If you never had braces as an adolescent or didn’t complete your treatment and still feel down about a crooked or crowded smile, don’t give up hope. It’s not too late to do something about the smile you’ve become adept at hiding.
Remember that the window for orthodontic treatment doesn’t end when adulthood begins. There are multiple corrective options to choose from. Dr. Mehdy Rad, Dr. David Rad, Dr. Carmine Petrarca, and the entire Rad Orthodontics team have restored the confidence of many adult patients.
We offer the total orthodontic package for adults — advanced technology, increased comfort, fast treatment time, and braces that are more subtle than the “metal mouth” look familiar to previous generations. We also cater to your busy life with early morning and evening appointment availability.
Orthodontics offer lasting solutions, no matter your age
Just because you’re an adult doesn’t mean you can’t get orthodontic treatment to correct:
- Crowded teeth
- Gaps between teeth
- Overbites
- Underbites
Whether you’re a member of Gen Z, a millennial, or a bona fide boomer, you should feel super about your smile. Braces also eliminate jaw pain that arises from alignment issues and help correct facial asymmetry problems.
Braces gradually realign your teeth by applying consistent pressure to shift them. Amazingly, your jawbone slowly adapts to your teeth shifting and can make room for them or fill a void as teeth relocate.
Adult orthodontic treatment offers many advantages
Though cosmetic concerns are what bring many adult patients to us, orthodontic problems can have severe consequences to your oral health:
- Bite problems contribute to gum disease and tooth decay
- Misaligned teeth can hinder your ability to chew and wear away at tooth enamel
- Gaps between teeth can lead to facial asymmetry and a sunken look
We create completely individualized treatment plans, and we’re proud that our practice is known for providing treatment that meets your goals sooner than expected.
Braces aren’t just made of metal anymore
Traditional metal braces still exist, but if it’s important for you to have a less noticeable option as you undergo treatment, we’ve got many options for you to consider.
A bonus? Our adult patients consistently rank these methods highly in terms of effectiveness, comfort, and efficiency.
Clear aligners and braces
InvisalignⓇ clear aligners are popular with our adult patients because they’re barely noticeable. They have no brackets, and you wear these single tray-like items on your top and bottom teeth. They fit securely in your mouth, yet you can conveniently remove them when you eat. This means that you don’t have to limit what you eat like you do when you are wearing braces, and oral hygiene is easier.
Treatment duration is about 1-2 years, but you can reach your goals faster if you wear them all the time, excluding meals. They’re comfortable, and we have extensive experience treating patients with Invisalign — in fact, we treat over 1,000 patients with them each year!
We can also fit you with clear or tooth-colored braces, which are made from ceramic material. They’re also less conspicuous than traditional braces, but larger, so you must pay attention to daily oral care with these.
With these braces, the metal archwire goes through each bracket, but they’re still barely visible.
Metal braces are still available, and we can make them fun with different rubber band colors, but many of our adult patients favor clear braces due to their invisibility.
Self-ligating braces
Self-ligating braces are similar to traditional metal braces. Instead of using rubber bands to connect metal, ceramic, or clear brackets, they employ clips that work in conjunction with the archwires to reposition your teeth.
Since elastics don’t need replacing, you don’t have to visit our office as frequently, and they’re more comfortable to wear.
Lingual braces
The brackets of these braces are placed behind your teeth, so they’re invisible too. We offer IncognitoⓇ lingual braces. Our patients, who are contact sports enthusiasts and performers, particularly like these.
Speed up your treatment with these special tools
We offer two other complementary treatments that turbo-charge your progress: the PROPELⓇ and AcceleDentⓇ Aura systems. These technologies work in concert with your braces or aligners and shave treatment time markedly.
The PROPEL device makes minute dimples in the bone that surrounds your teeth. The dimples make your teeth more flexible and cause more bone growth, while the AcceleDent Aura tool delivers vibrations to your bone that spurs cellular growth and speeds up the shifting process for your teeth.
Here’s how to get started
If you’ve had enough of hiding your smile, schedule a consultation with us to look into adult orthodontic treatment, finally. You deserve it! Call one of our four conveniently located offices or reach out to us through our website.