take some time to get used to them. Many people experience inflammation due to the contact of their tongue with their braces.
After wearing lingual braces, you may have temporary difficulty speaking or slurred speech.

Try a palate expander. It widens the upper jaw, allowing the upper and lower teeth to fit together better. The expander contains a screw and is held in place by the collar on the tooth. When you turn the screw with the dilator key, the roof of your mouth will slowly open. It can widen the distance between teeth and allow overcrowded teeth to naturally return to their normal position. It is most suitable for teenagers and children under the age of 15 when their upper jaw bones have not yet been formed. The cost of a palate expander is approximately 6,000 to 20,000 yuan, depending on the length of treatment. You need to remember:

The expanded skeleton is very fragile. To stabilize the teeth and palate, the expander needs to remain in the mouth after the expansion is completed and can be removed after three months.
When using a palate expander, you will need to visit your orthodontist frequently. The doctor will use an expander key to gradually open the roof of your mouth.
Using a palate expander can sometimes be painful and may cause temporary speech impairment and oral inflammation.

Use a retainer. Some retainers can be fixed and others can be removed. It is designed for the upper and lower jaw arches to support and straighten teeth. Retainers are generally used after braces or clear aligners to maintain straightened teeth. But sometimes, retainers are also used to solve the problem of mild crooked teeth, and they are suitable for patients of all ages.

A retainer generally costs between $3,000 and $16,000, depending on its complexity and length of treatment.
Fixed retainers are usually located behind the teeth and are not easily visible.
Removable retainers are easier to clean and can maintain good oral hygiene.

Choose dental veneers. Dental veneers are also called porcelain veneers, which are equivalent to a porcelain cap that can be placed on the teeth. They are ideal for treating teeth with gaps, fractures, crowding, or staining. The orthodontist will first remove a thin layer of tooth enamel, and then use photosensitive resin to attach a pre-selected dental veneer to the tooth. The entire treatment can usually be completed in one operation, so the results are immediate.

Dental veneers are expensive, costing about 3,000 to 8,000 yuan per tooth.
This method is generally only suitable for adults. The shape of the tooth surface determines the size of the dental veneer. And the teeth of children and teenagers are still growing.

Learn about dental prosthetics. Tooth repair refers to repairing the shape of the teeth by polishing the teeth or pasting resin of the same color as the teeth. This method permanently changes the shape of the teeth, so it is only suitable for adult patients and is not recommended for growing teenagers and children. Because this method requires grinding the teeth, it can only be used to shorten teeth or correct minor tooth misalignments, cracks, or chips.

Teeth repair can be completed in one treatment. Since the difficulty of repairing each tooth is different, the cost of repairing one tooth may range from 300 to 3,000 yuan.
Composite resin restorations do not last long and you may need to have them repaired again.

Learn about Herbst braces. This device can correct jaw defects and thereby straighten teeth. This appliance has a metal expander that attaches to the molars and allows the lower jaw to move forward. This helps create a correct bite, where the upper and lower jaws fit together. This is also a necessary step for straightening teeth.

In order to correct your jaw to the correct position, you will need to wear braces for about a year.
Such braces are very conspicuous and need to be worn for a certain amount of time to achieve the desired results.

Choose an extraoral lip bow. This is also a device for straightening teeth. It puts pressure on the upper teeth and jawbone, thereby correcting the position of the teeth and jawbone.

To get better results, you need to spend enough time wearing extraoral lip bows every day.

Try bonding composite resin. This method involves first selecting a composite resin that is the same color as the tooth, then shaping it and attaching it to the tooth with an adhesive. It makes teeth look straighter.

This method is suitable for temporarily filling tooth defects or treating minor dental problems.
This material is easily stained.

Choose gingivectomy. This method can improve your smile extremely well. It lifts and refines your gum line, showing off your teeth. If you have small teeth, too much gum, or an uneven gum line, you may want to consider a gingivectomy.

Not everyone is suitable for this method.
A simple treatment may cost about 1,800 to 3,600 yuan.

Tips

Search online to find a licensed orthodontist near you.
If your doctor gives you a night retainer after orthodontic treatment, you must follow your doctor’s instructions and wear them for as long as possible. Teeth have memory and will slowly return to their original position. Therefore, if you give up wearing your retainer too soon, or if you don’t wear your retainer long enough, your teeth may fall back into their original positions.
If straightening your teeth is too expensive, you can visit some dental schools’ on-campus clinics. If the therapy is given by a student under the supervision of a teacher or staff member, you may receive a discount.
Chewing food can make your teeth stronger and straighter.
Avoid chewing hard foods.
Do not try to straighten your teeth yourself. The method you invent is not safe and may cause permanent damage to your teeth, causing them to fall out, become infected, or become more irregular.