Orthodontic treatment plays an important role in reforming your aesthetics, teeth and jaw (TMJ) functionality and maintaining your oral health in the long term as it prevents accumulation of food deposits in between the crevices of your teeth and thus decreasing the incidences of tooth decay and gum recessions. The teeth guide the jaw to move in an aligned manner allowing for prolonged ease of function, minimal wear of teeth thus maintaining the youthful look of the face.

When you have mal-aligned teeth that compromises your aesthetics and bite, you will be advised to undergo orthodontic treatment. With the advancements in the modern orthodontics patients now-a-days are lucky to have a variety of options to reach the ideal results. Let’s look at the most recent advances moving towards the more traditional.

Types of Braces

With so many advances in the field of dentistry, modern orthodontics now offers different forms of treatments methods.

Invisible Clear Aligners

These are the latest form of treatment modality. These Aligners are virtually invisible. Hardly anyone gets to know you’re straightening your teeth. So now you can align your teeth and get the smile you have always desired without having any social inhibition.
One of the oldest systems and the path breakers of invisible aligner therapy was INVISALIGN™ (USA). Over the last decade the technology has seeped in India making clear aligner more affordable to a larger Indian population for simpler cases. However for complex regular orthodontic treatment Invisalign is always a better investment.

Self Ligating Braces

These braces are smaller and more aesthetic since it has a small door to hold wires in place, thus it doesn’t make use of elastics, making it more comfortable and pain free to patients. Though clear elastics are available for regular ceramic braces the Indian diet tends to affect the colour stability of these turning them yellow and hence self-ligating braces has come as a major relief for the Indian population. Damon braces are trademarked high end self ligating system of braces that are available in metal as well as in the ceramic forms. Damon braces are one of the famous systems and the path breakers in self ligating braces. Major benefits of these braces include:

• Easier to clean
• Less painful with faster treatment time
• Fewer appointments and longer intervals between your subsequent appointments with superior treatment finishes.
• The course of treatment is similar as compared to the traditional braces but the journey is much smoother. Both variants have metal and clear versions and a single metal wire that does the work.

Ceramic Tooth Coloured Braces

Ceramic braces are tooth coloured braces that will be attached to your teeth which later will engage the metal wire. These are very similar to the traditional braces but clear ceramics take up the tooth colour thus making them relatively inconspicuous unless someone is really close to you.

Metal Braces

Traditional Metal Braces are the oldest form of treatment modality which consists of metal braces and wire. Being metal, it will be visible. However, modern brackets are smaller and less noticeable than the “metal-mouth” braces than many adults remember. Nowadays it is still in use exclusively for kids in the school age group.

Procedure

After your consultation, your orthodontics records, pre treatment photographs and x-rays will be taken. Following which once your orthodontic treatment is started, it will be completed in 4 to 14 visits depending on the complexity and mode of your treatment.

Treatment Charges

While making an investment in yourself that is to last a lifetime you will want to ensure that you are receiving the best treatment possible. We offer affordable payment options/EMIs for every budget. All your treatment costs and financial options will be discussed with you during consultation. The treatment charges for orthodontic treatment varies from Rs.40,000/- to Rs.3,00,000/-
Metal – Rs40,000
Ceramic – Rs50,000
Inman Aligners – Rs75,000
Self ligating Braces – Rs85,000 to Rs95,000
Invisible Aligners – Rs1,20,000
Lingual – Rs1,25,000
Invisalign(TM) (USA) – Rs3,00,000

FAQs

What is the right age group for orthodontic treatment?

• Orthodontic treatment can start from as young as 7 years where the teeth and more importantly the jaw growth can be monitored. All functional appliance therapy, myo-braces and serial extraction orthodontics, are commonly performed procedures in this age group.
• In the pre teens all the above as well as clear aligner therapy and braces can be easily done
• In the adults regular orthodontics treatments as well as surgical orthodontics can be performed
• In patients even up-to 50 years orthodontics can be performed selectively as an adjunct to gum or cosmetic treatments. Patients of all ages from young children to middle aged people are suitable to undergo orthodontic treatment provided if your bone density is good.

Am I a candidate for braces treatment or is cosmetic dentistry an option?
If you are young and your teeth are misaligned but in the perfect shape and colour, then braces or orthodontic treatment is the right path for you. However, if you are unhappy with the shape or colour or texture of your teeth then looking at cosmetic dentistry is a sensible option. Even in such cases, braces can be used for pre-aligning the teeth where required. Here; pre aligning with use of recent advances like Inman aligners can considerably shorten treatment time. The basic principle to follow here would be – ‘Treat young patients Idealistically and treat adult patients Realistically’.

How much time does it take for braces treatment to align the teeth?
Orthodontic treatment requires a minimum of 8-10 months to align the teeth. In adult patients , where minor corrections for only front teeth are targeted, 6- 7 months should be adequate. With use of Inman Aligners the treatment span can be shortened to around 12-16 weeks. In the first visit the braces will be placed ,followed by monthly recalls to monitor and guide the progress. In case of clear aligners and Invisalign the entire treatment can be completed with just 4-5 clinical visits.

Do I have to remove teeth for braces treatment?
Not necessarily… It depends on the position of your jaws and your expectation from the treatment. Your dentist will take a series of x rays to determine whether removal of teeth are a must.

Is the treatment very painful?
Slight discomfort may be experienced with the brackets if present till the lips and teeth adjust around it.

Will my mouth be full of metal during orthodontic treatment?
Well, with the advancements in dentistry; that is a non-entity. One can opt for ceramic /clear brackets or even bracket less systems (consisting of only series of trays) such as Clearpath or Invisalign.

Will Self ligating wires take more time than traditional braces?
The time taken in case of self- ligating wire is similar to traditional braces, but you will be given appointments at a longer interval that is once in every 2 months. There by decreasing your frequent visit to your orthodontist as you have to in case of traditional braces. 

What are the treatment charges for Self Ligating Braces?
The treatment charges would be Rs.85,000. You can pay it in instalments in your every visit.

Orthodontic Treatment consists of two phases, active phase and passive phase. The active phase consists of braces and the passive phase consists of retainers.

What is the importance of retainers?
The teeth have the tendency to move back to its original position, retainers prevent the teeth from moving back to its position by allowing the bone to harden around the new tooth position, thereby preventing the relapse of the treatment. During the retention phase the patient doesn’t need to visit the clinic as the treatment is essentially completed.

Retainers are a very important phase of orthodontic treatment post completion of active tooth movement. Usually lasts for 10-12 months: full time.