Is anyone wearing empower self ligating brackets???

[megan1976]

My orthodontist has offered me a new kind of bracket. New to his office anyway. It's called Empower and it's self ligating which is supposed to be better somehow. Honestly my eyes glossed over when he got technical. All I care about is how much more if anything is this going to cost. lol

I'm just curious if anyone has them, do you like them, comfort wise how are they, etc? He said they are very similar to Inovation brackets or Damon and he showed me a plastic model with them. They looked ok. I did notice they were a little thicker than the standard brackets when I compared them side by side. I asked and he said they were a little because of the way self ligating work, but were still as comfortable, etc. They are all metal which I don't mind so no worries there. I just want to be sure since after all they are going to be glued onto my teeth for a few years.

I'm just curious if anyone has worn them or is wearing them. : )

[DrJasonKTam]

This is the self-ligating bracket from American Orthodontics. Innovation is the SL version from GAC and Damon is the SL version from Ormco. Here is a blog entry I wrote about SL brackets. You should be able to come up with your own conclusion on whether they work better after this article:

http://markhamortho.blogspot.com/2010/1 ... ntist.html

[Sita]

I'm getting braces next month that are self ligating. Sadly I don't know brands or whatnot. They're metal on the bottom teeth and clear on the top. I tried to follow what they were telling me about them but being completely new to braces I didn't understand any of it. I could have sworn they said the clear ones are plastic though. I'm going in today for more information so hopefully I will understand it better.

[sirwired]

Dr. Tam,

You have now shattered my hopes. I was totally going to ask my ortho to swap out my plain old Unitek Victory's for SL brackets of some sort. (Maybe Innovations on top, and Damon's on bottom, for twice the benefit! Oh heck, add some Clarity SL's somewhere for good measure.) I was hoping they'd re-mold my face to look like Michael Douglas, give me six-pack abs, cause every woman on the street to swoon before me, and while they are at it, cook me bacon and eggs for breakfast every morning! What do you mean, they can't do those things! I could have sworn the brochure mentioned something along those lines...

Sita,

They are ceramic. Plastic brackets were used in the 80's, but they really didn't work that well; hard to make them as precise as metal or ceramic. And they were pretty bulky to boot.

[megan1976]

Great info Dr.Tam! I will forward this to my ortho. He's admittedly never used SL brackets so I am kind of his test case. They look ok to me, I mean they are metal and shiny. Not sure what else you could ask for? lol

Sirwired, funny. I wish they could do more than straighten teeth! That would be wonderful. Maybe get the husband to do some more around the house? Vacuum, a dish or two? Ahh, I can dream. To be fair he does help out a lot. : )

[olsonkd]

I currently have self ligating and I believe the kind you mentioned is what I have. I have had one wire change and it is so quick! So far no negatives. I do like not having the colored little rubber bands around each one. They do seem smaller than the regular braces also. And they are all metal but I don't mind that at all.

[DrJasonKTam]

Dr. Tam,

You have now shattered my hopes. I was totally going to ask my ortho to swap out my plain old Unitek Victory's for SL brackets of some sort. (Maybe Innovations on top, and Damon's on bottom, for twice the benefit! Oh heck, add some Clarity SL's somewhere for good measure.) I was hoping they'd re-mold my face to look like Michael Douglas, give me six-pack abs, cause every woman on the street to swoon before me, and while they are at it, cook me bacon and eggs for breakfast every morning! What do you mean, they can't do those things! I could have sworn the brochure mentioned something along those lines...

You must have missed the part about the new job where you rapidly rise through the ranks (as quickly as your teeth align with the new space age wires) to become the CEO of a major fortune 500 company

Thanks sirwired! Gave me my morning laugh .

[Sita]

[quote="sirwired"]Dr. Tam,

You have now shattered my hopes. I was totally going to ask my ortho to swap out my plain old Unitek Victory's for SL brackets of some sort. (Maybe Innovations on top, and Damon's on bottom, for twice the benefit! Oh heck, add some Clarity SL's somewhere for good measure.) I was hoping they'd re-mold my face to look like Michael Douglas, give me six-pack abs, cause every woman on the street to swoon before me, and while they are at it, cook me bacon and eggs for breakfast every morning! What do you mean, they can't do those things! I could have sworn the brochure mentioned [i]something[/i] along those lines... :mrgreen:

Sita,

They are ceramic. Plastic brackets were used in the 80's, but they really didn't work that well; hard to make them as precise as metal or ceramic. And they were pretty bulky to boot.[/quote]

Wouldn't you rather be George Clooney?

I didn't get to talk to anyone at the orthodontists so that was a bummer. I am sure you're right about the ceramic though. It was a lot of information coming at me and I must have misheard. :-)