Orthodontics is a dental specialty focused on treating irregularities in teeth, jaws, and facial structure. The goal is to create a healthy, functional bite, boosting disease resistance and enhancing appearance for overall well-being.

Specialist orthodontists are dentists with extra years of training, primarily in correcting misaligned teeth and jaws through braces and other methods.

They also specialize in dentofacial orthopedics, which involves normalizing jawbone structure to balance facial features.

While all orthodontists are dentists, only 6% hold the title of specialist orthodontists.

This version is more streamlined and gets straight to the point.

Many adults avoid orthodontic treatment simply because of the visibility of braces, which can be aesthetically unacceptable. Indeed, while the presence of braces is commonplace in children and teenagers, it can influence social relationships for an adult.

This influence can be so strong that some patients prefer to leave their teeth misaligned rather than wear visible braces.

Two solutions are generally available:

These are metal braces applied to the inside of the teeth and are therefore invisible.

Lingual (or internal) fixed braces are generally more expensive than traditional vestibular (external) braces, and this occurs for several reasons:
– The quality of the materials used,
– Elaborate appliance design,
– Collaboration with specialized laboratories,
– greater commitment on the part of the orthodontist (time, skills, responsibilities and equipment).

The poor success of lingual orthodontics is determined by some of the characteristics described above (cost, technical difficulties), but also by two other important factors:
– The presence of metal elements in direct contact with the tongue is uncomfortable and often painful for the patient,
– Treatment times, for an equivalent defect to be corrected, are on average longer than with other types of appliance,
– Individual sessions with the dentist are longer and more frequent,
– Treatment results are on average less satisfactory, even taking all the above points into account.

For the above reasons, we do not recommend lingual braces.

This type of treatment is generally recommended for adult patients who, over the years, have noticed a loss of symmetry in their smile and wish to realign their teeth without resorting to a conventional, unattractive fixed appliance.
Transparent aligners can also be a good alternative for growing patients, where this approach can deliver excellent results. In this case, however, it may be necessary to use mobile and/or fixed appliances before aligners can be used.
For aligner treatment to be effective, it is essential that the patient follows the dentist’s recommendations. The aligner must be worn at all times, day and night, and removed only for eating and brushing. Failure to observe the recommended wearing time for aligners can result in a slowdown or even failure of the treatment plan.

Are transparent aligners suitable for all patients?
Virtually all major orthodontic movements can be performed with aligners: horizontal, vertical and rotational.
Aligners can be used to close diastemas, i.e. open spaces between teeth (subject to the size and position of these spaces). Similarly, they can treat overhangs – i.e. where the upper incisors overhang the smaller lower incisors – as long as this condition remains mild or moderate.
Before starting treatment with aligners, the dentist must assess whether the appropriate conditions are present.
Obstacles to orthodontic therapy may include:
– Presence of active periodontal disease (receding gums).
– Presence of complex prosthetic restorations, such as bridges and implants.
– Inability of the patient to consistently comply with the dentist’s recommendations over long periods of time.
Finally, it’s important to remember that in medicine, there are no universally applicable treatments, so it’s necessary to trust the judgment of a specialist orthodontist in choosing the most suitable treatment plan.