Monday 6 September 2010

Crooked Teeth and Newspapers

It is always interesting when dentistry hits the news, well as a dentist it is sometimes interesting how stories are portrayed. This weekend I had a 'features' article pushed under my nose about using clear braces to straighten crooked teeth and the newspaper made mention of the television series 'Ugly Betty'. I am told that the title partly refers to her ugly metal braces. Orthodontics, which is the movement of teeth to the correct position, has made some tremendous advances over the past few years. As a student, admitedly a little while ago, I only saw one adult patient, but now I am seeing people in their 60s for treatment with clear braces. The more conventional metal braces are still important, but in certain cases we are able to move the teeth using clear braces such as Invisalign, which has even been mentioned in 'Ugly Betty'.

Invisalign can be used to treat upper and lower arches to close spaces between teeth and to help overcome crowding of the teeth. The key features of Invisalign are:

Invisible, no-one will know that you are in treatment
Removable, eating drinking and cleaning don’t present any problems
Comfortable, no brackets or wires.
Convenient, shorter and less frequent appointments.
Teeth remain intact and natural

We do offer a free consultation to assess suitability for treatment with clear braces and answer any questions you may have about the treatment.

The next bit of news was BBC Radio's Chris Evans' newspaper review that included a pievce on the importance of good toothbrushing for a healthy body. As we enter 'National Smile Month' we tend to focus on importance of a confident smile, but the start point always has to be a healthy smile.

Keep smiling