Time-lapse video shows a brace's impact on crooked teeth over 18 months

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Time-lapse video shows a brace's impact on crooked teeth over 18 months

Posted by sciencetech-blog on Wednesday, October 29, 2014 Label:

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Braces are an awkward and often painful rite of passage for many teenagers, but they can transform the most crooked teeth into Hollywood smiles.

A strangely captivating time-lapse video reveals how an 11-year-old-girl's warped teeth were transformed over just 18-months.

It shows how her top teeth move down and into more uniform positions, as the wire straightens across her braces.

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Before: A strangely captivating time-lapse video reveals how an 11-year-old-girl's warped teeth (pictured) were transformed in 18-months by braces. It shows how her teeth move down and into more uniform positions, as the wire straightens across her braces

She was treated by Dr Thomas Rocke of Kesling & Rocke Orthodontic Group in Westville, Indiana.

People wear braces for cosmetic as well as structural reasons, such as correcting their bite and repositioning crooked teeth.

While braces may be seen as a modern 'extra' when it comes to health and dental treatments, there is evidence that ancient people wrapped metal bands around their teeth in a bid to strengthen them.

AMAZING TIME-LAPSE: 18 month brace transforms girl's teeth

After: She was treated by Dr Thomas Rocke of Kesling & Rocke Orthodontic Group in Westville, Indiana and this still shows her teeth following the 18 month orthodontic treatment

People wear braces for cosmetic as well as structural reasons, such as correcting their bite and repositioning crooked teeth. The girl is pictured left, before wearing braces and right, after the treatment

A BRIEF HISTORY OF BRACES

Aristotle mulled ways to straighten teeth in 380AD and archaeologists have found mummies that appear to have metal bands wrapped around their teeth. Sometimes a cord made from animal intestine was used to straighten teeth.

A Roman tomb revealed teeth bound with gold wire.

In 1728, French dentist Pierre Fauchard wrote a book on methods of straightening teeth and is credited with inventing modern orthodontics.

He used a horseshoe-shaped piece of iron to expand the arch of teeth.

In the 19th century the field of orthodontics was officially recognised and new devices invented.

Gum elastics were first used and it was decided that mild force at timed intervals is the best way of encouraging the movement of teeth.

In the early 20th century, Edward Angle devised a classification system for crooked teeth, which is still used today.

Braces are able to move teeth by applying pressure on them.

Traditional braces comprise of four elements: brackets, bonding material, arch wire and ligature elastics, known as 'o-rings' to align teeth.

Teeth move when the arch wire puts pressure on the brackets, which are bonded to the teeth. O-rings are sometimes used to generate force in order to pull teeth in a certain direction.

The tension of the arch wire is set at regular orthodontic appointments - typically a month apart - so that the correct amount of pressure is applied slowly over time.

When pressure is applied on the teeth, their periodontal membrane stretches on one side and is compressed on the other.

This loosens the teeth so that new bone grows to support them in their new positions. The process is called bone remodelling, which is the biomechanical process responsible for making bones stronger.

If too much pressure is applied too quickly, the teeth can be loosened too fast for new bone to grow, meaning that a patient can be at risk of losing their teeth.

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