One of the most revolutionary discoveries affecting both the fields of dentistry known as cosmetic dentistry and orthodontics is the discovery of invisible braces. These are invisible braces that one is able to wear in their mouth - mainly for the purpose of bringing their teeth to perfect alignment.
The alignment of teeth in the mouth (that is, how the teeth are arranged in rows inside the mount) has a lot of implications. These implications can be seen as falling into two categories: functional and cosmetic. On the functional side, we know that if your teeth are not properly aligned, you could end up facing real difficulties chewing food properly - a real handicap that could considerably mess with the quality of your life. Still on the functional side, we know that if your teeth are not properly aligned, you could end up with speech difficulties: like where you are unable to pronounce things correctly - making you subject to cruel jokes. And turning to the cosmetic side of things, we of course know that if your teeth are not perfectly aligned, you are never likely to be considered 'very good looking:' however well presented you are in other aspects.
In the face of all these facts, then, it is understandable why people have always sought to bring their teeth that happen to be out of alignment into proper (or at least agreeable) alignment. Indeed, so great has this need been that it gave birth to a specialty in dentistry, known as orthodontics. And when cosmetic dentistry was born many years later, the pursuit of perfect teeth alignment became a major preoccupation in it, so that we ended in a situation where orthodontics and cosmetic dentistry got very closely intertwined.
To bring misaligned teeth into perfect alignment, two approaches were used. For major cases, where the misalignment was as a result of complications presenting in the bones that surround the mouth, the solution would be surgery. This was about intervening surgically, to try to bring the out-of-order bones into proper alignment. For the 'minor' cases though -and these were in the majority, devices known as braces were developed. These were crafted to exert slight but continuous pressure on the out-of-order teeth, so that in the long run, they were forced into proper alignment.
Early braces were highly visible. They were usually metallic, joined together with some sort of a strong wire. They were usually effective (as they still are; for many are still in use). But one concern people tended to voice over them was that they were 'too conspicuous.' Other people around the person using them would be sure to know that he or she was using them. Yet one of the aims for wearing the braces was to improve one's looks, possibly to impress the very people who would be seeing him or her wearing them. Someone wondered whether it wouldn't be possible to create invisible braces - and this was the genesis of invisible braces.
The invisible braces have been revolutionary in many ways; but in a nutshell, they have made it possible for people who would not have been seen dead wearing braces to still be in a position to bring their misaligned teeth into perfect alignment: without worrying about what 'others' would say.