People have this fascination with do-it-yourself projects. It is quite fulfilling—when you are able to achieve something by yourself not only because it is practical and frugal. People applaud their nifty ability to showcase some resourcefulness, but like most things there ought to be a limit, especially where one’s health and well-being is concerned.
Orthodontic treatments are usually carried out with braces. It does marvellous things by combining the brackets, wires and rubbers together; but it is am expensive kind of treatment. With the heightened cost of treatment and the high demand for such, people are turning to DIY braces without realizing how dangerous it is.
Just how dangerous are do-it-yourself braces treatments?
The idea being sold is that it is easy to install braces and anyone can do that. People believe this and they brave moving their teeth on their own by changing the rubbers on their own. Unfortunately, they do not understand the danger they are facing:
• They do not understand that bracket placement is not merely putting them on the teeth. Those who are selling the braces illegally are advertising that it is very easy to install and some even include “installation” as part of the package. What they do not understand is that it is more than just sticking them on because there are measurements we follow when we adhere the brackets to teeth.
• They don’t understand that wires, brackets and rubbers come in different prescriptions. There are different types of brackets that we use depending on the case. Similarly, there are so many different wires and they come in different sizes to conform with certain cases and specific phases of the treatment. Even the use of rubbers and elastics are specific. There is a specific science to every movement that is carried out it is not just about putting the braces on.
• They do not understand that bone builds and bone breaks to allow movement. They think that since their teeth are moving and possibly getting the smile they’ve always wanted that it’s all fine. They are concentrating on what’s happening outside, they do not know what’s going on under. For teeth to move there should be a degree of bone breaking. That is, when you move the tooth to the right, the bone needs to break on that side to occupy the tooth. For the teeth to stabilize on its new place there should be a degree of bone building to occur. Adjustments are specifically timed so that there is a healthy bone breaking and building—putting too much force may seem that you are doing things faster and much more effectively, but are they accounting for the health of the gums, fibers and bones under? I don’t think so.
• They do not understand that they can lose their teeth if they make a wrong move. Given what was just mentioned on the previous point, subjecting the teeth to too much force will mean too much bone breaking and if this is not met by proper bone building, the tooth will become loose, and it can come out. Yes, you can lose your tooth if you are not careful.
The truth is that there is so much that they do not understand about orthodontic treatment and the action of the brackets, wires and rubbers that dentists put on the mouth of patients. It is so much more than just moving teeth, so DIY braces is an evil thing you should stay away from.
