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So, you’ve decided that you want to have your teeth straightened, what system do you go for? With so many options out there at the moment from traditional metal braces, through to invisible braces and finally ceramic braces it can often be difficult to know.

So this page is dedicated to helping you understand the difference between metal braces and ceramic braces so that you can be in a better position to make the best decision when it comes to having your orthodontic treatment.

What are the deciding factors about which brace is best?

The decision about which type of brace you have depends on many factors including.

• The arrangement between your top teeth and bottom teeth, in other words your bite.
• The requirement for you to have jaw surgery as part of your orthodontic therapy. (This is fairly rare).
• The amount of time that you need to wear your braces.
• The specific type of treatment, sometimes you may need to wear a headgear to necessitate the correct movement of your teeth.
• The preference of your individual orthodontist or dentist.
• Your aesthetic preferences, ceramic braces are generally much more invisible than metal braces.
• The cost of treatment.

Metal Braces

Generally speaking metal braces are made of a silvery coloured material, although modern braces can also sometimes be made in gold. Metal braces are exceptionally strong and I generally suitable for most types of treatment due to their inherent strength. Modern metal braces are bonded to the surface of your tooth, and so have a minimal impact on the tooth itself. The arch wire is then connected to these brackets using a little rubber band called a ligature. In some cases these ligatures can be in a variety of colours to make your metal braces even more jazzy!

There are a variety of different types of metal braces within this category. Each with a slightly different design by a different specialist orthodontist, and whilst this is rather interesting for dentists it is not really interesting for patients to know the details of whether braces are self ligating or not!

Ceramic Braces

Tom Cruise and ceramic braces

The biggest advantage of ceramic braces is the fact that they are generally more tooth coloured. They are made of an especially strong composite material which generally speaking is resistant to staining. As with metal braces there are a variety of manufacturers of ceramic braces. You may also be interested to know that Tom Cruise was one of the celebrities that had ceramic braces fitted to misaligned teeth.

Which ceramic braces the ligatures which connect the brackets to the art wire are also generally tooth coloured, this means the whole of the system blends in to the tooth making the braces almost invisible.

Where does six month smiles fit into this?

Six month smiles offers ceramic bracket braces and is a revolutionary new system. It uses a specially designed bracket which allows for rapid tooth movement much faster than conventional ceramic or metal braces. Generally speaking six month smiles is also cheaper than conventional orthodontics, making it more appealing and obtainable by more people.

Having said this, it is not always possible to use six month smiles with every patient and this is why at Evolve Dentistry on the outskirts of Bristol we have our own orthodontist who is able to offer the full range of metal and ceramic braces to deal with the widest range of orthodontic possibilities.

Here’s a video of what one of our patients said after having ceramic braces fitted by up our dental practice

Six month smiles have a great YouTube channel where you can see many videos about the treatment.