What colors are braces available in and does color choice affect treatment?

Braces are available in silver metallic (stainless steel or, for patients with nickel allergy, titanium), gold metallic (gold-plated stainless steel) and tooth colored (ceramic, plastic, or synthetic sapphire). There are also glow-in-the-dark brackets. At our office, silver, gold and tooth-colored are available. Silver is strong and versatile and is the choice of patients who want efficient, effective braces with minimal hassle. Gold is strong but not quite as versatile, so is not always as good for patients with difficult cases, since it may be more difficult to align very "stubborn" teeth. Tooth-colored braces are the weakest, and some designs are versatile and some are not. Treatment may take longer with tooth-colored braces, and tough cases may not respond as well.

In addition to the color of the braces themselves, the rubber bands which hold the wire to the braces (alastics) and chain elastic (a variation on the rubber bands which closes spaces between teeth) come in a myriad of colors. Example: you might have gold braces for the entire treatment time, but every month get a different color of alastic (red, blue, etc) on top of them.

Can I get the kind of braces which fit on the inside (tongue side) of the teeth?

Very few Canadian orthodontists use this technology. It is quite different from the technology for standard lip-side (labial) braces. Tongue-side (lingual) braces are also thought to create more sores in the mouth, since the tongue is stronger than the cheeks and moves more. Since the advent of tooth-colored braces, lingual braces have not gained in popularity, since tooth-colored braces are a more comfortable, predictable technology and at the same time, are not extremely noticeable.

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