There are lots of ‘do it yourself’ projects out there which you can complete successfully with just a little time and effort.
However, teeth straightening is not one of them. There’s a common misconception that braces are simple — you push on the tooth and it moves to where you want it, right? Wrong.
Dentistry is very complex. Human physiology, occlusion, biomechanics, craniofacial growth and development, tooth size, shape and morphology, as well as your overall lifelong dental health, must be taken into consideration.
The most basic and popular online method of DIY braces is placing a rubber band around teeth in an attempt to move them together. While this may cause teeth to move, it can also cause a number of complications like tooth fracture, gum damage, root damage, tooth loss, or serious medical problems.
It seems an attractive proposition to be able to move your own teeth, but when you move a tooth, the colour of the tooth might change because you are damaging the blood supply.
Blood circulates just below the surface of the oral mucosa (the mucous membrane lining the inside of the mouth), and the placement of toxic, non-sterile articles in the oral cavity can injure it and is a good recipe for infection.
These infections can spread through the blood and could become life threatening.
Another option gaining popularity involves companies that will send consumers kits to take impressions of their teeth, and will then send them alignment devices. They claim a qualified dentist oversees the process, but if ‘overseen’ means a doctor looks at some pictures and impressions over the Internet, and the patient is never actually seen, then there’s a problem.
Treating even a mild alignment problem is more complex than simply taking teeth impressions and fitting a device. At your dentist’s office every patient receives a set of dental health records, which include tooth x-rays. It’d also it is essential to have a dentist overseeing the treatment to monitor the progress and make the necessary corrections.
The bottom line? If you want straighter teeth, see your dentist – face to face. It takes a trained professional to position the teeth in their correct positions so no detrimental damage can occur.
So if you’ve decided that straightening your teeth at home isn’t such a good idea after all, then call us on 020 8088 2079 and we can discuss your options.
