Friday, May 10, 2024

Train-track braces are the quickest route to straighter teeth – and better cheekbones

Modern aligners aren’t the only treatment for crooked teeth; my fixed braces worked wonders in four months

SmileDirectClub, the “orthodontics disruptor” that popularised clear, affordable teeth aligners by mail order, went bust last autumn and I wondered whether the world was falling out of love with designer braces. My interest was more than professional: at the time, I was gearing up to get my own upper and lower braces fitted and, unlike every other adult I knew, I’d decided against invisible aligners in favour of the metal train tracks I’d scarcely seen since school.

I should say that I tried Invisalign many years ago and was an undeniably bad patient. Exasperated at the hokey-cokey of removing the aligners before every cuppa, I lasted only a month. I felt that the success of such an expensive treatment should ideally be in the hands of experts, not dependent on my own diligence and willpower. Whenever anyone I knew saw another three months added casually on to their treatment timeline, they were told (rightly, no doubt) that it was their own fault for not wearing the aligners for the requisite 22 hours a day. So when I visited Edward and Tanya at The ABC Smile in London, about making over my crooked, chipped and moving teeth, and they were adamant that (marginally cheaper) fixed braces with modern white ceramic blocks and bands would be a faster, better and more predictable first step than aligners, I felt oddly relieved.

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