If you would like to correct your crooked teeth and improve your appearance, you should consider using Propel Orthodontics to accelerate your orthodontic treatment. At Rollins & Peterson Orthodontics in Mesa, Arizona, we can use this technique to shorten your treatment time and improve your teeth in a more efficient manner.
What Can You Expect From Propel Orthodontics?
Propel Orthodontics is a special technique that is used in connection with braces or Invisalign. During this treatment, we will use a handheld device to stimulate the production of new bone material in your jaw. This process will help your teeth quickly respond to your braces or aligners. Read on to learn more about what to expect during your Propel treatment.
Beginning Your Treatment
We will perform your Propel treatment at our office. We will start by asking you to use a special solution to rinse your mouth. This solution will prepare your gums and teeth for the rest of your treatment. After your mouth is clean, we will put a numbing gel onto your gums. It will take about 15 to 20 minutes for this gel to numb your tissues.
Improving Your Teeth
Once your tissues have become numb, we will use a handheld device to make very small holes in your gums. This device will use a depth sensor to drill into the most beneficial areas in your mouth. We will not treat all of your teeth during your appointment. Typically, we will improve one quadrant of your mouth during your treatment session.
Since your tissues will be numb, you will feel comfortable during this portion of your orthodontic treatment. It will only take a couple of minutes for this device to accelerate your treatment.
Leaving Our Office
You don’t have to stay in bed or make other major changes to your usual routine during the next couple of days. That said, you will have very small injuries in your gums after you get your Propel Orthodontics treatment. These holes will heal during the next seven days.
To ensure that you feel comfortable during this process, you should not eat any irritating substances. For example, you should try to avoid consuming spicy foods during this time. In addition, we may instruct you not to use strong mouthwash for the next one to three days.
How Many Propel Treatments Will I Receive?
You might be able to accelerate your improvements by receiving a single Propel treatment. Alternatively, you might achieve more favorable improvements in your teeth if you receive multiple Propel treatments.
If you need to receive more than one treatment, we will usually wait about six to eight weeks before we schedule your next appointment. Spreading out your appointments will give your bones and tissues sufficient time to heal.
What Are the Benefits of This Treatment?
Receiving Propel will provide you with a number of orthodontic benefits.
Achieve Faster Results
It’s common to use braces or aligners to improve your smile before you reach an important milestone or life event. For example, you might want to achieve beautiful, even teeth before your wedding day. Alternatively, you might decide to improve your teeth before you attend a family reunion.
Receiving Propel treatments can reduce the amount of time that you spend wearing braces by up to 50%. Achieving faster results will enable you to fix your teeth in time for your big event. You’ll also spend less time attending orthodontic appointments in our office in Mesa.
Speed Healing
It’s normal to have a short adjustment period after you receive your braces or begin another orthodontic treatment. Further, you might feel some strangeness in your mouth when you begin wearing a new aligner or have your braces tightened.
Receiving Propel will enable your teeth to quickly adjust to the next part of your orthodontic treatment. As a result, you will feel happier and more relaxed as you complete your treatment plan.
Who Is a Good Candidate for This Technique?
If you would like to decrease the amount of time that you spend using aligners or braces to correct your orthodontic issues, you should consider adding Propel to your treatment plan.
Shortening Your Treatment
When you become an adult, your teeth will become more resistant to movement. Although metal braces and aligners can shift your teeth, these treatments may take longer to complete. As a result, it’s common to use Propel to accelerate the effectiveness of orthodontic treatments that you receive at a later stage in your life.
Determining Your Eligibility
In general, you will be eligible for Propel if you have a healthy bone structure. To ensure that you are able to use this technique, we will thoroughly examine your teeth before we perform your Propel treatment. In addition, we may take X-rays of your treatment area. We will use these X-rays to analyze the condition of your bones.
Will I Need To Use Other Techniques To Continue Straightening My Teeth?
Although our Propel device is very good at accelerating your orthodontic treatment, it cannot fix your teeth by itself. To achieve improvements in your smile, you will need to use this treatment in connection with one of our other orthodontic techniques.
