Braces when the are placed in the inside facing the tongue, they are called as lingual braces and the treatment is called as lingual orthodontics. The greatest advantage is the adults who are seeking treatment are conscious about putting braces on the facial surface of the tooth or people who are in the media or people who are in the front to the camera and do not want to expose the brackets to the general public can go for this kind of treatment. Almost all kind of orthodontics that we do with the labial orthodontics can be done in lingual orthodontics. There can be certain limitations like surgical orthodontics or things like movements of the jaws will be a bit difficult with lingual orthodontics. However all other dental treatments can be done with lingual orthodontics. A word of caution, all orthodontists may not be trained to do lingual orthodontic. So you may have to find somebody who is trained to do lingual orthodontics and get the treatment done. However there are a few disadvantages to this procedure as well. One is soreness of the tongue. So may at times since the lingual brackets are placed on the inside of the tongue, the tongue keeps exploring into this area, so tongue getting ulcers are pretty common with this technique. Second thing is difficulty in chewing and speech, since lingual brackets occupy the tongue space, a difficulty might be experienced while chewing food or while speaking, which is transient and a person will get used to this lingual braces in a short span. Also maintaining a good oral hygiene may be difficult because of the presence of the brackets and wires on the inside of these teeth, but with the continued efforts with dedicated efforts of cleaning the oral cavity, one can maintain a good oral hygiene. So people who are conscious of getting orthodontic treatment done with facial brackets can definitely explore into getting lingual orthodontic treatment done.
