Beware of Do It Yourself Orthodontics!!
Patients and parents alike need to be aware of the dangers of do it yourself orthodontics. With trending internet challenges, social media crazes, and every day peer pressure, more and more patients are attempting to straighten their teeth using some pretty outlandish treatment methods
We’ve heard of patients using rubber bands to try and close spacing, bending paperclips around their teeth, and even putting earring backs on a rubber band to simulate the look of braces. There are even people illegally advertising low cost braces online that are not educated or trained dental professionals at all.
Orthodontists study for years in order to be able to provide safe and professional treatment to their patients. Dr. Bentley is a Board Certified Orthodontist, which means that he pursued continuing education even further than was necessary and proved his skills in a very rigorous examination process to a board of experts. Only 40% of orthodontists achieve this certification. Whether the dentist is board certified or not, there is a lot of training and expertise needed in order to provide safe and efficient orthodontic treatment.
Attempting to move teeth when you are not properly trained and certified can lead to a myriad of problems down the road. You may experience loose teeth, gum and soft tissue irritation, infection, pain in your teeth and jaw, root resorption(dissolving of the root of your tooth), or possibly even tooth and bone loss. Problems that arise from improper orthodontic treatment can require reconstructive dentistry to address and could get pretty expensive. In the end, you could wind up spending more money to fix those problems than it would have cost you to straighten your teeth the correct way.
At Bentley Orthodontics, we believe that the do it yourself mail in aligner therapies that you see advertised on television should be in this category as well. A lot of those companies do not utilize a licensed orthodontist when creating these aligners. The patients aren’t required to routinely see the orthodontist to monitor their progress and make the necessary adjustments, so often times you will encounter aligners not fitting properly and the treatment not going as planned . Most of the time the patients are simply given the aligners with basic instruction and left to monitor the treatment themselves.
We have scheduled a lot of consultation appointments with patients who attempted the mail-in aligner therapy, either because it caused problems with their teeth, or it simply didn’t work as well as they had hoped. Most of the time those patients need to go into traditional braces in order to complete their case. Sometimes, those patients present with problems so drastic that further orthodontic treatment is not a possibility and they have to accept a compromised result.
In general, it’s never a good idea to try to move your teeth by yourself. The art of orthodontics is complex, meticulous, and takes years of study and training to perfect. If you are thinking about straightening your teeth and improving your smile trust an orthodontic professional to handle your case. You will get the smile you want in a safe and efficient way that will help you avoid some of the pitfalls of the do it yourself orthodontics.
Dr. Bentley has over 35 years of experience in creating beautiful smiles that his patients are proud to show off. He has completed over 12,000 cases, so there’s almost nothing he hasn’t seen and treated. Moreover, Dr. Bentley has taken the extra steps to become Board Certified so that he could offer our patients the best orthodontic treatment available. If you’re gonna do it, do it right! Give us a call to set up your complimentary consultation and let us show you the difference a Board Certified Orthodontist can make!
Below you can view a similar article on do it yourself orthodontics from the AAO (American Association of Orthodontics)
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