When I was in my early teens and had Washington DC dental braces, I had to wear headgear — a contraption that hooked onto the braces onto my top teeth on either side, and had a tight elastic strap around the back of my head, to pull my upper teeth back and correct my bite.  I had to wear this awful thing every night for the first year I had braces, though not during the day — thank goodness for small favors, huh?

Wearing headgear was a pretty sucky experience.  I couldn’t get my mouth shut all the way with that contraption in it, so I drooled at night — yuck.  And especially at first, it really made my top jaw ache.  I’m not sure it did any good, either — now, only about 15 years later, my overbite has returned, though not as bad as it once was.

Luckily for today’s braces generation and the ones who will come later, Washington D C cosmetic dentistry is developing better ways of straightening people’s teeth.  Braces can be strung with “invisible” wire, and Invisalign — plastic “aligners” that go over your teeth and gradually move them in the direction your dentist wants — is also becoming popular.  Your Washington D C dentist can tell you about your various options.

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