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Having crooked, unevenly spaced, or misaligned teeth can interfere with your life at any age. Damon Smile treatment involves braces without bands, faster treatment times, and less pain than regular metal braces for teens and adults. These braces, offered at our Fresno, CA office, can straighten your teeth for a variety of benefits.

• Allows you make a good first impression on people
• Helps you speak more clearly
• Makes it easier to clean your teeth
• Gives you more self-confidence

It’s important to practice good dental hygiene when you have braces. If you do, you can avoid accidentally letting your teeth decay during the months or years of treatment. These are some ways you can care for your smile during Damon Smile treatment.

Keep brushing and flossing.

Maintain your regular good dental hygiene habits. Continue to brush twice a day, being careful to get all of the food out from your Damon Smile braces. Floss and use mouthwash regularly, too. Also think about keeping your mouth clean during the day. Rinse your mouth with water after you eat if you’re not able to brush your teeth. Avoid sugary beverages, such as sodas, and stick to water.

Choose your foods carefully.

You’ll be able to eat whatever you want after you get your braces off. In the meantime, you can keep your mouth healthy by selecting the right foods and avoiding the wrong ones. Sugary foods are poor choices anytime, but they’re even worse when you have braces because they’re more likely to get stuck on your braces and stick to your teeth. Eventually, you could get tooth decay. Popcorn, chips, and nuts can also get stuck in your braces.

Some foods are hard to chew. They can make a bracket pop off your tooth so that you need to visit your orthodontist. Be wary of the following foods:

• Stringy meats
• Crunchy foods, such as raw vegetables and apples
• Chewy foods, such as bagels and toffee

Straightening your teeth is an investment in your future and yourself. Damon Smile braces can make your teeth straighter in less time than traditional metal braces, and with less embarrassment. Just be sure to care for your smile while your braces are on to make sure that your teeth are healthy when you get your braces off.

Damon Smile braces are passive, self-ligating braces, which means they don’t need elastic o-rings to keep the wires in their desired position. This system uses small sliding doors to allow the wires to slide freely through their slots instead of the o-rings used by traditional braces.

Stops on the wires prevent them from moving out of position over time. The absence of o-rings in Damon Smile braces also allows you to maintain better oral hygiene, since o-rings can trap bacteria. These braces are suitable for both adults and children.

Construction

The first set of wires in Damon Smile braces are composed of a metal alloy that contains copper, nickel, and titanium, commonly abbreviated as CuNiTi. These wires have a curve that’s wider than your natural arch, and that allows them to apply the necessary pressure against your teeth. The wires are very thin, beginning with a diameter of 0.014 inches.

Dr. Robert Kubo and Dr. James Kubo will replace this initial set of wires with a series of successively larger ones as your teeth move into their desired alignment. Your teeth will be ready for the next set of wires when Dr. Robert Kubo and Dr. James Kubo can passively place them into their brackets. Heavier wire may be composed of other materials such as a titanium molybdenum alloy (TMA) or stainless steel.

Cost

Dr. Robert Kubo and Dr. James Kubo and our team will determine the cost of your braces, depending on a variety of factors such as the difficulty of your case and the length of time required for treatment. Another factor that can influence the cost of Damon Smile braces is your insurance coverage. Dental insurance plans often cover orthodontic treatments such as Damon Smile braces, so you’ll need to check with your insurance provider.

Kubo Orthodontic Group also offers a variety of payment plans, so be sure to ask our Fresno, CA team about making your orthodontic treatment with Damon Smile affordable.

Adults

Adults often use Damon Smile braces to obtain a more youthful appearance in addition to correcting specific malocclusions. The cosmetic benefits of these braces include:

• Straighter teeth
• Improved facial balance
• Smoother cheek contours

Many patients with Damon Smile braces begin to see results after about ten weeks.

If you’re interested in Damon Smile braces, please contact Kubo Orthodontic Group and schedule an appointment!

Contrary to popular belief, not all braces are created equal. More importantly, not all braces look like the hulking headgear found in 1980s teen movies. If you’re embarking on an orthodontic journey, that should give you a sigh of relief. Orthodontic technology has come a long way over the years. As a result, Damon Smile braces offer a world without elastic ties. Imagine that! Here are three things that make Damon Smile braces different from conventional braces.

More Comfort and Fewer Adjustments

Damon Smile braces use light, “shape memory” titanium wires. Low-friction force guides the teeth into place, creating less discomfort for you than conventional braces. Instead of elastics, Damon Smile braces use a specialized slide that helps the archwire guide the teeth into place. The teeth move freely, quickly, and comfortably. Without traditional ties and elastics, Damon Smile braces require no tightening and fewer adjustments.

Less Treatment Time

For the most part, conventional braces are worn anywhere from 18 months to two years. However, due to its unique, elastics-free technology, treatment with Damon Smile braces is often considerably faster. If you’re starting on an orthodontic journey, then chances are that's the type of thing you want to hear. While the amount of time a person wears braces varies from case to case, Damon braces typically get the job done faster than conventional braces.

Fewer Orthodontic Appointments

Coming to our Fresno, CA office is probably not on the top of your list of things do, though we do love seeing you! However, Damon braces offer a convenient and hassle-free orthodontic experience. Why? The self-ligating braces require no tightening and fewer adjustments, which in turn means you're going to have far fewer visits with Dr. Robert Kubo and Dr. James Kubo during your treatment. Chances are, that's the sort of thing that's going to put a smile on your face.

Braces have come a long way over the years. In the past, tooth removal was common, palatial expanders were the norm, and headgear and rubber bands were necessary evils to get the desired results. Damon Smile self-ligating braces have made those things distant memories.

Despite the competition from other clear braces and aligners, Damon has a proven track record, and the results of a side-by-side comparison between conventional braces and Damon braces were published in the journal Clinical Impressions.

The Study

The comparative study tracked orthodontic care of 132 patients, six of whom were treated with Damon Smile, and 66 of whom got traditional braces. The study also looked at treatment times (meaning the total length of time the patients wore braces,) the number of appointments they had, the quality of the results, and patient comfort.

The Results

Length of Time Wearing Braces: The researchers found that the patients who wore Damon Smile braces wore them for an average of 7.2 months less than the traditional brace-wearing patients.

Number of Appointments: Damon patients had an average of 47.8 percent fewer appointments.

Time Needed for Leveling and Aligning: Damon patients only needed 3.2 months for leveling and aligning, while traditional brace participants needed six months. That means the Damon participants required 46.7 percent less time.

Comfort Level: Damon wearers experienced 60 percent less discomfort than traditional brace wearers.

Results: Damon results were consistently excellent, with a score of 3.6 on a 4-point scale.

Other Benefits

• Damon Smile braces use a proprietary technology called self-ligation. That means there is no need for the elastic or metal ties that are part of traditional brace therapy. The absence of any kind of ties means that patients don't have to have their braces tightened.
• Damon high-tech lightweight memory wires work faster, so patients don't have to wear braces as long as they would with traditional braces. Memory wire technology also reduces the need for frequent adjustments at our Fresno, CA office.
• A slide mechanism holds wires in place, but allows for freer tooth movement.

Perhaps the greatest benefit of Damon Smile braces is that, without the ties, patients are far more willing to comply with a more time-consuming oral hygiene regime. More thorough brushing, easier flossing, and less general tension in the mouth mean that better oral hygiene lessens plaque build-up, while helping patients keep their mouths healthier and cavity-free during the time they wear braces.

Greater self-confidence and improved self-esteem have the potential to change lives. And a healthy mouth and an attractive smile can do that! Ask Dr. Robert Kubo and Dr. James Kubo if Damon Smile is right for you!