Damon Brace System Results
Parts/Glossary
Archwire
A metal wire that is attached to your brackets to move your teeth.
Bonding
The process of attaching brackets to your teeth using a special safe adhesive.
Bracket
Brackets are the small metal or ceramic modules attached to each tooth. They serve as guides to move the teeth and hold the archwire in place.
Cephalometric X-Ray
An x-ray of the head that shows if your teeth are aligned and growing properly.
Chain
A stretchable plastic chain used to hold archwires into brackets and to move teeth.
Consultation
Spaces between teeth are another common problem treated with orthodontics. Like crowding, spacing may be related to a tooth-to-jaw size disharmony.
Debonding
The removal of cemented orthodontic brackets.
Elastics
During various phases of treatment, small elastics or rubber bands are used as a gentle but continuous force to help individual tooth movement or the aligning of jaws.
Herbst appliance
An appliance that is designed to correct bites and improve facial profiles.
Impressions
The first step in making a model of your teeth. You bite into a container filled with a rubber-type material. That material hardens to produce a mold of your teeth.
Interceptive Treatment
Orthodontic treatment that is usually done between the ages of 6 and 10. The objective of interceptive orthodontic treatment is to provide orthopedic intervention, so that later orthodontic treatment goes quicker and is less painful.
Panoramic X-Ray
An x-ray taken by a machine that rotates around your head to give your orthodontist a picture of your teeth, jaws and other important information.
Photographs
Facial and intraoral photographs will be taken throughout treatment.
Orthodontic Adjustment
An evaluation of your progress where your wires may be changed to keep your treatment on track and moving forward.
Orthotontic Records
These records, which include cephalometric and panoramic x-rays, digital photos and study models, help your orthodontist determine what treatment needs to be done.
Retainer
An appliance you to wear after your braces are removed. The retainer attaches to your upper and/or lower teeth and holds them in the correct position while the teeth adjust to their new position.
Separators/Spacers
A plastic or metal part that the orthodontist uses to create space between your teeth for bands.
Wax Bite
A procedure to measure how well your teeth come together. You bite a sheet of wax and leave bitemarks in the wax. This helps the orthodontist relate the upper and lower models of your teeth together.