General — 5 min read
Braces
The appliance that still handles what aligners cannot — and works whether or not you remember to wear it.
Screened and introduced free, usually within a few hours. Sunny Isles Beach, Florida and the surrounding corridor.
Indications
Fixed braces are often the better choice when
Braces bond a bracket to each tooth and connect them with an archwire. Because the appliance is fixed, force is continuous and does not depend on you putting anything back in.
- Severe crowding requiring extractions and bodily movement of teeth
- Significant rotations, particularly of premolars and canines
- Teeth that need to be moved vertically — intruded or extruded
- An impacted canine that must be exposed and guided into the arch
- A skeletal discrepancy being treated alongside jaw surgery
- You know yourself well enough to know removable appliances will not be worn
Good candidate if
- The case is complex, or aligners have been ruled out
- You want continuous force without relying on wear time
- You can adapt your diet and cleaning routine for the duration
- You will attend adjustments every six to eight weeks
No cost, no obligation, no lead list.
The detail
Metal, ceramic, self-ligating and lingual
The appliance that still handles what aligners cannot — and works whether or not you remember to wear it.
Traditional stainless steel brackets are the most efficient and the least expensive, and remain the benchmark for control. Ceramic brackets are tooth-coloured and far less visible, at slightly higher cost and with a little more friction in the system. Self-ligating brackets hold the wire with a built-in clip instead of an elastic tie, which reduces chair time at adjustments — evidence that they meaningfully shorten overall treatment is weaker than the marketing implies, though many orthodontists prefer them.
Lingual braces are bonded to the inside surfaces and are genuinely invisible from the front. They are the most technically demanding option, the most expensive, and require a few weeks of adjustment for the tongue and for speech. For adults who need the precision of fixed appliances but cannot accept visible brackets, they are the answer aligners often cannot provide.
The sequence
What actually happens, in order.
Timings vary between practices and cases. The order does not — and a plan that skips a step is worth asking about.
Records and plan
Radiographs, photographs and scans. Extractions, if part of the plan, are decided and explained here.
Bonding
Brackets bonded to each tooth and the first archwire placed. Sixty to ninety minutes, no anaesthetic needed.
Adjustments
Every six to eight weeks. Wires increase in stiffness through the sequence; elastics are added where the bite needs correcting.
Detailing
Final wire bends and settling elastics to perfect the contacts and the bite before removal.
Debond and retain
Brackets removed and adhesive polished off, then a bonded retainer and a removable one the same day.
Getting the right hands
Who should be doing your braces.
This is the variable that decides your result, and it is the one you have least ability to assess from the outside.
Not years in dentistry. How many of these they do in a month, and what the difficult ones looked like.
Anyone can photograph a result on delivery day. We want to see it after it has been used.
CBCT, microscope, scanner, printer — whichever this case genuinely requires, on site rather than referred out.
For anything ceramic, the technician is half the result. A dentist who cannot name theirs is outsourcing blind.
Braces FAQ
What people ask us about braces.
Including the cost question, answered with a real range rather than a request to call.
Metal braces typically run $4,000 to $7,000, ceramic $4,500 to $8,000, and lingual $8,000 to $13,000. Most orthodontic practices spread payment across the treatment period without interest, and many insurance plans include a lifetime orthodontic benefit of $1,000 to $2,500.
There is aching for two to four days after bonding and after each adjustment, which responds to over-the-counter analgesics and soft food. Brackets can rub the cheeks in the first week until the tissue adapts — orthodontic wax handles that. There is no pain during appointments themselves.
Aligners are excellent for mild to moderate cases and are far more discreet. Braces are more precise for severe rotations, vertical movement and extraction cases, and they work regardless of compliance. An orthodontist who offers both and recommends one with specific reasons is the person to listen to.
Hard and sticky foods that break brackets: ice, nuts, hard sweets, caramel, popcorn kernels, crusty bread. Cut apples and carrots rather than biting them. Each broken bracket adds an unscheduled visit and typically a week or two to treatment.
An interdental brush around every bracket, a water flosser daily, and fluoride toothpaste. Decalcification — permanent white square marks around where brackets were — is the main avoidable harm from braces, and it is entirely a cleaning problem.