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Choose a glossary:
Braces and orthodontic treatment involve a specialized vocabulary. Here’s a helpful list of terms to enhance your understanding:
Parts of Braces
- Appliance: Anything attached to your teeth by your orthodontist to move teeth or change jaw shape.
- Archwire: A metal wire guiding your teeth during treatment, changed periodically as your teeth shift.
- Band: A metal ring encircling your tooth, used to attach brackets.
- Bond: The seal made of orthodontic cement holding your appliances in place.
- Bracket: Metal or ceramic part bonded to your tooth to secure the archwire.
- Coil Spring: A spring positioned between brackets and over the archwire to create space between teeth.
- Elastic (Rubber Band): A small band linked between points on your appliance to apply pressure, moving your teeth.
- Elastic Tie: A tiny rubber band encircling your bracket, securing the archwire; available in various colors.
- Headgear: External apparatus using a facebow to guide face and jaw growth, gently aligning teeth.
- Headgear Tube: Round attachment on back bands where the inner bow of your headgear fits.
- Hook: A welded or removable arm for attaching elastics.
- Ligature: Thin wire keeping the archwire in your bracket.
- Lip Bumper: Archwire attached to plastic, holding back lower jaw molars to create space.
- Mouthguard: Protective device for sports or physical activities.
- Palatal Expander: Device widening your upper jaw.
- Retainer: Worn post-braces removal to maintain teeth alignment; can be removable or bonded.
- Separator or Spacer: Small rubber ring creating space between teeth before band placement.
- Tie Wire: Fine wire twisted around your bracket to secure the archwire.
- Wax: Used to prevent braces from irritating your lips.
Orthodontic Procedures
- Banding: Fitting and cementing orthodontic bands to your teeth.
- Bonding: Attaching brackets to your teeth using special orthodontic cement.
- Cephalometric X-ray: Head X-ray displaying facial, jaw, and teeth positions and growth.
- Consultation: Meeting with your orthodontist to discuss your treatment plan.
- Debanding: Removing cemented orthodontic bands from your teeth.
- Debonding: Removing cemented orthodontic brackets from your teeth.
- Impressions: Mouth mold created by biting into a soft material, aiding treatment planning.
- Invisalign®: Alternative to traditional braces, using clear, custom-molded aligners for teeth straightening.
- Ligation: Attaching an archwire to brackets on your teeth.
- Panoramic X-ray: X-ray rotating around your head, capturing teeth, jaw, and facial areas.