Braces are popular dental or orthodontic devices that are typically used to straighten crooked or misaligned teeth (also called malocclusions). They’re designed to align people’s teeth so they will no longer have a prominent overbite, underbite, or scissor-bite.
If you have any set of teeth that’s not aesthetically pleasing or functioning properly, then braces might be the solution for you—just as it has been for millions of people around the globe!
The placement of braces is done in a manner that’s most pleasing to the eyes, such as getting straightened teeth for the perfect aesthetic smile. They’re highly recommended for people who have uneven teeth, misplaced teeth, overcrowded teeth, or missing teeth.
Page Contents
Who Should Undergo Braces Treatment?
Braces serve as bracket anchors by wrapping around every individual tooth. In turn, they dictate your new mouth shape as your teeth gradually shift and move to a new, straighter location.
This orthodontic device is recommended for patients who struggle with a variety of issues or conditions. Braces are highly beneficial in fixing these problems without tooth removal and reliance on prosthodontics.
The most common conditions that braces are used for are the following:
-
Deep bite
-
Open bite
-
Crooked teeth
-
Overbite
-
Jaw problems
-
Overcrowded teeth
-
Underbite
-
Reverse bite
-
Misaligned or asymmetrical teeth
Moreover, patients who avail themselves of this type of dental treatment can pick from a number of brace options, which vary in terms of methodology, duration, visibility, and price point. You have the option to choose the one that you’re most comfortable with depending on your needs, budget, and so on. However, it’s best to seek the advice of a dental expert, who can recommend the best options based on your unique situation and personal preferences.
Price Comparison of Thantakit vs. Western Orthodontic Costs
Let’s now compare prices between the average out-of-pocket costs of western orthodontics versus how much the same operation or even the same brand of operation costs at the Thantakit Dental Center in Thailand.
| Orthodontics Procedure | Average Western Orthodontics Cost | Thantakit Dental Center Price |
|---|---|---|
| Metal Braces | $3,000 to $7,000 | ฿ 50,000 to ฿ 100,000 ($1,400 to $2,800) |
| Ceramic Braces | $4,000 to $8,000 | ฿ 70,000 to ฿ 100,000 ($1,960 to $2,800) |
| Damon Speed Braces | $4,000 to $6,000 | ฿ 100,000 to ฿ 160,000 ($2,800 to $4,485) |
| INVISALIGN | $4,000 to $9,000 | ฿ 89,000 to ฿ 250,000 ($2,495 to $7,000) |
| Brava by BRIUS | $10,000 | ฿ 350,000 ($9,807) |
| Removable Retainers (per arch) | $300 to $600 | ฿ 3,000 to ฿ 5,000 ($84 to $112) |
| Fixed Retainers (per arch) | $500 to $800 | ฿ 5,000 to ฿ 7,000 ($112 to $196) |
Metal Braces
Traditional metal braces are the most common and cheapest orthodontic option, costing about $3,000 to $7,000. At Thantakit, you can get the same quality braces at the fraction of the price of $1,400 to $2,800 (฿ 50,000 to ฿ 100,000).
They’re notable for their functional strength in lieu of their “metal mouth” looks. Other less obvious variants have to sacrifice functionality for a more camouflaged appearance.
-
The Brace Face Look: When you think of braces, you typically visualize metal braces and their metal brackets. They’re often associated with rich kids and nerds as well as the “brace face” look.
-
How It Works: The device works by applying pressure to gradually move teeth using metal brackets. Teeth placement is more malleable than you believe.
-
Aesthetics: Metal braces are highly effective at fixing issues like underbite, overbite, and scissor-bite. However, some don’t favor them because of their infamous aesthetic issues.
-
Notable Modern Improvements: Metal braces can straighten teeth with the use of corrective brackets for a length of time ranging from 6 months to 2 years. However, they’re much less cumbersome and aesthetically unpleasant compared to looking back in the 1970s to the 1990s.
-
Modern Aesthetics and Functionality: Modern traditional braces might not be as “invisible” as INVISALIGN, but they’re still a huge step up compared to before. Many of them feature smaller braces with better looks and heat-activated arch wires that use body heat to ensure teeth movement.
More and more patients are going for traditional braces, especially when they could get them as affordably as those available in Thantakit (still cheaper than U.S. braces even with travel expenses included).
Ceramic Braces
As for ceramic braces, they’re renowned for solving the aesthetic issues of “metal mouth” braces by featuring tooth-colored or clear ceramic braces that disappear amidst your teeth.
