Invisible braces easier for mom: ; New appliances allow adults to fix teeth without metal

DAILY MAIL HEALTH REPORTER

IT'S easy to spot metal mouths on high school campuses, at themall and in local movie theaters. And then there's Connie Arthur.

No one would ever guess that this 40-something mom, Elkviewresident and educator is sporting a work-in-progress right insideher mouth.

She, like lots of Charleston-area teens, is undergoingorthodontia. But Arthur's braces are invisible to everyone but themost observant. She is one of the first people in the Charlestonarea to be fitted with the new appliances, called Invisalign.

"I can tell a slight difference in just two weeks," Arthur said,as she removed a clear plastic, retainer-like orthodontic mold fromher upper teeth and replaced it with a different one.

When Arthur began to experience some crowding in her teeth andaching in her jaw, her dentist, Dr. Chuck Rhodes, suggested sheconsult with Dr. W. Christopher Taylor, whose orthodontics office isin downtown Charleston. Because she is sensitive to metal and has ahistory of allergies, she didn't want to fill her mouth with metal.But she wanted to stop and reverse the crowding before it grewworse.

Arthur also felt hesitant because she didn't want to appear vainor cause her friends to think she was trying to look like ateenager.

After talking with Taylor, she thoroughly researched the"invisible" braces, which made their debut in May 1999 at a nationalorthodontics conference. Taylor made a detailed model of Arthur'steeth and bite mechanics and sent it to Align Technology, along witha long medical history.

In response, the company transformed the models into 3-D digitalpictures, created a complete sequence to simulate the desired courseof tooth movement and transformed them into a computerized movie.Taylor and Arthur watched it on his computer via the Internet.

"I could see what I'd wind up with," Arthur said.

After seeing the video and having her questions answered, Arthurcommitted to the 44-week treatment, which costs about 50 percentmore than traditional metal braces. With Taylor's approval as well,the company fabricated a series of precisely customized aligners, ororthodontic molds.

Every two weeks, Arthur will switch one mold for the next in theseries. Each makes slight changes toward the final goal.

"What the orthodontist has to do is monitor progress and makesure the procedure is doing what it should do," Taylor said.

Arthur's condition requires 22 graduated molds, or a total of 44weeks of treatment, on her upper teeth only. She must wear the mold22 hours a day, seven days a week and remove it only for meals andcleaning.

The Invisalign braces are suitable only for adults whose teethhave reached maturity, Taylor said. Variations in a child's mouthwould make this regimen inappropriate. Also, an adult tends tocomply more closely with the demands of maintaining nearly constantadherence to wearing the mold. If it's removed for more than theprescribed two hours, progress could slip.

The treatment isn't for all adults. Those with multiple missingteeth, decay, gum disease, short clinical crowns, severe crowding,deep bites and other conditions wouldn't qualify.

More adults are getting braces for reasons other than cosmetic,Taylor said. About 10 percent of his patients fall into thatcategory.

"Function is more important than the aesthetics of it," he said.

After she got her first set of braces, or a mold, earlier thismonth, Arthur's teeth ached for about three days as the movementbegan. It took her a few days to work through the slight lisp shefelt she conveyed.

"They're like contact lenses for your teeth," she said.

While it's too early to judge how effective the new system willbe, both Arthur and Taylor seem pleased at her improvement evenafter just two weeks.

"It's new and different," Taylor said. "They've taken an old ideaand adapted it to the computer age."

Writer Therese Smith Cox can be reached at 348-4874 or by e-mailat therese@dailymail.com.