What are Pitts21 Braces

Pitts21 Bracket System

We create “WOW” smiles! Smiles that light up a room. A smile that, to some, is a dream come true. Smiles that increase the self-esteem, confidence and happiness of a person that’s always felt a little self conscious of smiling too big or laughing too much because of their teeth. A wow smile is more than just the way it looks, but the way it makes someone feel and act. The type of smile we strive for is more than just straight teeth. We shoot for the stars.

Ironically, February is National Children’s Dental Health Month. Other than brushing and flossing, a child’s overall health and wellness is tightly related to their dental health and dental confidence. It’s amazing to see orthodontic results directly impact a child’s self-confidence and social self-esteem. Shooting for the stars is about amazing esthetic results and individually impacting a person to enjoy happiness beyond what they had before.

Our ability to deliver these types of results relies heavily on the orthodontic “tools” that we use at Pobanz Orthodontics. One of those tools is the Pitts21 bracket system.

To most, braces are just… well… braces. Is there more than one kind? Is one style or type of bracket better than another? Does it matter what bracket or braces my orthodontist uses? The answer in our opinion is a resounding YES! It matters.

In our opinion, the braces your orthodontist uses matters because of three things:

1. Esthetic outcomes – the engineering and technology of newer brackets are designed to deliver more esthetic outcomes.
2. Time in treatment – Some braces can work faster than others with fewer appointments needed.
3. Consistency – This is the key! The traditional braces that have been used for years in orthodontics can still provide good outcomes. But can it help deliver amazing results on every type of bite problem? Traditional braces can’t. You want consistency of outcome.

The Pitts21 bracket system is growing in popularity throughout the world because of its ability to deliver on all three of those keys: better esthetic outcomes, faster treatment times and consistency in treating the variety of bite problems that exist.

The differentiator that truly sets the Pitts21 bracket system apart from others is in its design. Rather than using the color elastic ties that older braces had to use to hold the wire, this bracket uses a metal door that opens and closes. We open the door to the brackets, insert the new wire, and close the brackets. Boom. Simple as that! The science behind the value of this mechanism is found in the concept of friction. Metal can move against metal much easier than metal can move against an elastic material. This low friction allows the bracket to move more freely against the wire and therefore increases the speed of tooth movement during the alignment.

Another benefit to this mechanism is that patients don’t have to be seen as often by the doctor. The elastic material used in older braces would wear out or need to be re-activated often to keep your treatment progressing forward. Rather than seeing patients every 4-6 weeks, we often see patients every 8-12 weeks. Imagine having fewer appointments and quicker treatment! Who wouldn’t want that! I know the question is coming though… Don’t fret, you can still ask for colors to put a little pop in your braces, it just isn’t necessary to the function of the bracket and we can place it in a way that it won’t slow treatment down at all.

Outside of the mechanism for efficiency, it’s important to point out the specifics that these braces can offer when it comes to esthetics. In our practice, we have very specific goals when we design the esthetics of a patient’s smile. Here are a few things we are looking to either enhance or maintain when we design treatment for a patient:

1. Smile Arc – This refers to the curvature of your upper teeth when smiling. A curvature that mirrors the curvature of your lower lip when smiling is much more esthetic than a traditional orthodontic treatment approach that gives a flat smile line. Smile arc improves a smile’s attractiveness and enhances the youth of a patient after treatment but also as the patient ages. Flat smiles naturally take away from that youthfulness and makes even the young patient look older than they truly are.
2. Smile Broadness – The Pitts21 bracket system in conjunction with the wire shapes it uses allows a patient’s smile to increase in width. We safely use “low-friction” Pitts21 bracket system in conjunction with broad sized wires and elastics to maximize the width of a smile that it can biologically allow. Smile broadness is a crucial factor when determining smile attractiveness.
3. Fewer Tooth Extractions – Eliminating the need for unnecessary tooth extractions is important for maximizing smile esthetics. Surely, there are scenarios that require the removal of some permanent teeth to deliver good orthodontic outcomes. But, in general the Pitts21 bracket system allows us the capability to widen and control your front teeth in a way that gives a higher probability we won’t have to extract permanent teeth for that amazing result.

Over the past 25 years, Dr. Pobanz has practiced with a variety of different types of brackets, looking for a system of braces that can meet the needs of quicker treatment, better esthetic outcomes and consistency in outcome for the variety of bite problems we see. We firmly believe that the Pitts21 bracket system is the best bracket for your treatment right now.

Remember that WOW smile we talked about? Think the braces you choose matters? Absolutely it does. We’d love to explain more in person about how this bracket combined with our treatment philosophy will deliver the WOW result you’re hoping for!