If the time has come to straighten your smile and you have chosen a treatment involving braces, our orthodontist, Dr. Heister Linn, may talk with you about the role of elastics or rubber bands in Williamsport, Wellsboro and Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, and how they are used in the alignment of your smile. If you have traditional braces, rubber bands, also known as ligatures, may be used to hold the arch wire in place to move your teeth into their new positions. In some cases, you may need a rubber band called an interarch band. These bands are used to connect your canine teeth in your upper jaw to your molars in your lower jaw. These are placed on your braces in order help to correct your bite.
For your bands or elastics to do their jobs, you need to wear them as instructed by Dr. Linn. We will talk with you about how often you should change your elastics, when you can remove them and what you can expect as you get used to them.
If your bands or elastics break, be sure to give one of the offices at Linn Orthodontics a call. In some cases, we may have you wait to come in, but in other instances, such as when multiple bands break, we may need to see you much sooner.