Braces and invisible braces are wonderful! They move and realign crooked teeth and can be used to give people a healthy and beautiful smile. Braces can even help make teeth stronger and improve breathing or snoring! But do new braces hurt?

New technologies are making braces better than ever before. Form invisible braces to new improved fixed braces (even better than 10 years ago!) Does this mean that braces hurt?

Whether you go for traditional braces (like the photograph above) or invisible braces (like Invisalign) you may need to wear your braces for months or years to get the perfect smile.

Something a lot of patients and parents wonder is – do braces hurt? Is it painful to have braces or invisible braces? Is one type of braces more painful than others?

So DO Braces Hurt?

Braces move teeth slowly, which means no pain, and minimal discomfort. Newer technologies mean less pain or discomfort than before, even in the last ten years!

Many lucky people NEVER experience discomfort with their braces over the ENTIRE course of treatment. For most of us though, we would expect some times that the braces would be a little uncomfortable. Often this comes after adjustments to traditional fixes braces, or when a new set of invisible braces is used.

Usually this discomfort passes quickly, and dentists and orthodontists can recommend ways to make the whole process less uncomfortable!

There are some people however who do experience some pain when their braces are tightened or changed – even with the new braces technology available. For these people dentists and orthodontists can provide pain relief or strategies to make it comfortable.

So in summary: for many people their braces never hurt. For most of us they are occasionally uncomfortable, and for an unlucky few they do have some short periods of discomfort that can be managed by simply contacting your dentist!

As to which type hurts more? Both can be completely comfortable, but a lot of people say that invisible braces (like Invisalign) can hurt less. But it really depends on how much the teeth need to be moved!