Choose a glossary:
Parts of Braces
- Appliance:
- Anything your orthodontist attaches to your teeth that moves your teeth or changes the shape of your jaw.
- Archwire:
- The metal wire that acts as a track to guide your teeth as they move. It is changed periodically throughout treatment as your teeth move to new positions.
- Band:
- A metal ring that is cemented to your tooth, going completely around it. Bands provide a way to attach brackets to your teeth.
- Bond:
- The seal created by orthodontic cement that holds your appliances in place.
- Bracket:
- A metal or ceramic part cemented ("bonded") to your tooth that holds your archwire in place.
- Coil Spring:
- A spring that fits between your brackets and over your archwire to open space between your teeth.
- Elastic (Rubber Band):
- A small rubber band that is hooked between different points on your appliance to provide pressure to move your teeth to a new position.
- Elastic Tie:
- The tiny rubber band that fits around your bracket to hold the archwire in place. They come in a variety of colors.
- Headgear:
- Headgear uses an external wire apparatus known as a facebow to gently guide the growth of your face and jaw by moving your teeth into proper position. The force is applied to the facebow by a spring-loaded neck strap or head strap. The straps have a safety release that disconnects if the facebow is pulled or snagged.
- Headgear Tube:
- A round, hollow attachment on your back bands. The inner bow of your headgear fits into it.
- Hook:
- A welded or removable arm to which elastics are attached.
- Ligature:
- A thin wire that holds your archwire into your bracket.
- Lip Bumper:
- A lip bumper is an archwire attached to a molded piece of plastic. The lip bumper holds back the molars on your lower jaw to provide more space for your other teeth.
- Mouthguard:
- A device that protects your mouth from injury when you participate in sports or rigorous activities.
- Palatal Expander:
- A device that makes your upper jaw wider.
- Retainer:
- An appliance that is worn after your braces are removed, the retainer attaches to your upper and/or lower teeth to hold them in place. Some retainers are removable, while others are bonded to the tongue-side of several teeth.
- Separator or Spacer:
- A small rubber ring that creates space between your teeth before the bands are attached.
- Tie Wire:
- A fine wire that is twisted around your bracket to hold the archwire in place.
- Wax:
- Wax is used to stop your braces from irritating your lips.
Orthodontic Procedures
- Banding:
- The process of fitting and cementing orthodontic bands to your teeth.
- Bonding:
- The process of attaching brackets to your teeth using special orthodontic cement.
- Cephalometric X-ray:
- An X-ray of your head that shows the relative positions and growth of the face, jaws, and teeth.
- Consultation:
- A meeting with your orthodontist to discuss a treatment plan.
- Debanding:
- The process of removing cemented orthodontic bands from your teeth.
- Debonding:
- The process of removing cemented orthodontic brackets from your teeth.
- Impressions:
- A model of your mouth made by biting into a soft material that hardens into a mold of your teeth. Your orthodontist will use these impressions to prepare your treatment plan.
- Invisalign®:
- An alternative to traditional braces, Invisalign straightens your teeth with a series of clear custom-molded aligners. Invisalign can correct some, but not all, orthodontic problems.
- Ligation:
- The process of attaching an archwire to the brackets on your teeth.
- Panoramic X-ray:
- An X-ray that rotates around your head to take pictures of your teeth, jaw, and other facial areas.
