Elastic Bands

Elastic Bands
Posted on 01/23/2018

While most people are undoubtedly familiar with braces and what their purpose is, you may not be quite as familiar with the elastic bands (or rubber bands) that are sometimes found in a person’s braces. It’s not uncommon for us to get questions about them and you may even be wondering yourself about what they do and what the point of them is. As your orthodontist in Muscle Shoals and serving the Shoals area, we at Hudson Orthodontics will be glad to tell you all about them.

What Do Elastic Bands Do?

Metal braces, clear braces, and clear aligners may be used to align your teeth and give you a straighter smile, but the drawback to this is that they can only work on each individual set of teeth. These orthodontics can straighten your teeth, but since the upper and lower set of teeth aren’t connected to each other, they can’t do anything about correcting bad bites where there’s a poor relationship with each set of teeth. To correct this relationship, there needs to be something that pulls them together – something like elastic bands.
 
For patients who are wearing metal or clear braces, elastic bands can help pull both sets of teeth together to align them and fix bite problems. While elastic bands aren’t the only kind of orthodontic device that can be used to improve the relationship between both sets of teeth, they’re actually the most common because they offer many different advantages that include the following:

  • Elastic bands are capable of fixing just about any kind of bite problem.
  • They’re much more discreet when compared to other orthodontic options.
  • Elastic bands are easy to put in and take out.
  • A patient will still maintain a full range of motion with normal jaw functions while elastic bands are in.
  • They’re much less expensive than alternative options.

The last thing that we should add is that in order for elastic bands to work properly, they’ll need to be worn as much as possible. When you’re not taking them out to eat or clean them, they should always be left in so that they can fix the relationship of your sets of teeth in a much quicker manner.

Visit Your Muscle Shoals Orthodontist!

If you’re interested in visiting your children and adult orthodontist in Muscle Shoals and the Shoals area, please feel free to give us a call at (256) 383-8736. Alternatively, you can fill out our appointment request form to schedule a visit through our website. We can’t wait to see you and provide you with the best in orthodontics!