If you are thinking about getting braces and have been doing your research you may have seen that some braces systems are ‘self-ligating’. This means that the arch wire is held on with a clever mechanism in the bracket negating the need for elastic ‘O’ rings. There are several promoted benefits for self-ligating brackets including faster treatment as the bracket can move more freely along the wire without the additional friction caused by the elastic and as a prospective patient, could be easily tempted by this. Self-ligating brackets also tend to be more expensive so this needs to be considered when discussing your options with your orthodontist.
The claims about faster treatment have been frequently debated by the orthodontic community and in his latest blog post, Kevin O’Brien looks at a recent study that appears to cast doubt over this claim.
You can read his blog post here
