Uneven or crooked teeth can be a problem, not only for your confidence but also for your bite. When trying to straighten crooked teeth, dentists will often recommend having braces fitted.

Of course, the first image that jumps to mind are the traditional ‘metal braces’, which can cause confidence issues with your smile. These do tend to be a little obvious.

Luckily, dentistry has evolved and now, there are a range of different braces available to help realign your smile. With technologies becoming more available to a wider range of people, you may be thinking about trying a less visible approach to teeth straightening.

What are clear braces?

The hint is in the title. Clear braces are almost invisible to the naked eye and come in two different types, removable and fitted.

Fitted braces are attached to your teeth, just as traditional braces would be, whereas removable ones are custom made to fit in your mouth. One of our  clear braces in Clapham are a brand called Invisalign, which aims to straighten your teeth with maximum comfort.

Clear braces are used to correct moderate to mild alignment issues and therefore may not be suitable for everyone.

Will wearing them hurt?

We have all heard that braces are sometimes uncomfortable for some people, especially just after having them fitted or tightened. This discomfort is because traditional braces are working to straighten severely misaligned teeth, so they have to pull them with a fair bit of force to gain the desired effect.

Our removable brand of clear braces in Clapham, Invisalign, does not pull teeth but rather pushes them with ease in to their correct position by using pressure points, fitted within the brace. This is achieved gradually, so should not create any discomfort at all.

Do clear braces work?

Generally, the simple answer is yes.

If a member of our dental team feels you are a good candidate for clear braces, then you will certainly see an improvement in your teeth’s alignment over the first few months of wearing them.

Remember, that clear braces are only used to straighten mild to moderately misaligned teeth, so may not be suitable for you straight away. If your dentist feels that you need pre-treatment before getting clear braces, you may have to initially have traditional braces fitted. But don’t worry, this is temporary, and you will soon be wearing those clear ones!

As with all dental fittings, our team at Clapham South Dental Centre want to make the experience as pleasant as possible for you. If after you have had you clear braces fitted, you are in severe discomfort, we advise you to contact us straight away. However, it is worth noting that a mild amount of discomfort should be anticipated after having them fitted and our dental staff can advise you on how to manage this temporary side effect.

Think you are a candidate for clear braces? Contact us today for more information about clear braces.