You may be considering braces or Invisalign at your local Davis County cosmetic dentistry and want to know if getting them on your upper teeth alone is wise.
Sometimes the answer is yes, and sometimes the answer is no. If you’ve already had Invisalign or braces and perhaps lost your top retainer years ago, it may have caused some shifting. If you have continued to wear your bottom retainer, that would make you a perfect candidate for only upper teeth correction. In this situation, your bite is likely still fine.
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If you’re trying to save a few bucks and figure your bottom teeth don’t show as much when you talk or smile, that’s a different story. Although most individuals get braces or clear aligners for cosmetic reasons, there are more than just aesthetic factors to consider. Some factors make a person a good candidate for upper-only braces, including:
- An adult who already had aligners when they were younger: As mentioned earlier, you may be the prime candidate if you’ve already had orthodontic work in the past, but your top teeth have shifted.
- An individual with a healthy bite: If you have straight lower teeth and only mild crowding on the top, it may make sense to correct the top only.
- A person who does not care about their bite: If you don’t care about your bite and only care about straightening your front teeth, maybe straightening on top is a good option.
If you fit the criteria above, talk with your Utah family dentist or orthodontist for their professional recommendations on the next step. In a consultation with your dentist or orthodontist, they’ll assess the following:
1. What Are the Spacing Issues?
If part of your reason for getting braces on top is to close gaps, your dentist will assess whether braces or Invisalign can close the upper spaces and pull back the teeth without disrupting the lower teeth.
Often, when it comes to your bite and the size of your teeth, closing gaps in your upper jaw may also require some adjustments to the lower teeth. Think of it as a puzzle: your upper and lower teeth must align perfectly for everything to fit together beautifully and function smoothly. It’s all about creating that harmonious balance!
2. Will You Regret Not Straightening the Bottom?
Once your top teeth are beautifully straight, it might bother you that your lower teeth don’t match. When the tops are straight, the bottom teeth remaining crooked is much more noticeable.
If you’re eventually going to get your bottom teeth straightened, you may as well get it over with at the same time as your upper teeth. Plus, there will be less tension on your mouth to have upper and lower teeth straightened simultaneously than to do it separately.
3. Will Braces on Top Only Make Your Bite Worse?
Your dentist or orthodontist will explore whether getting braces solely on the upper arch is the best path for your bite. Here’s the twist—whenever we nudge teeth on one arch, it sends ripples through the entire landscape of your mouth. Shifting just the upper teeth inevitably impacts how they interact with the lower ones, altering the delicate balance of your bite.
If, after a thoughtful consultation, it appears that moving only your upper teeth could throw your bite out of sync, your orthodontist or dentist will wisely advise against opting for top braces alone. Your smile deserves a harmonious fit, after all!
4. Will Just Upper Correction Even Save You Money?
If your reasons for wanting only upper braces or aligners are mainly financial, we strongly recommend doing both the upper and lower. Here’s why: it doesn’t necessarily take more time to straighten both the top and bottom teeth than it does to straighten just the top half. This means the price won’t differ much.
If you want to break down the costs, talk to your dental office. You’ll most likely discover that doing braces on the top only isn’t as much of a penny-saver as you might think.
5. How Will It Look?
Let’s be honest: you want to know the results, and nowadays, we have the technology to show you. So, your dental professional might use a computer-generated simulation to show you how your pearly whites will look in both scenarios: braces on top only versus braces on top and bottom.
This will give you a good idea of how your smile will look and feel and help you make an educated decision.
If you and your Utah dentist determine that the top and bottom correction is best for you, you still have an unorthodox option: clear braces on top and traditional metal braces on the bottom.
And if you do not want to relive your teenage braces years, then Invisalign on the top and bottom is a popular and effective option that we recommend to many of our patients.
After weighing all your choices, you might discover that the best approach is to tackle the entire smile makeover at once. Embracing a comprehensive treatment could be the key to achieving that perfect grin in one fell swoop!