no rubber bands, traditional braces - much tougher forces to align teeth

Bent Wire System (BWS)

Myobrace mentions that in severe cases they will use Bent Wire System (BWS) for expansion in conjunction with K1, which is light wire expansion appliance similar to ALF’s. Or they say they will use Biobloc, but I think most Myobrace doctors are using the BWS based on what I have seen.

This is the type of wire that remembers its original shape and tries to spring back to it no matter how long or how ever you try to bend it, so this is what is used in DAMON braces system as well as the wire will continually remodel the bone as it gently tries to return to its original shape that is shaped by the doctor. Each appointment the doctor may put in a wider wire in if the arch needs to get wider.

Also note that it does not have to be DAMON, but many doctors will still carry self-ligating bracket system which is the same thing but more economical as it hasn’t been branded by DAMON. Self-ligating bracket means that the wire is free to move through the bracket. No rubber bands to fix the wire onto the bracket like traditional braces which uses much tougher forces to align teeth and doesn’t allow for free & continual movement like the self-ligating (DAMON) system. It is noted that with traditional braces, the majority of the changes happen within the first week after monthly appointment, and causes much more sore teeth. Whereas with the self-ligating system the change will continue for the whole month and much more gentle forces mean less soreness. In my humble opinion, traditional braces should never be used and its a waste of money & time. Always opt for doctors that are using self-ligating system.

ALF which is placing the wire inside the teeth versus placing the wire outside with brackets, now is that better for expansion? is hard to say, I think they can both do the job but I have my speculation that having the wire inside the mouth might be better… Certainly there is still use for brackets especially in my case where you need to move teeth more, as in re-open extraction sites, which require coil springs in between brackets to move the teeth quite a ways and torquing of the teeth to move the roots by adjusting wire entry on certain brackets.