We very much live in an instant, ‘I’d like it yesterday’ kind of world – where everyone wants fast braces and an instant smile makeover.

So how fast are fast braces really? And what does fast braces mean for you?  In truth, you’ll need to see a specialist orthodontist to get an accurate estimate of how long it’ll take to move your teeth. Orthodontics, the movement of teeth, is a biological process and because of this, there isn’t a ‘one-size fits all’ treatment time. A number of things will affect your treatment time.

Your treatment expectation – how perfect do you want your smile, and how wonky are they to begin with?

You can’t know how fast treatment will be unless you first decide what result you’ll be happy with. Additionally, what result is possible. It’s important to consider where do your teeth and jaws need to be for excellent health, function and aesthetics?

But of course, the less movement, the faster the treatment! It is possible to have a short course of aesthetic orthodontics that focuses on just your front 6 smiling teeth and not address your bite and your mouth as a whole.

This is what you’ve likely seen advertised as “Straighten your teeth in as little as 14 weeks!”. Invisalign offer a great option called Invisalign i7 for people with mild crowding, but you have to fit their quite narrow criteria to qualify.

Type of brace – are you happy to wear traditional braces or do you need a more invisible brace?

There have been some incredible advances in orthodontic technologies in recent years, with truly invisible braces being available for almost all patients and clear aligner systems that have been clinically proven to be as effective as fixed traditional braces.

But,  sometimes we make a compromise between speed and aesthetics (Not always though; some of you might have a pleasant surprise at how fast the invisible options will work!)

Your Biologic Response

All fast braces will be bound by how your teeth respond to being moved.

Teeth are like icebergs; most of their mass is unseen, underneath your gums in the bone. Your biologic response plays a massive part in how long treatment will take as sometimes bone and soft tissue will completely remodel. Unfortunately, there is no way of knowing how fast or slow your teeth will move – until we start to move them.

Quality of Treatment Plan

A well thought out and cohesive treatment plan will make the most efficient use of time. With the aid of 3D digital imaging and state-of-the-art orthodontic technologies such as Suresmile Advanced it is possible to plot each tooth movement in turn so as to avoid the risk of unnecessary tooth movement.

Accelerative Treatment Additions

There are now procedures and devices available that increase cellular activity and augment the biologic response to tooth movement in order to reduce treatment time. Currently, these procedures do not speed growth processes, only tooth movement, but they can produce a 30-50% reduction in total treatment time.

Breakages and Routine Adjustments

Breakages and the frequency and regularity of your visits can also affect how fast your treatment is. If you’re organised and you’re careful, your treatment will be seamless and progress much faster than if you reschedule and miss adjustments.

Also, if you break your aligners or lose brackets, you may find your treatment taking longer as we sometimes have to go back a few steps to pick up teeth that aren’t moving along with the others.

Consistency of wear

If you’ve been instructed to wear any form of elastics to help with your bite or your alignment  but your wear is sporadic, this will significantly slow your treatment. Wearing your bands well can help to speed up the refinement of your result and make your treatment faster!

If you’re wearing Invisalign aligners and you’re not committed to wearing your aligners for 22 hours a day, this will make your treatment take much longer than anticipate.

You can speed up your treatment by being strict with your wear. If your wear is good and your movement is anticipated new Invisalign research suggests moving through your aligner series weekly rather than fortnightly! This will halve your anticipated treatment time!

In short. There is no quick fix for a complete specialist orthodontic treatment. There are no cheats.

But, there are ways to be smart and to make your treatment as fast as possible. If you’re looking to correct just minor aesthetics you can consider single arch treatment or alternatives to specialist treatment.

Here at Orthodontic Gallery we are smile perfectionists so will always try to give youa result that you are delighted with and that will last you a lifetime. But if fast braces are of the essence, come and see us to see if you can have a minor treatment.

Book a Specialist Orthodontic Consultation Now Or Find our more about a Free iTero Scan and Consultation!