DAMON BRACES
Dr Links has been using the exclusive Damon System since 2009. He has extensive understanding and experience with this state of the art brace and as a result, is able to treat even the most complex cases with ease.
The Damon System is not just about revolutionary braces and wires; it's a whole new way of treating patients. Traditional treatment often requires removal of healthy teeth and/or the use of palatal expanders to make space. This approach is often uncomfortable, takes longer, and can leave a narrower arch and a flat profile. Damon smiles are full, natural 10-tooth smiles achieved with light biologically-sensible forces, and are specifically designed to improve the overall facial result of each patient.
Damon braces are designed to be discreet, comfortable, and easy to keep clean. Without the elastic ties which attract and collect plaque, Damon braces make dental hygiene easy during treatment. The Damon System is available in clear brackets for those image-conscious patients.
What makes the Damon Brace Able to Achieve all this?
The Damon Brace uses low forces and light pressure to cause the teeth to move. In orthodontics, we don’t actually move the teeth themselves, but rather cause the bone that holds the teeth to restructure, and hence the teeth will reposition according to the newly restructured bone.
When enough pressure is applied to a tooth, small cells known as osteoclasts break down the bone in front of the pressure. Other cells known as osteoblasts lay down new bone behind the direction in which the tooth is being pushed. This is how teeth move. Small blood vessels within the bone, known as capillaries, are responsible for transporting the osteoblasts and osteoclasts to the bone in order to allow bone remodeling and hence tooth movement.
The blood capillaries are a bit like microscopic garden hoses. If they are squeezed too tight, they will occlude and the flow of blood will be reduced.
Standard braces, because of the colored elastic ties, put very high forces on the teeth. This force is higher than the pressure inside the blood capillaries (intercapillary pressure) and hence the blood flow and supply of osteoblasts and osteoclasts are reduced. This has a knock on effect in that the amount of bone remodeling, and hence the amount of tooth movement, is greatly limited.
With the Damon brace, less force than the intercapillary pressure is placed on the teeth. This allows the blood capillaries to remain wide open and the supply of osteoblasts and osteoclasts to be maximal. This in turn allows for a significant amount of bone remodeling and tooth movement.
The Damon system is the first passive self-ligating brace. There are now many companies that try to imitate the Damon system. The Damon system has continued to develop and improve over the years and as it is still the best, Dr Links uses it.