Power Chain Braces – Everything You Need To Know

Braces are a one-stop solution if you are suffering from crooked or misaligned teeth and want to get a perfectly shaped smile. However, with traditional braces, chances are that the metal brackets and wires may not always be efficient and delay the process.

This is where power chains come into play. They help improve the movements of your teeth and speed up the braces treatment. If your orthodontist spots a gap in your smile, he may connect power chains to the brackets, making the elastic rest on the top of the braces. This will straighten teeth and correct alignments.

This blog will give you a comprehensive view of power chains braces:

• What are they?
• Roles of braces power chains
• Benefits of braces power chains
• Pain and discomfort associated with power chain braces, and so on.

Let’s dive in.

What Are Power Chain Braces?

Power chains are connected strings of elastics or ligatures. They are usually made up of materials used for elastics and may also include metal twists. Usually, elastics fit over brackets individually. But power chains here will help connect brackets of braces. Power chain braces will form long, uniform bands running across your teeth.

Besides, you may also use a power chain for a specific set of teeth, while the rest can have traditional elastics for braces. Orthodontists often prefer to combine brackets and legacy elastics to achieve multiple treatment objectives at once.

Types Of Braces Power Chains

There are three types of power chains:

• Long: Rings of power chains are connected to the third bracket and have longer spacing.
• Short: Each ring is connected to every bracket and has a shorter spacing.
• Closed: Each ring is connected to the next ring and bracket and has absolutely no spacing between them.

The Role Of Power Chains Braces

Braces power chains often help reduce gaps between teeth when wearing braces. Your dentist will apply it either after extracting the tooth or using it for generalizing spacing. Additionally, power chain braces put more pressure than archwires or brackets. Therefore, you will see the entire braces treatment process speed up by manifolds.

In addition, power chain braces also help correct many other orthodontic concerns with more efficiency, viz.:

• Malocclusions
• Misalignments
• Crooked teeth
• Dental midline deviation

Benefits Of Braces Power Chain

Power chains help cure innumerable dental concerns. Braces power chains will help:

• Close teeth gaps arising from any reason, be it natural or due to any other dental processes.
• Promote uniform spacing between teeth when bridging, crowning, and veneering fail.
• Exert continuous force on crooked teeth and ensure accurate alignment.
• Put rotated or turned teeth back into place.
• Correct the placement of upper teeth over lower teeth and ensure accurate bites.

Maintenance Of Power Chain Braces From Staining

Power chains getting stained from turmeric, wine, coffee, etc., is natural. But it’s crucial to maintain your braces power chain if you don’t want your orthodontic treatment elongated. You must follow a few things to keep your power chains from staining.

• Brush and floss properly to maintain oral hygiene and prevent cavities, decay, or plaque build-up.
• Hard, sticky, too sweet, etc., can cause power chains to break. Avoid them!
• Visit your orthodontist regularly to ensure no food particles are stuck in your braces’ power chains.
• When rinsing, use a fluoride mouthwash to free your power chains from dental troubles.

Pain and Discomfort Associated With Power Chains

The most common concern with braces’ power chain is soreness. However, it only lasts for a short time. The rest of the issues are almost similar to that of traditional braces and include the following:

• Tooth Decay resulting from plaque buildup and poor flossing of teeth
• Shorter tooth roots once your orthodontist removes power chain braces
• Tooth movement if you don’t use retainers properly, leading to ruined corrections and alignments
• Lost elasticity of power chains if frequent adjustments are not made

When To Expect Power Chains In Your Orthodontic Treatment

If you have misaligned or crooked teeth and no other treatment is providing any cure, that’s where power chain braces will work. You may have to wear it for a year, or it may last for 3 years. However, the spanning and timing of power chains will be decided by your orthodontist. It will rely on the urgency and level of treatment required.

Conclusion

We hope this blog helps you understand braces’ power chains, what they are, what role power chain braces play, the side effects and risks, and so on. Power chains are a great way to shape your misaligned and crooked jaw and teeth by exerting more pressure. It also helps close gaps when crowning doesn’t work.

However, you must remember that power chain braces need regular adjustments by your orthodontist to adjust the pressure on each tooth and replace them regularly. Or else, you may face extreme discomfort from short tooth roots or decay from plaque buildup.

That’s why make sure that you take accurate care of your power chains’ hygiene, floss and brush properly, and pay regular visits to your orthodontist.

Sources:

https://www.healthline.com/health/power-chain-braces

https://www.colgate.com/en-us/oral-health/adult-orthodontics/what-are-power-chain-braces

https://www.forbes.com/health/body/power-chain-braces/

Power Chain Braces – Everything You Need To Know