These tiny rubber bands are not only adorable but they are essential because they keep the archwire held up against the brackets which allows it to apply the right pressure to move.
What are the rubber bands on braces used for.
Rubber bands are usually attached to the hooks on braces.
Having to wear braces is enough to have to adjust to but sometimes your orthodontist will also give your rubber bands to wear as well.
Learn the different parts of braces before attempting to use rubber bands.
Rubber bands for braces.
Fortunately rubber bands for braces are extremely easy to use.
They stretch back and down to the lower molars on the lower jaw.
Braces have brackets triangular structures that are positioned on the front midsection of your teeth.
Bands for an overbite start further forward in the mouth near the canines on the top of the mouth.
The small rubber or metal elastics more commonly called rubber bands that surround your braces are technically called elastic ligatures a ligature is used primarily to keep the archwire held into the slot on the bracket but they can also direct the teeth in a particular direction depending on the type of ligature used and how it is tied onto the tooth.
They have an important job to do adding extra tension to your teeth to help move your teeth in the right position.
The two types of rubber bands.
There are various types of elastic bands such as inter arch rubber bands ligatures and power chains.
Rubber bands or elastics are generally used to help improve how teeth fit together.
Actually your braces are already designed for use with rubber bands with little hooks to hold your elastics.
They re also used mostly during the bite fixing part of your treatment so by the time your orthodontist tells you to wear them you ll be an expert at having braces.
They are simply small rubber bands that are attached to the braces.
The final part of braces are interarch rubber bands which are used to adjust bite and jaw position.
Type 2 rubber bands for braces are typically used for an overbite.
You would connect the rubber band to the hook on the back top teeth and stretch the rubber band down to the front teeth on the bottom.
This helps pull the jaw forward so the top teeth do not protrude as far.
They are also often used to help close spaces or make sure spaces are closing in the right direction and improve cross bites and midlines.
How to use rubber bands on an underbite.
If you have an underbite you will be attaching the bands in the reverse of the overbite.
Brackets are attached by archwire small metal bands between brackets.
These are connected to the brackets with hooks often connecting the top tooth bracket with the bottom tooth bracket to help adjust the position of the teeth in the mouth and the position of the jaw.
There are two main kinds of rubber bands orthodontist use in conjunction with braces and each serves a unique purpose.
Learn the different parts of braces.
