When is the right time to remove dental braces?
The process of orthodontic treatment with dental braces usually lasts for a period ranging from 6 months to 6 years. For the whole duration of the treament process, they perform an important job of properly aligning patient's teeth and occlusion (bite). Although the typical dental braces installation process may take up to 2-3 days, removing them is generally quick and painless and is done in a single visit.
Needless to say, most patients undergoing orthodontic treatment are eager to get their braces off as soon as possible. Due to the lack of patience, personal, esthetic or other reasons, some patients may even choose to remove dental braces sooner than advised by orthodontist. However, having the decision-making control control over the treatment process does not always help a patient to make the right choice. Removing dental braces ahead of time can be a costly mistake, which moreover, could erase all the eforts invested in a health, beautiful smile.
To achieve better results, cooperation with the orthodontist is invaluable. To ensure proper treatment, regular checkups are needed to allow the orthodontist to adjust dental braces as patient's teeth are aligned. Remember, that process of removing the dental braces is just as important as fixing and adjusting them. If done properly and well coordinated with the doctor, the treatment with braces will help to keep the teeth in newly aligned t position for the rest of your life.
How dental braces are removed?
Removing the braces is normally a quick, simple and painless procedure. All that needs to be done by the orthodontist is to clip the curve behind the braces with pliers and the bond between the teeth and braces is broken. This does make a loud clipping sound but is completely painless. Most people believe that the process of taking braces off involves pulling them thereby causing a lot of pain. This makes a majority of people fearful going to the orthodontist. However, this is accomplished delicately by fracturing the bonding material and squeezing the bracket and therefore does not cause any pain.
Removing bonding plastic
Once the brackets are removed, a layer of bonding plastic is left on teeth. This is removed by using a high speed hand piece that completely removes the plastic and polishes the enamel. Now the teeth are completely clean and free of any plastic. The process does not take too much time and the user is ready to go within minutes.
Retainers
Once you have taken the braces off, you may still have to wear a retainer that will help in keeping teeth in the new position. As a thumb rule, it takes about 9 months for the periodontal ligaments to stick to their new position. Hence, it is extremely important to wear the retainers properly or the teeth will shift back to their original position thereby wasting the time, effort and money that were put in getting braces and moving the teeth. These are easy to fix and adjust and the number of times a person has to visit the orthodontist also reduces by a great deal.
Now that you have got the braces off, the process that began months or years ago is finished. Most users feel that something is missing for the first few weeks after taking the braces off. However, within a few weeks the user gets used to teeth without braces and can lead a confident life.