The history of Lingual orthodontics
LINGUAL ORTHODONTICS
Lingual orthodontics was born in the 70s, under the impetus of Dr FUJITA in Japan and Dr KURTZ in the USA.
It is a technique of treatment which uses the same principles as conventional techniques where the braces are positioned on the external face of the teeth (vestibular or buccal).
The braces are not visible making the positioning of the attachments very delicate, which has motivated an active and successful clinical research. By combining advancesin technology and IT, positioning and even the design of the braces became completely individualized, with much higher precision than direct manual positioning of the vestibular braces.
Are there any contraindications?
Yes and no: contraindications are those related to orthodontics in general.
Those specific to positioning lingual are limited: certain morphologies of dental crowns make it delicate.
Lingual positioning changes speech, especially at the very start of treatment. The progress made on the shape and design of the braces makes thesetreatmentsvery bearable. If patients withbraces that arevisible people often have the desire to remove their appliances earlier than warranted, sometimes at the expense of finishing, patients treated with braces that are not visiblehave a higher level of commitment and prefer to keep the braces for a few more months to ensure the best result.
At the end of treatment, the lingual appliance is very well integrated and much less annoying than at the start of treatment.
Can we expect as good of a treatment result with lingual braces?
Without hesitation yes, some situations are easier treat in lingual and others in vestibular, but lingual orthodontics is a tool that offers the same potential for controlling dental movements as vestibular orthodontics. This technique therefore makes it possible to treat small dental alignments, complex cases requiring the final tooth extraction (Fig. 1) as complex cases combining surgery and orthodontics(Fig. 2).
Fig. 1: Before treatment - During treatment
Is there a difference in fees between the lingual technique and the external technique?
Yes, the difference in fees is significant and due to two specific facts: a lingual device is between 3 and 4 times more expensive than an external device; and the appointment time is at least 2 times longer for a lingual treatment.
These two points alone justify different fees.
To this we can add that additional training is necessary before an orthodontist is certified to offer lingual treatments to his practice.
Dr Benguira is certified in lingual orthodontics with the Incognito technique (www.hiddenbraces.com) and eHarmony® (www.myharmonysmile.com)
Lingual orthodontics is a technique for the future. It is aimed at both adolescents and adults.
It allows you to live better your orthodontic treatment.
The multidisciplinary collaboration between the different dental specialties (periodontology, implantology, prosthodontics, etc.) is making increasing use of orthodontics.
Lingual orthodontics offers patients a different choice of visible braces, which allows them to engage in orthodontic treatment without forgetting the constraints, but keeping their smile !!!