Traditional Braces
Recent advancements have made traditional braces more attractive and comfortable. When you use this traditional technique to improve your smile, we will attach metal brackets to your teeth. We will also use archwires and elastic bands to help your teeth move into different positions in your mouth. Since we will periodically tighten your braces, you’ll need to visit our office for regular appointments during this part of your treatment.
Your metal braces are likely to be made of a strong, durable material like titanium alloy or stainless steel. Since these brackets are very resilient, you will be less likely to develop broken brackets and other issues if you use this option to improve your teeth. In addition, traditional metal braces are one of the fastest ways to achieve improvements in your smile.
Ceramic Braces
If you use this option to improve your teeth, we will provide you with clear, ceramic brackets and metal archwires. These ceramic brackets will be customized to match the color of your teeth. Since these brackets are very discreet, this orthodontic treatment is sometimes called tooth-colored braces or clear braces. We can use this treatment to fix underbites, crossbites, misaligned teeth, and other orthodontic challenges.
Since your ceramic braces will be very comfortable, your gums and teeth will quickly adjust to your brackets. That said, you will need to understand that your ceramic brackets will be more fragile than traditional metal brackets. To protect your braces, you will need to follow all of our instructions and take very good care of your ceramic brackets.
Invisalign
You can also use Invisalign to improve your orthodontic problems. When you use this innovative method to enhance your smile, we will use sophisticated technology to make customized plastic aligners for you. These aligners will fit comfortably over your teeth, and you will quickly adjust to wearing your aligners during the day and nighttime.
As your teeth begin to shift, you will need to switch to a new set of aligners. You will usually change your aligners every two weeks or so. Although you’ll be able to take off your aligners when you are drinking or eating, you’ll need to wear these devices for the majority of the day. Consistently wearing your aligners will shorten your treatment and provide you with more favorable results.
Will I Have To Change My Behavior While I Am Improving My Teeth?
The rules that you follow during your orthodontic treatment will depend on the specific techniques that you are using to enhance your smile. If you use Invisalign to fix your teeth, you should remove your aligners whenever you eat or drink. You will also need to take off your aligners when you are brushing and flossing your teeth. As a result, you won’t need to make adjustments to these parts of your life during your treatment.
If you use braces to improve your misaligned teeth, you will need to change your diet and dental hygiene habits during your orthodontic treatment.
Adjusting Your Diet
Biting into whole carrots, apples, and other hard foods can damage your metal braces. For example, one of the brackets might come off. Similarly, you might damage your braces if you eat caramels or hard candies. If you break one of your brackets or damage your braces in another way, you’ll have to come to our office and allow us to repair this problem.
Developing loose brackets and other issues can add to the total cost of your treatment. Further, you will probably need to spend more time wearing your braces. To protect your braces from this type of damage, you should avoid whole apples, caramels, and other foods that are likely to damage your brackets. Once we remove your braces, you’ll be able to add these foods back into your diet.
Cleaning Your Teeth
You will need to learn how to work around your metal brackets and wires when you are cleaning your teeth. When you receive your braces, we can demonstrate proper brushing and flossing techniques that will allow you to keep your teeth clean and healthy throughout your treatment.
In addition to regularly cleaning your teeth, it’s very important to continue receiving frequent dental cleanings when you have braces. During these cleanings, your dentist can remove plaque and monitor the health of your gums and teeth.
Will My Dental Insurance Cover the Cost of This Accelerated Orthodontic Treatment?
You’ll need to contact your insurance agent to determine whether your dental plan will contribute to the cost of this treatment.
If your plan will not cover the cost of your Propel treatments, don’t worry. This is a very affordable technique, and we can provide you with a number of financing options. For example, you may be able to cover this treatment by using one of our in-house payment plans. Many of these plans offer flexible down payments. Alternatively, you could use CareCredit or another third-party financing program to help you fit this treatment into your annual budget.
Improve Your Smile
You shouldn’t need to spend a significant length of time wearing plastic aligners or metal braces. Propel Orthodontics can shorten your orthodontic treatment plan and enable your teeth to quickly move into better locations in your mouth. To learn whether you are a candidate for this accelerated orthodontic treatment, contact us today at Rollins & Peterson Orthodontics in Mesa, AZ.
