If you're looking at braces vs Invisalign to straighten your teeth, or your kid’s teeth, you may have a lot of questions. Which is more effective? Which is more affordable? Ultimately, you want the treatment that will do the job, even if its slightly more expensive. You don’t want to have to fix your teeth again in the long run! So, do you choose braces or Invisalign?
Getting Straight to the Basics
Braces consist of metal brackets being glued to your teeth, which are tied together by wires and tiny rubber bands. Nowadays, you can get brackets to more closely match your enamel colour which makes them look discrete, or you can choose coloured, and go all out and make a fashion statement with your mouth!
Invisalign, on the other hand is designed to be invisible. Aligner trays made of smooth, comfortable, BPA-free clear plastic are worn over your teeth to subtly and gently move your teeth. Your specialist will use x-rays, pictures, and impressions to create a precise 3-D image of your teeth to configure your aligner trays accordingly.
Top Five Reasons to Choose Invisalign
More Aesthetically Pleasing
The most obvious benefit of Invisalign clear braces is that they offer you the most aesthetically pleasing way to straighten your teeth. With traditional metal-wire braces you walk around letting other people know that you are in the process of straightening your teeth. Everyone can see your wire braces and this can easily lead to some embarrassing and uncomfortable moments. Metal wires in traditional braces can be the decisive factor in an adult’s decision to straighten their teeth. Who would want to walk into a business meeting and try to give a presentation with a mouth full of metal? With Invisalign clear braces you can straighten your teeth and no one will even have to know.
More Comfortable
Invisalign clear braces are made with soft plastic trays which are much more comfortable to wear than traditional metal-wire braces. Wire braces have a tendency to snag in the mouth and tear the soft tissues in the cheeks and lips which can be very uncomfortable and painful. Traditional braces can also be painful in the way that they straighten the teeth. Metal braces work by applying pressure to the teeth to gradually shift them into place. Invisalign, however, uses a series of plastic trays that gradually shift your teeth into place, requiring less pressure in the trays than wire braces.
Easier To Keep Clean
Traditional wire braces are wired into the patient’s mouth. Therefore, they cannot be removed and must be cleaned around. This can cause inadequate cleaning of the teeth which may lead to poor oral hygiene. The inability to clean the metal braces can also be uncomfortable for the patient. With Invisalign clear braces you can clean your trays and your own teeth for a clean mouth feeling without any hassle, just as if you weren’t undergoing treatment at all.
No Food Restrictions
With traditional metal braces, you have to restrict your diet so that you don’t chew any foods that may harm or get stuck in the metal. Gum and similar sticky foods are not allowed with traditional braces because they can permanently get stuck to the apparatus. Hard to chew foods are also usually restricted because they can damage the metal wires. With Invisalign you can remove the plastic trays while you eat, so there’s no fear that you may damage the trays or that you may get anything stuck to the trays. You can straighten your teeth without having to worry about not eating the foods you love.
Faster Results
Invisalign system’s results are faster than traditional metal braces. Metal braces can take an average of almost 36 months for the treatment to get done. And that’s not even the longest that braces may take. Some metal braces can even take up to eight years to straighten your teeth! With Invisalign the treatment takes just about one year at least and eighteen months at the most. Invisalign clear braces are approximately eighteen times faster at the longest treatment length.
