The traditional metal brace has been a mainstay of clinics throughout the UK for many decades but at Clapham South Dental Center we are happy to introduce clear braces in Clapham to our local community, why?

Clear aligners have several advantages over traditional metal braces. This has made them perpetually popular amongst adult orthodontic patients.

How do clear aligners work?

Clear aligners operate on the same biological foundation as the traditional metal brace; teeth, with enough coaxing from continued moderate pressure, can be encouraged to alter their position and orientation, allowing an orthodontist to restructure and reorganise your smile. Clear aligners just provide another way of doing this. Unlike a traditional brace where you would attend a meeting with our dentist every 4 weeks in order to have your brace readjusted or tightened based on observations made during the appointment, an aligner does not need this and can be changed at home.

With clear braces in Clapham and their fitting, the first stage is to take an extremely accurate recording of your teeth position which can be done via a dental mould. But a faster and more convenient option that we have is to use an inter-oral scanner.

The resulting 3D scan is used to calibrate a digital model of the patient’s mouth, so our orthodontist can then use this model to perform any adjustments they wish to by placing the teeth in an optimal position. From this finalised optimal position, the software can predict what movement paths the teeth have to take in order to achieve the final results.

With this information, a set of aligners can be inferred and their unique shapes generated in order to move the teeth in accordance with the computer model. The designs for these aligners are sent to 3D printers who manufacture them. This allows aligners to go from the scanning stage to being delivered within four weeks.

With almost all of the orthodontic planning completed before the patient is involved, the only thing left to do is wear your aligners in order to achieve the desired result.

Using clear aligners

For treatment with clear aligners to be effective, you have to wear them for a minimum of 22 hours a day; this is considered necessary and any reduction in that time not only extends the overall treatment schedule but can also result in a common orthodontic complication known as reversion. This is when teeth begin to return to their original starting position; it is only seen in traditional braces when they are removed but as you have the freedom to remove your aligners at home, it can be seen midway through treatment.

Patients don’t find this to be a big problem as aligners are only used for 2-weeks, each as part of a series. But remember, you have to keep the clear braces in Clapham in as long as possible each day and may find it beneficial to set reminders and watch the clock, especially during the first few weeks of wear as you adapt to them. If you have concerns that your teeth are reverting at any stage of treatment, call our team.