Ceramic braces usually cost $4,000 to $8,000 in the U.S. or something of similar value elsewhere in the western world. At Thantakit, you can avail of them for $1,960 to $2,800 (฿ 70,000 to ฿ 100,000), which ensures you great savings.
-
Slight Ceramic Camouflage: The point of getting ceramic braces is to avoid the “brace face” look. Although they’re the same size and shape as metal braces, they feature clear or tooth-colored brackets to better blend in with its surroundings.
-
Tooth-Colored Wires: Your smile will look less brace-like thanks to the tooth-colored wires of ceramic braces, hiding them from immediate recognition.
-
Functionally the Same: Unlike other, more expensive braces that forego metal braces effectiveness in favor of aesthetics, ceramic braces are about as effective as metal brackets.
-
Staining Issues: Because of its tooth-colored brackets and ceramic composition, these ceramic braces have issues with staining, like in the case of teeth. You might have to maintain them as carefully as your teeth themselves hygiene-wise.
It’s tough to brush your teeth if they’re outfitted with metal or ceramic braces, so your aesthetics can get ruined if the ceramics get stained by food and drink. However, people still go for them due to their less visibility compared to their metal counterparts.
Damon Speed Braces
In the U.S.., it can cost you from $4,000 to $6,000 to get Damon Speed Braces. At Thantakit, it instead costs $2,800 to $4,485 (฿ 100,000 to ฿ 160,000) when all is said and done.
Speed braces were invented about 30 years ago. They’re also known as self-ligating braces with friction-free brackets. They’re also renowned for their speed in treatment when dealing with certain orthodontic issues.
-
What are Self-Ligating Braces? These braces enable your dentist to move the teeth and their occlusion around faster and more efficiently than the comparatively painful way metal and ceramic braces go about things.
-
How Do They Work? Speed braces use spring clips with their brackets to secure the wiring into the brackets, which quickly and smoothly shifts the crooked teeth into place with less brace pressure.
-
More Efficient Brace Pressure: Instead of forcing the teeth into place with the bracketing of traditional braces, Damon Speed Braces go about things with more efficient use of brace pressure.
-
A Third Smaller Than Traditional Braces: They’re a third smaller than metal or ceramic braces. They’re 30 percent smaller because they’re designed with springs, speed, and pressure efficiency.
Certain malocclusions require more brute force that you can’t get from Damon Speed Braces, but quite a lot of issues can benefit from its efficient use of brace pressure. Dental shifting is applied by them in a controlled manner to mitigate pain and irritation.
They also use extremely light forces to move teeth for shorter treatment times and higher cost, but they’re more limited in application.
INVISALIGN
Although INVISALIGN or Invisalign clear aligners have more caveats on who could use them and on which specific issues, they’re among the best orthodontic devices around when it comes to being invisible at a glance.
They cost upwards of $4,000 to $9,000 in the states and around $2,495 to $7,000 (฿ 89,000 to ฿ 250,000) at the Thantakit Dental Center in Thailand. You can get results from these braces within a year or 12 months.
-
What Is Invisalign? The INVISALIGN brand takes the ceramic braces concept of camouflaged or aesthetically hidden braces to their natural conclusion. Instead of having teeth-colored brackets and wires, Invisalign uses clear aligners.
-
An Aesthetic Smile with Invisible Braces: The main selling point of these $9,000 clear aligners (available at Thantakit for as little as $2,495) is that you can smile with them without being noticeable, even more so than ceramic braces.
-
Practically Invisible: Another way INVISALIGN camouflages its presence is by making 18 to 30 customized clear plastic aligners that fit right into the form of the teeth underneath them.
-
Requires Constant Replacement: In exchange for their comfort and camouflaged look, Invisalign clear aligners require replacement every 2 weeks to get the best results from them even though they’re removable.
-
Certain Limitations: The brand has certain limitations, such as it only being available for teens and adults. Children can’t use Invisalign. They’re better off with standard metal or ceramic braces.
The selling points of removable clear aligners include more comfort, less brace pressure, and possibly the best aesthetics out of all the options available. They’re practically invisible, and INVISALIGN is the most well-known and proven brand of clear aligner.
Brava by Brius
Brava by Brius or BRIUS costs upwards of $10,000 stateside or more. At Thantakit, you can avail of the propriety service at a discount of $9,807 (฿ 350,000).
