If your teeth are not properly aligned and you regularly play contact sports, you may be concerned that wearing an orthodontic appliance will result in torn lips. Participating in sports often involves inadvertent blows to the mouth, and if metal braces lie between the lips and the outer side of your teeth, serious injuries to your mouth and lips can be difficult to avoid. Nevertheless, there are dental alignment options that are less likely to cause your lips to be snagged on metal brackets. Here are a few of these options:
Clear Plastic Aligners
With clear plastic aligners, no metal brackets are used to align your teeth. Instead, smooth, clear aligning trays help reposition them. Multiple sets of aligning trays are used to complete the realignment of your teeth. Each set is worn for a designated period before it is replaced by the next set in your course of treatment.
Although no metal bracket rest between your teeth and lips to cause injury from a blow during a game, clear plastic aligners can be removed before a sporting event. Although the aligners are designed to remain in place for the majority of the day, the trays can be removed up to a couple of hours daily without causing significant delays in your treatment progression. Once your game is over, you can place your aligning trays back in your mouth.
Lingual Braces
Lingual braces still employ the use of metal brackets during your teeth-straightening process. However, the brackets are not located between the inner lip and the front of your teeth. Instead, they are placed on the side of the teeth that is closest to your tongue. As a result, if you are hit in the mouth during a game, your lips are only pressed against your teeth. Thus, you can avoid the snags and cuts that are likely to occur when your inner lips are pressed against the brackets of your braces.
Lingual braces still straighten the teeth just as quickly and effectively as conventional metal braces, but the placement of the lingual braces' brackets make the appliance discreet and safer for braces wearers who are active. The braces may also be preferred by people who play a wind instrument, since there is no hindrance to the natural movement of the lips.
To learn more about orthodontic options that may be suitable to align your teeth, schedule a consultation with a dentist or orthodontist in your area.
