As your choice for a family orthodontist in Southlake and Bedford, TX, one of the things that we pride ourselves on the most is our safe and professional orthodontic treatments. At Johnson & Collins Orthodontics, the safety of our patients is our number one concern, and we’ll do whatever’s possible to ensure that you get the utmost care when you’re undergoing our braces treatments. We feel like this is vital for us to bring up because there’s an alarming new trend we need to warn you about – DIY (do-it-yourself) braces.
Why you shouldn’t DIY braces
DIY braces are essentially an attempt by a patient to shift his or her teeth without the help of a family orthodontist. This is done sometimes as a shortcut to avoid the hard work of a braces treatment and it’s sometimes done to save some extra money. Due mainly to its growing popularity on YouTube, DIY braces have unfortunately turned into a popular fad. According to the American Association of Orthodontists, about 13 percent of its member orthodontists have reported that they have patients who’ve used DIY braces or a similar method to straighten their teeth. After watching random people online straighten their teeth by themselves, they believed they could too. Using primitive methods and objects, such as rubber bands, dental floss, string, and even paper clips, these amateur orthodontists embark on a journey to give themselves a straighter smile.
If you couldn’t tell…this almost always ends in disaster.
The reason this is such a terrible idea is because the field of orthodontics is so amazingly complex; there’s no way that someone who doesn’t have any orthodontic experience can master the ability to straighten a patient’s teeth…much less their own! Orthodontists have mastered tools and techniques designed to exert the perfect amount of force levels and motions on a patient’s teeth – both to move the teeth into their proper position and to keep them as safe as possible. DIY braces don’t match that precision. In many of these cases, the rubber bands (or similar objects) end up cutting off the blood flow to a tooth, killing it in the process and requiring a tooth extraction. What started as an attempt to save a few thousand dollars ends up with a person having to spend tens of thousands of dollars, just to repair the damage that he or she did in the first place. So please…if you listen to just one thing we tell you: Don’t try this at home.
Contact your Southlake & Bedford family orthodontist!
If you believe your smile isn’t as beautiful as it could be, please contact a professional like your Bedford and Southlake family orthodontist. We encourage you to book a free consultation with us through our website or by giving us a call at one of our two convenient locations. Learn more about orthodontics on our blog. We hope to hear from you soon and promise to give you the safest orthodontic treatment possible.