Preparing to install braces and aligners: recommendations
Having made an important decision for themselves to correct crooked teeth, many are faced with the fact that they do not know what to do before installing braces and how to properly prepare for this. The fact is that orthodontic treatment implies significant changes in the oral cavity, and as you know, the position of the teeth and bite affect not only aesthetic indicators but also have a direct connection with the spine. Therefore, it is extremely important to properly prepare the teeth for the installation of braces and aligners, so that later there will be no unforeseen difficulties.
Preparation steps before placing braces
The result of orthodontic treatment should be the changes without deteriorating the condition of the teeth and oral cavity. All preparatory stages are based on ensuring high-quality orthodontic treatment, maintaining oral health, as well as carrying out preventive procedures that will help to avoid complications during treatment.
Consultation and diagnostics
This is the first and most important step. During it, the doctor examines your clinical situation, the structure of your face, the type of bite, the location of the teeth in the oral cavity. You will need to take several X-rays - OPTG (panoramic radiography), TRG (teleradiography), and 3D computed tomography. All this gives information about your specific situation, and also acts as material for analysis and drawing up a treatment plan.
Therapeutic phase
It is only necessary to put braces and aligners on healthy teeth. Since various inflammatory processes in the oral cavity, in the bones, dental caries can cause serious damage to the teeth, as a result of which you can not only experience severe pain, but also lose your teeth. After installing the braces, if you find inflammation or caries, you will need to remove the entire system, treat your teeth, and then go through the installation stage again. Remember that life with braces will take more than a year or two, so it is important to take care of the health and hygiene of your teeth before starting orthodontic treatment. With aligners, the situation is a little easier, because there is no special fastening system. But, if you have problems during the treatment that will urgently need to be eliminated, then there is a high probability that then the entire set of aligners will need to be redone again, and this entails financial and time costs.
What you need to do before installing braces and aligners without fail:
- treat caries, even the smallest lesions;
- replace old fillings;
- eliminate acute and chronic inflammatory processes on the gums and on the roots (gingivitis, periodontitis, etc.);
- remove tartar and plaque.
If any tooth is badly damaged, then it will be necessary to put crowns, and already to attach a bracket to them.
ATTENTION! DO NOT place an implant and then undergo orthodontic treatment. Because the position of the implants relative to the teeth will change as they move. And this can lead to the fact that the titanium implant will be in a completely different position.
Surgical stage
Whether this stage will be needed, or not, is determined purely by the state of the patient's dentition and the severity of the bite anomaly. This can be influenced by asymmetry, a different number of teeth in the dentition, or the presence of eighth teeth. It will be necessary to remove those teeth that will interfere with the correct formation of the bite. But this is not done in all cases. Sometimes the eighth teeth (wisdom teeth) can be left when they are not harmful, do not affect the situation and do not cause discomfort, but if they are horizontal, then they must be removed as soon as possible. Also, to obtain free space for aligning the teeth, doctors may resort to the extraction of premolar teeth.
Hygienic stage
It is equally important to do oral hygiene before placing braces or straightening teeth with aligners. Get your teeth polished just before starting your orthodontic treatment.