They’re among the more expensive orthodontic treatments available in Thantakit that are worth every penny or baht because they’re technically not just braces or aligners. They’re both. They’re “Independent Movers”, as their website describes.
-
How Are They Independent Movers? As a combination of aligners and braces, BRAVA by Brius has become more than either type of orthodontics. They advertise themselves as the best of both worlds.
-
Invisible like Clear Aligners but Effective like Metal Braces: The tailor-made movers are placed on the back of your teeth to push and move them with the effectiveness of metal braces and to ensure smile aesthetics.
-
A Truly Invisible Option: You can’t get more camouflaged or hidden than putting braces and aligners at the back of the teeth. Even INVISALIGN becomes visible if you peer closely enough. Brava is more hidden.
-
Brava Puts the Pressure On: Brava can cover more orthodontic issues compared to speed braces or front-facing clear aligners while offering better smile aesthetics because they work like metal braces but from behind the teeth.
The independent movers of Brava by BRIUS are also reminiscent of speed braces in that they independently move the teeth rather than do so together, leading to effective and quick use of brace pressure. This is why they’re so expensive.
Removable Retainers
You can get removable retainers instead of cumbersome metal braces or expensive aligners and speed braces for only $300 to $600 per arch (so twice the price for both arches). At Thantakit, they only cost $84 to $112 (฿ 3,000 to ฿ 5,000) per arch.
-
What are Removable Retainers? Ostensibly, a removable retainer is a retainer you can remove. A retainer, in turn, is a braces-like orthodontic device you place on your teeth for the same purpose of malocclusion correction.
-
What Does It Look Like? A retainer is a thin wire worn across the back of the upper or lower front teeth, forming an arch that corrects underbites, overbites, and dental crookedness.
-
Lightweight Braces: A removable retainer can be considered a lightweight version of the more cumbersome metal braces or any of its variants. Just place it on your teeth to straighten them then remove for washing.
-
Benefits of Retainers in General: Retainers “retain” a certain shape or placement of your teeth that they gradually shift or move to like in the case of braces, but it’s a lot less intense.
-
Benefits of Removable Retainers Specifically: Removable retainers keep your teeth from reverting to their original malocclusion by you simply wearing them like mouth guards during your waking hours.
Removable retainers allow you to remove them when brushing your teeth, eating food, and sleeping. This way, you won’t have to worry about ceramic staining or using special flosses to clean around them.
Fixed Retainers
As for fixed retainers, they’re the most brace-like retainers available in that they stay on your mouth, and you have to deal with them hygiene-wise. They cost $500 to $800 per arch in the U.S. At Thantakit, they cost $112 to $196 (฿ 5,000 to ฿ 7,000) per arch.
-
What are Fixed Retainers? A fixed retainer is like a removable retainer but this time the thin wire stays on your front teeth (upper and/or lower arch) and can only be removed by a dentist.
-
Why Use Fixed Retainers? The fixed retainer is set into place with dental cement and is more reliable in keeping or retaining the right shape and bite for your teeth because it doesn’t depend as much on you to keep wearing it.
-
Just Like Brace Brackets: Retainers can be considered the lightweight version of brace brackets because they use the same dental cement to stick to your teeth. Removable retainers are even more lightweight because they don’t require the cement.
-
Fixed Retainers vs. Removable Retainers: Because fixed retainers are cemented into place, you won’t have to worry as much about putting it back or removing it. Removable retainers take longer to work because of human error or lack of discipline in keeping them in place.
Cleaning fixed retainers requires you to use a floss threader to clean your teeth, just like when cleaning braces. You have to clean around them to access hard-to-reach places, like with dental bridges.
You should wear a retainer to deal with minor orthodontic issues and malocclusions that don’t require the severity of braces. Fixed retainers are more brace-like than their removable counterparts, leading to better orthodontic outcomes.
Find a Dentist Who Takes Your Concerns Seriously
Braces take advantage of your teeth’s ability to move and shift whenever there are gaps present. The device uses pressure applied continuously to each individual tooth to accomplish the task.
Book a dental tour at the Thantakit Dental Center today to get the most affordable orthodontic treatments available.
Thanks to different currency values and Thantakit’s own competitive pricing, you could get comparable brace treatments at a fraction of the cost or at least at a discount!
Thantakit International Dental Center is Thailand’s longest established dental center. Situated in Bangkok, our clinic is renowned across the world as a destination for world-class dentistry, with most of our patients flying to us from Australia.
Get in touch with our friendly clinic staff today and get a FREE dental consultation!
