Hello
I have recently been treated for gum disease and i feel better and i just wondered would I be ok to get braces? I was thinking of getting invisalign as they are removable and so less likely to get dirty being in my mouth all day. What do you think? Would that be a good option?
thanks for your time
There are a number of important points here.
1) Have you been told that your gum disease is now stable? If not, any form of orthodontic treatment (braces) could lead to more bone loss around the unstable sites.
2) How extensive is your bone loss/gum disease? If you have had significant gum disease then the orthodontic forces applied to the teeth need to be very light otherwise there could be overload of the ligament that holds the teeth against the bone and this can lead to problems.
Orthodontic treatment in stable periodontal (gum disease) patients is fine, but it is likely that you will need to increase your periodontal maintenance during the treatment phase. One of the potential issues with Invisalign is that you cannot control the forces applied to the teeth that create the tooth movement. Whist the obvious benefits are that you can take the invisalign aligner out for cleaning purposes, the risks are high depending on the level of your gum disease. If in doubt, discuss this with the dentist offering the Invisalign treatment and maybe get an opinion from a Specialist Orthodontist.
Hope this helps.
Ian
Dr Ian Dunn
PurelyPerio Clinic 334, PO Box 334, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 0AG Web: www.purelyperio.co.uk Tel: 01625 419700
