Does Damon Braces Work if You Want to Pull All Your Teeth Forward when Missing Some Teeth?

I love the Damon System. I use it in my office and have seen great results. The key to the Damon bracket is their self-ligation feature (meaning they have a little door that closes over the wire rather than a tight steel ligature tie or rubber o-ring). We like it in our office because it has less friction in the early phases of treatment and it saves the patient time in the chair at every appointment (wire changes and adjustments can be done faster with self-ligating brackets). Having said that, it is important to understand that there are no "magic" braces. Anything that can be done with a Damon bracket can be done with any other bracket. The teeth don't play favorites. There are many factors that come into play in determining whether your orthodontist should close the space where you are missing a tooth or replace it with an artificial one. These include the condition of the remaining baby tooth, the amount of crowding, your profile and lip posture, and your bite. The introduction of temporary anchorage devices (TADs or miniscrews) has made closing more of these spaces possible, but there are still cases where it is best to leave a perfectly good baby tooth right where it is. Damon braces are great, but they don't determine treatment plans!

There might be some other issues going on that need to be addressed to get those spaces closed. After a tooth is extracted or is missing the bone in the area of the missing tooth can atrophy and become harder making it very difficult to pull teeth across the space.

Damon Braces are really nice for allowing teeth to slide along your orthodontic wires with less friction making them a great too for closing spaces, but if your orthodontist wasn't able to move a tooth to close a space in five years my guess is it is not the fault of the braces your previous orthodontist was using.

If you do have a situation where the bone in the area has atrophied over time, sometimes a periodontal procedure can be done to graft more bone in the area and increase cellular activity which will help with moving a tooth to close the space. My advice would be to explore this option with your orthodontist. 

Answer to the question is yes.  Damon Systems will work better than any other bracket system out there if you want to pull your teeth forward when missing some teeth.  The Damon braces is a frictionless, self-ligating bracket that allows the least amount of friction in between the bracket and the arch wire to be able to pull these teeth forward.  Sometimes, we have to use auxiliary appliances TADS (temporary anchorage device) to help utilize anchorage when sliding the teeth forward.  With bicuspid extractions, sometimes it is difficult to be able to make the profile look as great as you want to if you decide to close the space.  This is the benefit that having Damon System bracket is because it is considered to be a non-extraction appliance and we can fit most of the teeth into the arch even with severely crowded patients which makes for a fuller, broader smile that lasts a lifetime.

Closing space for missing teeth doesn't work for everyone. The decision needs to be based upon your face, your skeleton and the way your teeth fit together. Talk to another orthodontist in your area.  Also ask your general dentist about the way your teeth fit together now and ask for his input.