Is it too late to have braces if I am already an adult? - Dr. Nandini Nelivigi HD

Generally orthodontic treatment is done in the permanent dentition. So 13 to 14 years of age, you will have a full complement of permanent teeth. So that is when the orthodontic treatment begins, so you will see most of the teenagers having orthodontic braces. But age is not a limiting factor. Many at times you will have to start treatment at an earlier age, say 7 or 8 years when the situation demands. Otherwise if it is only the ligament of teeth it can be done at a later date. But what is more important for is two things, one is the alveolar bone present and second is the periodontal ligament tissue. These tissues should the teeth against the alveolar bone. So as long as the health of the periodontal ligament tissue and the alveolar bone are good, they can do treatment at any point of time. Now if you have not got any treatment done, in your teenage and you are looking for an orthodontic treatment at your late 30’s, there could be various reasons for it, maybe the awareness of the dental treatment was not as much the same as a decade or two ago compared to what it is right now. Now the technology has advanced so much that there are so many treatments available. If the metal braces or showing the metallic braces is what is holding you back for getting an orthodontic treatment done, no there are various reasons available. For example you have ceramic brackets. These are tooth coloured brackets, these brackets will reduce the amount of metal display when you smile second things is you have something called as the lingual orthodontics. These are when the braces are placed facing the tongue. So when you talk, speaks or when you are in public, people cannot make out that you are undergoing an orthodontic treatment at all. Recently we also have new way if correcting with orthodontic treatment, that is without using braces at all. These are called as aligners. These aligners are used just like how the braces are used to correct the treatment. there are various companies who give you series of aligners and get your treatment done without having to use braces at al. so if metal braces is what is holding you for having treatment. Please come to an orthodontist, get suggestions as to what you could do. Good health, happiness, confidence, and self-esteem are important for everyone. So if you really think that correcting your teeth, it is going through any one of these, then why shouldn’t you get orthodontic treatment. You should definitely opt for one. It is better too late to get orthodontic treatment and no patient is too old for braces. So all that you need to do is to find the right specialists who is going to cater to your needs.