Cary & Clayton Braces
Reliable Treatment, Modern Upgrades
At McNutt Orthodontics, Dr. Matthew uses metal braces to straighten your teeth and correct bite issues.
What Are Braces?
Braces are still by far the most common way to straighten teeth and they remain the most reliable and predictable way to achieve quality treatment results in a reasonable amount of time. There are many different designs when it comes to braces and the comfort of braces has improved significantly over time.
How Metal Braces Work
Braces are really a combination of individual brackets bonded to your teeth, co-joined by a removable orthodontic “arch wire.”
The brackets stay on your teeth, and Dr. Matthew changes the type, size and strength of arch wires throughout the course of treatment to gently align teeth and correct the bite.
Most braces are still metallic. However, clear plastic and ceramic brackets exist to fit your lifestyle and aesthetic concerns.
At the end of treatment, we’re able to gently remove the braces and polish the remaining adhesive off your teeth, as though the braces were never there.
Metal Braces vs.
Clear Aligners
Metal braces and clear aligners provide efficient, effective treatment to straighten your smile. The treatment that offers the most benefit for your unique needs will depend on Dr. Matthew’s recommendations and your priorities as a patient.
Agility
One of the great advantages that braces have over clear aligners is that we are able to make decisions in real time at each appointment to adjust our technique or what we are focusing on, all based on how your teeth as an individual are responding.
Versatility
Braces are still more versatile than clear aligners as well. Orthodontists like Dr. Matthew who focus on the highest quality outcomes and completing treatment in the shortest amount of time understand that they will get these goals better with braces in most cases.
Efficiency
As of 2023, all the best current long-term research generally indicates that treatment with braces on average takes less time compared to clear aligners like Invisalign — and by a significant number of months.
For many years clear aligner companies have advertised the opposite. At McNutt Orthodontics, we have found our experience to mirror that of the research studies. The exception may be cases that are very easy, very short in duration, and in which the required tooth movement is simple.
Braces Systems at McNutt Orthodontics
At our Cary and Clayton offices, Dr. Matthew and our expert team typically use one of two types of metal braces system: twin brackets and self-ligating braces.
Self-Ligating Braces
Another broad category of braces is what are known as “self-ligating braces.” This style of brace is not at all new to the orthodontic world and was introduced in 1930. Like many things in orthodontic history, self-ligating brackets became popular and then faded.
Traditional Twin Brackets
Generally speaking, we treat most of our patients with what is known in the orthodontic world as a metal “twin” bracket. Our main system is the Orthos Advanced Braces System, designed by Ormco. Ormco has long been considered to be the most advanced orthodontic bracket innovator and produces in our opinion the highest quality orthodontic braces and arch wires.
The braces in this system are made of single-use surgical-grade stainless steel. The Orthos system was developed during a twelve-year research program on the relationship of human dental anatomy & orthodontic appliance geometry and is highly regarded as one of the most accurate patient-specific appliances available to orthodontists.
Differences Between Twin & Self-Ligating Braces
So let’s further define the idea of “braces” first to get an idea of how self-ligating braces differ from traditional “twin” brackets.
First, a “bracket” is bonded or adhered to each tooth with a dental tooth-colored composite (similar to tooth-colored filling material, so it is very strong).
Second, an “archwire” is placed into a slot in all the brackets, thereby joining each bracketed tooth together as a team. Together, brackets and archwires apply force to the teeth to straighten them.
The archwire will not stay in place in the brackets without something holding it in place. Orthodontists ‘ligate’ (Latin for “tie up”) the wire to the bracket to hold it in place. The technical difference between traditional open-faced brackets and self-ligating brackets is how the archwire is held in place.
- Traditional metal twin brackets: This traditional system requires a rubber elastomeric o-ring/tie, or a small stainless-steel wire tied over the bracket to hold the wire in place. These elastic ties come in various colors to help children, teens, and even adults add personality to their orthodontic treatment.
- Self-ligating braces: This bracket system requires no additional external tie to hold the wire in place. These types of braces have a built-in sliding door or some other type of moving clip mechanism. This sliding door mechanism opens to allow the archwire to be put in place. The sliding door is then closed to hold or ‘ligate’ the archwire in place.
Dr. McNutt has extensive experience with numerous self-ligating systems, such as Damon, Innovation, Norris and Speed. There are certain types of treatment cases in which Dr. McNutt prefers to use self-ligating braces, however, most patients are treated in an excellent manner with traditional “twin” braces.
Manufacturers of self-ligating braces have often made scientific and marketing claims about superior treatment results and significantly decreased treatment times. Well-done clinical research has repeatedly proven these claims to not be true. At McNutt Orthodontics, we’ll use the treatment that works best for your needs to help you reach your smile goals.
Why Choose McNutt Orthodontics?
A Different Kind of Practice
“The most important thing to remember is that you should not select your orthodontist based on the type of braces they use. The braces themselves do not make a great doctor. The braces themselves are only one tool of many that help determine the end result for the patient.
“You would not choose a carpenter based on the tools in their toolbox. You would choose them based on the quality of their dovetail joints, the wood's shape, the finish's quality, the final product's beauty, and the superior function of the thing they created. An excellent orthodontist is an artist, a craftsman, an engineer, an architect, and a scientist. That is what you should really be choosing.
“I was blessed to have trained under Dr. William Proffit, the modern father of orthodontics. Dr. Proffit was fond of reminding orthodontic residents in training that what mattered most was the mind, skill, and decision-making of the orthodontist, and not the type of braces or aligners they use. Who is moving your teeth is much more important than what.”