Braces · San Luis Obispo & Arroyo Grande
Braces, and how much has changed since yours.
Appointments every two months instead of every four weeks. No headgear. No impressions. Most people finish in twelve to eighteen months.
San Luis Obispo 805.544.3223 · Arroyo Grande 805.489.4625
What has changed
Braces aren’t what you remember.
Our patients often talk about how their child has been in braces for weeks and hasn’t complained about pain once, and they want to know whether or not anything’s actually happening.
It is. The brackets we use hold the wire without elastic ties, so there’s much less friction. The teeth and the wire work themselves loose in their own time instead of being cranked into place every four weeks. Less friction is why it’s more comfortable, and it’s also why you don’t have to come in as often.
When braces are the right answer, and when they aren’t.
Braces tend to be the answer when
There’s a lot of movement to do, when the bite has to change as well as the alignment, when teeth need to be rotated or brought down into place, or when a teenager would rather not be responsible for taking something in and out twenty-two hours a day.
Invisalign is often the better fit when
The movements are more modest, or when being able to take the trays out matters, for work, for a wedding, for a wind instrument.
Plenty of cases could go either way. That conversation happens at the consultation, with your scan on the screen in front of you.
What’s different here
The times and technology have changed.
No headgear.
Where a tooth needs something to push against, we use small anchor screws instead. They do the same job without the part nobody was ever going to wear to school.
No impressions.
The tray of putty is gone. A digital scan takes under two minutes, what used to take five or ten, sometimes with gagging.
Fewer appointments.
Every two months rather than every four weeks. “I want you to come in only when needed, ’cause I know everybody has busy lives these days.” — Dr. Garrett
Fewer extractions than there used to be.
Where a jaw can be widened while a child is still growing, permanent teeth often don’t have to come out. Early treatment →
A 3D picture, not a flat X-ray.
Garrett was one of the first practices on the Central Coast with a 3D cone beam X-ray machine. It has turned up extra teeth and bone problems that a flat film would have missed, and changed the plan because of it.
Start to finish.
- 01
Consultation
Exam, digital scan, and the whole plan, what we’d do, how long, and the full fee.
- 02
Records and fitting
Brackets go on in one appointment.
- 03
Every two months
Short visits. Adjustments, a check, and out.
- 04
Off they come
Twelve to eighteen months for most people, where the same treatment used to run twenty-four to thirty.
- 05
Retention
Your first retainers are included, and so is the check-up after. Retention →
Adults
Treatment for any stage in life.
Our patients vary in age from as young as 7 to upwards of over 70 years old, and adults are a large share of what the practice does now. Some of them have been thinking about it for twenty years.
Adult treatment isn’t a different technique. It’s the same brackets and the same plan, usually with more attention to how the bite works, because by the time you’re forty you know exactly which tooth catches when you eat.
“I started here getting my braces when I was in my 40s, so that’s kinda wild getting adult braces.”
— Adult braces patientIf being able to take it out matters more than anything else, start at Invisalign →
The orthodontist
He has never stopped studying this.
Dr. Brett Garrett is a Board Certified Diplomate of the American Board of Orthodontics. Board certification is voluntary and most orthodontists don’t complete it, it means his finished cases have been examined and judged by a panel of his peers, not just signed off by him. It is also not a one-time award. He puts his work back in front of that panel to keep it.
That is the pattern in everything he does here. He brought a 3D cone beam machine in when almost nobody on the Central Coast had one. He moved the practice to brackets that need fewer visits as soon as the evidence was there. He treats more clear-aligner cases now than braces. The techniques he uses today are not the ones he trained on, and that is deliberate.
He studied mechanical engineering at Cal Poly before dental school, which is more relevant than it sounds: “When it looks good, it also functions good. And that’s the engineering part of me.”
Cost
One fee, and here’s what’s in it.
You get the whole fee at the consultation, in writing, before you decide anything. It covers your appointments, your materials and appliances, plus most emergencies and your first retainers after the braces come off.
Monthly payments are interest-free, and there’s a discount if you’d rather pay in full at the start. We verify your insurance benefits before you come in, file the claims, and show you what your share is expected to be.
Proof.
“I’m probably gonna have a caramel apple, like, right after.”
— Teen braces patient, on getting her braces off
Braces questions.
Does it hurt?
The first few days after the brackets go on, teeth feel tender and eating is odd. That settles. Parents tell us all the time that their child hasn’t complained at all, the brackets we use slide with far less friction than the ones you grew up with. We won’t tell you it’s painless; we will tell you it’s nothing like it was.
How often do we have to come in?
About every two months. Visits are short.
How long does it take?
Usually twelve to eighteen months. The same treatment used to run twenty-four to thirty.
Will my child need teeth pulled?
Less often than they used to. Where a jaw can be widened early, permanent teeth frequently don’t have to come out. It depends on the case, and you’ll know at the consultation.
What if a bracket comes off or a wire pokes?
Call the office. Most of the time it can wait until the next visit and we’ll tell you how to make it comfortable at home. Most emergencies are already in your fee.
