Dental Education Lecture: Readjustment of Braces

One of Jeff's front teeth (#9 in Fig.1) is in cross bite.  So he needs braces. Placement of individual brace (B) decides the position of the tooth later on.  The doctor draws a cross (arrowheads), sticks the brace in the right place and place a wire (*), which is bent.

A few months later, the wire is straight and the tooth #9 is normal now (Fig.2).  But the cutting edge of the tooth #8 is crooked (black line).

A cross is redrawn (Fig.3).  Position of brace for the tooth #8 is changed from white line to black line.  The wire just placed is bent again (*).

In 4 weeks, the wire becomes straight again, causing the tooth #8 to align well with neighboring teeth (Fig.4).

Xin Wei, DDS, PhD, MS 1st edition 04/11/2011, last revision 04/11/2011