Our case of the month for September 2019 is one featuring a lingual brace. For those of you that follow our blog and case of the month series, we love lingual braces. They are hidden braces placed behind the teeth and hence the ONLY invisible brace despite what others may have you believe.
Before we show you the case, we will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of lingual braces. The technique is not for everyone and hence this is really useful information.
Advantages of Lingual Braces
- Cannot be seen; hidden from view
- Excellent at alignment, leveling, rotation correction when space is present
- Excellent at space closure when the bite allows
- No lip irritation
- No damage to the outer surfaces of the teeth whilst placing and removing
Disadvantages of Lingual Braces
- Contact on the brackets whilst biting, eating, chewing which is hard to get used to
- Harder to clean
- Tongue soreness
- Greater likelihood of knocking the brackets off inadvertently
- Use of lower night guard essential if only upper teeth are being treated
- Cannot be used if teeth are very crowded as there will not be enough space for the brackets to be placed
- Extremely fiddly for the treating dentist to place and adjust!
- More expensive than conventional braces- for good reason!
Here is our case, a great end result:
This was achieved using a full arch upper and lower conventional outside brace. Treatment completed by Dr Nissit Patel. Photographs cannot be replicated without strict prior consent.
