If you have misaligned Teeth, chances are an orthodontist near you has suggested that you get Braces to align your smile and enhance your oral health. While aligning treatment is in your best interest, it can feel a bit overwhelming. When you first get traditional braces in Edmonton, it can be hard to follow all the information that your dentist is providing you. There are many components to braces, and knowing what each part is can make it a lot easier to understand how your treatment works and how it is progressing.

In this blog, our team at Legacy Orthodontics has put together a guide to help you learn and understand all the different parts of traditional braces near you and how they work to align your teeth and transform your smile.

How Do Braces Work?

To start, it is a good idea to know how exactly braces work. Braces are bonded to your teeth by an orthodontist in Edmonton to realign your teeth and enhance your appearance and oral health. Traditional braces work by placing continuous, gentle pressure on your teeth to encourage them to shift into the correct position. They are composed of brackets, wires, bands, hooks, springs, chains, and elastics. Here is a breakdown of each part and how it works to realign your teeth:

Brackets: these are the parts of braces that most people picture when they think of Traditional Metal Braces. Brackets are small, square-shaped pieces that are bonded to the front surface of the teeth. Each bracket has a slot that holds and supports the archwire. Some brackets also have hooks that are used to attach rubber bands.

Archwire: this is the metal wire that attaches to the brackets and creates a line across the front of the teeth. This is the portion of the braces that actually works to shift the teeth into the correct position. When you visit Legacy Orthodontics for checkups during your braces treatment, our orthodontist will adjust and tighten the archwire as needed to ensure that your teeth move into the correct position.

Bands: these are rings that fit around the molars and work to secure the archwire in place.

Hooks: as mentioned above, hooks are sometimes attached to the brackets to allow our orthodontist to place elastics.

Elastics: these are not always required with traditional braces, but sometimes, they are deemed necessary. Elastics are removable rubber bands that come in various colors and are attached to the hooks to connect the upper and lower teeth. The elastics apply a gentle pressure that helps correct alignment problems such as underbite and overbite.

Power chains: these are wire rings linked to one another to form a band between teeth. These are primarily used to narrow spaces between teeth and correct gapped teeth.

Coil springs: fitted over the archwire and between brackets, these small springs exert pressure to open up space between the teeth and rectify issues such as overcrowding.

There you have it, all the parts of traditional metal braces and how they work to transform your smile. It is important to note that not everyone will have all these parts in their treatment, and you should feel free to ask your dentist about the specific mechanisms involved in your treatment.

Traditional metal braces may seem complicated, but they are a very useful and successful orthodontic treatment that leaves patients feeling healthy and confident. If you would like to learn more about traditional braces, please get in touch with our team at Legacy Orthodontics today!

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