{"id":675,"date":"2018-04-17T00:40:43","date_gmt":"2018-04-17T04:40:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.regiondental.com\/blog\/?p=675"},"modified":"2018-11-13T11:56:16","modified_gmt":"2018-11-13T16:56:16","slug":"diy-braces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.regiondental.com\/blog\/diy-braces\/","title":{"rendered":"DIY Braces"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve got a group of girls in my elementary school class who are doing DIY braces with rubber bands. I know this has to be dangerous, but when I told them that they said that “I didn’t know because I’m not a dentist and this was on YouTube with lots of people who’ve done it.” As you’re a dentist. Can you let these girls know what they’re getting themselves into?<\/p>\n

Miss Ketchum<\/p>\n

Dear Miss Ketchum,<\/p>\n

\"Someone<\/p>\n

You sound like a compassionate teacher. I’m glad you’re looking out for these girls. I’m sure their parents will be too. The first thing I’d do, though, is let their parents know what they’re doing at school. It’s very likely they’re hiding this from their folks and this will give them a heads up so they’ll know to keep an eye out for it.<\/p>\n

Now, onto what you should show the gals. I’m sure you’ve told them this many times, but you cannot believe everything you see on the internet. I’ve seen the video they’re talking about. There are actually several of them and, for a while, they were very trendy. In this case, listening to whoever uploaded these to YouTube could actually cost them their teeth.<\/p>\n

When you get braces from a dentist<\/a>, it’s a carefully planned treatment. First, the teeth are gently edged into a new position. Then some time is given for the bone to reform around the roots of their teeth. With the rubber bands, their teeth are being tipped inward. While it will bring their teeth closer together, it doesn’t do it properly. However, the way it does do it does not allow the bone to reform properly around them. The danger of that is your teeth don’t have any support. They will become loose. If you continue on with the bands, they will eventually fall out.<\/p>\n

There have even been a few cases where some young people slept in their bands and they ended up with the rubber bands worming their way under their gums. The only way keep them from developing a severe infection was to have surgery to dig them out.<\/p>\n

Alternatives to DIY Orthodontics<\/h2>\n

They don’t have to shift their teeth themselves. There are lots of fun options in orthodontics.<\/p>\n