How to tighten braces

Straight wire braces are pre angled and individualized for each piece, the position the crown and root will get will be determined by the brace base and gap’s angulations, that’ why braces must be placed in a determined position each dental piece. For this, the dentist uses an instrument called “star” that will allow him/her to find a geometric center to place the brace.

The center, where the brace will be out, is determined by the intersection of the horizontal line given by the star with the vertical one, which divides the tooth’s face in two. The tooth is cleaned up with a rotator brush, it’s also very effective the use of pumice stone. The acid engraving is done and the vestibular tooth face becomes white matte when it dries. The adhesive is placed of the brace’s base and on the tooth’s face; the brace is put with special tweezers of the determined center, the dentist corrects the position with an explorer until it is well aligned.

Wires

Wires used in orthodontics can be active or passive if they exert strength or not onto the teeth. They are used wires of steel, nickel, titanium or titanium nickel with copper. Steel wires are used to make removable and fixed appliances, to make different types of arcs that are unable to make with nickel titanium. They are used wires of 0.5 to 1.25 mm of diameter; they can be welded to other bands and wires.

For the straight arc they use wires of nickel and titanium, and even copper, these wires exert continuous strengths, have an extreme resistance to deformation, but with a prolonged use they get worn out, they can be folded anymore.

The NITINOL® wire used in orthodontics was a military discovery in the navy laboratories in the U.S.; it’s an alloy that has the capacity of getting back its original shape –it has a great memory- and that’s why it is used for braces placement. It moves the dental pieces until the wire gets straight –let’s keep in mind it doesn’t fold- for their reason is basic to place each brace on its normal position and one each tooth, since the gaps’ angulations are different.
There are braided, round and rectangular wires. The orthodontic treatment usually starts with a braided wire, which actually is formed with three folded wires that has an extreme flexibility, once they are placed they liberate the teeth and the alignment begins. For this, dentists use wires of 0.015 mm of diameter.

After this, the dentist place the round wire, which go from 0,012, 0,014, 0,016, 0,018 y 0,020 mm of diameter.

The rectangular wire is the last one to be placed; it’s used to twist the dental pieces. There are many seizes but the most used are the ones from 0,022 to 0,016.

Wires Ni-Ti

The wire is placed on the braces gaps and dentist use bands to hold them, whether metallic or elastic. The metallic bands are soft wires of 0.2 5mm. nowadays the elastic bands are the most used and come in different colors.