| As you can
see from the photographs on the right, the clear braces, or brackets, while
visible, are not as prominent as metal ones. From a distance,
all that is visible is the wire. If the viewer is far enough away, it
may not appear that you are wearing any braces at all.
Advantages of clear brackets:
 |
They are less visible than
metal brackets. |
|
|
They can be used for almost
every patient. Invisible braces (Invisalign®)
aren't appropriate for a number of types of cases, but clear braces almost
always are. |
Disadvantages of clear
braces:
|
|
They are more expensive than
traditional metal ones. |
|
|
They break more easily. They
are ceramic and thus are somewhat brittle. Especially on lower teeth where
the bracket can be in the way of your bite a little bit, it is easy to
fracture them. |
|
|
They are more trouble for the
orthodontist. Clear brackets can break as they are being put on or adjusted. |
All orthodontists use metal
braces and they always have a large inventory of various sizes and styles of
metal brackets on hand. Especially if they don't like the clear braces, they aren't
going to have as large or varied an inventory of these clear ceramic
brackets. Some orthodontists just feel that the clear ones are too much
trouble and aren't enough more esthetic than the metal ones and so they
won't do them, or raise the fee so much that they aren't attractive to
patients. |
traditional metal braces |
