This process is then repeated until the teeth arrive at their desired places. As it nears the end of its journey back to its original shape, the wire becomes stiffer and will hold that final shape until it is swapped out by the orthodontist. The pressure put on the teeth as the metal does this is strong enough to move the teeth at a steady and healthy pace. This means the longer the metal is in the patient’s mouth being consistently warmed up, the more it’s going to shift back to its original shape. Second, the metal’s heat activation gradually reacts to the heat inside the patient’s mouth. First, it doesn’t break or crack when it’s bent to the current tooth structure. This is where the two characteristics of this alloy come into play. The trick is, the wire is molded with a patient’s straighter teeth alignment in mind, so when it’s attached, it’s bent to their current alignment. Once that is done, they’re cooled and then attached to the brackets on the patient’s teeth. The wires start by being heated up and molded to the patient’s mouth. How does this metal actually straighten teeth? The characteristics mentioned previously are crucial in its ability to get the job done. Rather than reacting to the warmth of the sun, when used as braces, it reacts to the heat of the human body. Space age wire is characterized by having shape memory and super-elasticity, which means it can be bent out of its original shape without breaking, and it will also eventually return to its original shape when heated up. NASA developed this particular material to use for solar panels and antennae on their satellites, but it’s now being used in orthodontic practices. Space age wire is a nickel-titanium alloy originally created by NASA (Cool, right?). This new development, in addition to other improvements to the orthodontic practice, have made going through treatment easier than ever. Space age wire–it sounds really complicated and high-tech, right? Well, it’s not! It’s actually a fairly simple concept that has revolutionized how teeth are straightened with braces.
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