This Guest post was written and compiled by Victoria.
About Braces
Clear braces are often used by celebrities who want to correct misaligned teeth without masking their beautiful smiles with traditional metal braces. Invisible braces are an effective option for dental correction, but what is their environmental impact? Let's compare the green credentials of invisible and traditional orthodontic braces
.
What Are Invisible Braces?
Invisible braces are made out of clear plastic and are designed to be more visually inconspicuous than traditional wire and metal braces. Clear braces have many advantages: not only are they less noticeable than chunky metal braces, but also they are very effective at precisely correcting minor dental irregularities.
The most popular brand of clear braces, known as Invisalign braces, are practically invisible; these clear plastic retainers, which fit snugly over the teeth, are worn by celebrities everywhere but often go unnoticed by their fans. Invisalign braces are molded to the shape of an individual's teeth using a sophisticated computer-aided manufacturing process and must be changed every two weeks to gradually encourage the teeth to shift their positions.
Can You Recycle Invisible Braces?
Unfortunately, the plastic that Invisalign braces are made from is not biodegradable or recyclable, which means that discarded Invisalign retainers end up in landfill. It is not uncommon for people using Invisalign to discard as many as 40 aligner trays during their treatment, which results in a lot of non-biodegradable plastic cluttering up the planet.
What is the Environmental Impact of Metal Braces?
Traditional metal braces are bigger and heavier than Invisalign retainers. They contain more material, which requires a great deal of energy to extract, and also the metals used in orthodontic braces are non-renewable natural resources. However, the titanium and stainless steel used in braces are fully recyclable. Also, a single set of traditional metal braces can be used throughout the treatment, requiring only minor adjustments from an orthodontist. Eco-conscious dental patients should check that their orthodontist has a policy of recycling used braces after they are removed to be sure that they are getting the greenest possible dental treatment.
Will Clear Braces Ever Be Green?
Researchers around the world are working on ways to recycle different types of plastic, which means that clear braces might one day become recyclable. With new recycling methods being developed all the time, there is hope that the thin and light Invisalign braces that are so popular with celebrities could eventually become an environmentally friendly choice. Until that time, however, clear braces are unfortunately not as green as traditional orthodontic braces.
This guest post is contributed on behalf of http://www.theinvisibleorthodontist.com.au/ by Victoria. Victoria is a freelance writer with an extensive background as a dental nurse. She writes for various online dental publications where she shares practical and informative tips.
You Might Also Like:
Wow! Really amazing article, I thought braces is for fashion initially, but with the help of this post I now understand clearly that braces are worn to correct some teeth defects, and again the sooner they started producing recyclable braces the better the world become, thanks for this wonderful post.
ReplyDeleteHi, thanks for stopping bye, and thanks for the comment, I want to believe that our scienctists are working very hard on that and will come up with very good results soon, thanks.
Deletehey guys,, i just wanna say thank you very much for sharing this posting about "Are Clear Braces More Green?".. many post helpfull me on this site,,
ReplyDeleteExcellently amazing and exciting too. Can you please mention me the source of your reference... I am happy that at least somebody gave this subject an attention.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment, the source is right there at bio line of the post, thanks.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete