Orthodontics

Written by the Shield Dental Care team, Burke VA

Orthodontics moves teeth through bone by applying gentle, sustained pressure over months. That is true at fourteen and at forty — what changes with age is how quickly the bone responds, and what else has to be dealt with first.

Braces or clear aligners

Fixed braces are brackets bonded to the teeth and joined by a wire. Because they are fixed they work continuously, and they handle movements that are difficult otherwise: rotating a tooth, closing a large gap, correcting a significant bite discrepancy. The costs are visibility, more effort to clean around, and a list of foods to avoid.

Clear aligners are a sequence of removable transparent trays. They are far less visible and come out for eating and cleaning, and for mild to moderate cases they work well. The catch is in the word removable: they work only while they are being worn. Aligner treatment that falls behind schedule has almost always fallen behind because wear time slipped.

Mild crowding, mild spacing and relapse after earlier treatment are typical aligner territory. Severe crowding, real bite correction and complex rotations are usually more predictable with fixed braces. Plenty of cases sit between the two, and there preference reasonably decides it.

Treating as an adult

Bone remodels more slowly in an adult, so the same movement generally takes longer. Growth also cannot be used — in a child a jaw discrepancy can sometimes be guided as the face develops; in an adult the teeth are moved within the jaws you already have. The outcome is not age-limited.

What matters more is what else is going on. Gum disease must be treated and stable before teeth are moved, because moving teeth through bone that is already being lost accelerates the loss. Existing crowns, bridges and fillings all affect the plan, and an implant cannot be moved at all — it is fused to bone rather than held in a ligament, so it is worked around.

Why it is not only cosmetic

Appearance is a perfectly good reason. But crowded teeth collect plaque where a brush cannot reach, and an uneven bite loads some teeth far harder than others. Both arguments hold regardless of how the result looks.

The shortcut that is not orthodontics

For mildly crooked front teeth, veneers can produce a straight-looking result in weeks rather than months. The difference is worth stating plainly: orthodontics moves your teeth, while veneers permanently reshape their surface. For anything beyond mild, veneers are a shortcut that does not hold.

Retention is not optional

Teeth drift back toward where they started. Retainers are what prevent it, with either treatment, and a large share of adult cases are people who had braces as teenagers and stopped wearing theirs. Any plan that does not say what happens after the teeth have moved is incomplete.

Treatments at Shield Dental Care

What we do for this, and what each appointment involves.

• Orthodontist in Burke VA

  Get a straighter, healthier smile with a trusted orthodontist in Burke VA. Shield Dental Care offers braces, clear aligners, and personalized treatment.

Articles

2 articles from the Shield Dental Care team.

• Adult Orthodontics

  Straightening teeth as an adult — what is different from treating a teenager, how long it takes, and what to expect. Burke, VA.

• Braces or Clear Aligners: How to Choose

  The practical differences between fixed braces and clear aligners — what each treats best, and how to decide. Shield Dental Care, Burke VA.