4 August 2020
This is the question that I come across very frequently because all patients would like to know at the start of the treatment that how long the treatment take. It is very variable and it depends on a lot of factors. The duration of the treatment depends on 1, the complexity of the treatment, which means the more the teeth we need to move the more the time it takes. 2, It depends on the age of the patient. Age is not a criteria for orthodontic treatment. All the patients with good gums and good bones can undergo orthodontic treatment. The only difference probably would be it is easier or faster to move teeth in a 12 or 13 year old as compared to a 40 or 50 year old because of the reasons of bone density. The third factor which the duration of the treatment depends upon is the cooperation and the consistency with which the patient goes through this treatment. If the patient frequently undergoes breakage of braces or misses appointments obviously it kinds of increases the duration of the treatment. Other factors are certain diseases which could be systemic as well like diabetes, or bone related diseases like arthritis or osteoporosis which could also influence the overall treatment and may require mid treatment corrections or stopping the treatment and then carrying it on. So it depends on all these factors that the duration of the treatment is highly variable. It could be as less as 3 months or as great as 2 to 2 and a half years also.