If your teen isn’t too keen on the idea of flashing a mouthful of metal each time she smiles, lingual (behind-the-teeth) braces may be a good orthodontic treatment choice.
Undergoing orthodontic treatment no longer means walking around with large, metal contraptions stuck to your teeth for months, or even years. New advances in orthodontics have made it possible to straighten teeth in a much more understated fashion. In fact, depending on the type of treatment, many people won’t even notice your orthodontic appliances.
Lingual braces are a great example of this. They look and act more or less exactly like standard metal braces do, but with one important difference: they’re placed on the opposite sides of the teeth, or what you might consider the “backs” of the teeth.
This means that your teen’s lingual braces will be facing into his mouth, rather than out, hiding them almost completely from the casual observer.
Otherwise, lingual braces work just as well as normal braces do, and they also come with the same hygiene routines and food limitations. Their benefits are mostly social and aesthetic.
For instance, if food gets stuck in them, it will be invisible to most people. Your teen's smile will look braces-free when she smiles in pictures, so that school photos during this time won’t be a constant reminder of her orthodontic treatment. And she won’t have to worry about her braces in social situations, since they simply won’t be noticeable.