Dental Health Check with Dr. Linda Niessen
Dental health topics from Dr. Linda Niessen of Baylor College of Dentistry
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 Hidden Braces

By Web Communications
Baylor College of Dentistry
The Texas A&M Health Science Center
Monday, December 04, 2006

STORY:  HIDDEN BRACES
SCRIPT #707 SHOOT:  11/08/06
AIRDATE:  Monday, Dec. 4, 2006
DHC Master #18   Timecode: 53:04

Throughout a lifetime, crooked, crowded teeth can cause health problems. But orthodontics offer more choices than ever before. One reason: computers are designing and fabricating the braces. Dr. Linda Niessen looks at the latest trend in today’s Dental Health Check.

No one notices that Chris Horner has orthodontic braces. All the hardware hides behind his teeth. Chris wears a new type of lingual braces. They are smaller and interfere less with speech.   

“I’ve been extremely pleased with them," said Chris. "Really, quite frankly, it was only about a 7 to 9 day period of discomfort, which I imagine you would get with any type braces.”

Chris did not qualify for the popular Invisalign clear plastic trays, called aligners. His case was too complicated. So Chris’ orthodontist, Dr. Cliff Alexander, suggested new braces made by a Dallas company called LingualCare.

“So this new appliance that we have is much smaller," said Dr. Alexander. "Patients jump out of the chair and can speak perfectly.”

In older lingual braces, large brackets often cause speech problems. Dentists also spend hours bending the wires by hand.

“And so that has always been a challenge to get over,” he added.

With LingualCare, small, computer-designed brackets mold to fit each individual tooth. Robot technology, not the orthodontist, bends the custom wires which are changed less frequently than conventional wires.

“And the cool thing about lingual too," Chris Horner added, "is you can see the progress as you go.”

With Invisalign aligners and the new lingual braces, computer technology designs and makes the appliances. In many cases, this translates into more efficient and quicker treatment. And people don’t know you’re wearing braces. For Baylor College of Dentistry, Texas A&M Health Science Center, I’m Dr. Linda Niessen, Channel 8 News.
 

Dr. Linda Niessen, clinical professor in the Department of Restorative Sciences and  the Office of Communications and Development at Baylor College of Dentistry, hosts Dental Health Check, the only weekly dental feature shot on location in the nation.

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