Pilot braces - effective designs of domestic production

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Braces are an excellent alternative to various removable structures for restoring the beauty of your smile. After all, a person smiles many times a day, and with an incorrect bite or abnormally growing teeth, he constantly experiences emotional discomfort.

To solve this issue, domestic dentists and orthodontists invented Pilot braces .

Main characteristics

The main purpose of braces is to straighten teeth. It is metal braces that give excellent results when treated with them, even with the most serious defects.

Pilot structures allow you to straighten your teeth in a fairly short time. In addition, their quick installation is noteworthy. You will need far fewer visits to the orthodontist than with other aligners.

They are quite affordable in price and significantly effective in their activities. They can be worn by both children and adults. In addition, such products resist the formation of stains on tooth enamel.

The Pilot product system is quite simple. They have a classic shape, and the braces are larger than other types, which makes them very reliable. The Pilots are made from metal by powder pressing, which allows them to serve the time required for teeth straightening without any problems, making them durable and reliable. Manufacturing features prevent damage during installation.

Types of bracket systems

Doctors and patients have a choice of braces made from various materials. Based on the installation method, the following systems are distinguished:

• vestibular,
• lingual.

The first are installed on the front surface of the teeth, the second - on the back (lingual). Lingual braces are made of metal, while vestibular braces also come in ceramic and sapphire. Metal is best for promoting tooth movement, but is too noticeable to strangers. Therefore, many people prefer the more aesthetically pleasing sapphire and ceramic designs. Such braces are transparent; the only noticeable elements are the metal arches and the ligature (not present in some systems).

Features of Pilot products

Let's look at what distinguishes Pilot systems from other leveling structures:

1. Classic shape, lack of modern details.
2. Significant sizes of the braces themselves.
3. Manufactured using powder compression, which makes the structure more reliable and stable.
4. Each brace is attached to its designated fixation location, which increases its strength.
5. Quick and easy installation.
6. Do not damage enamel and resist corrosion.
7. The pressure on the teeth is distributed according to a standard pattern.
8. A traditional scheme for distributing pressure on the teeth is used.
9. Possibility of use for children and adults.

We compete only with braces, not with aligner manufacturers

- Fine. Competitors. Are you the only ones producing? Well, I know they're not the only ones.

– Yes, we are not the only company. I will say this: I don’t feel any significant tough competition compared to other manufacturers. At the moment, we compete more with braces than manufacturers do with each other. Just for comparison, so you understand, aligners in Russia are probably 3% of the orthodontic market approximately.

– Is it growing?

– It is growing, yes, growing significantly.

– Approximately how much does it grow per year?

- Well, tens of percent a year. If we take America (a mature market where aligners have been used for 18 years), aligners there account for 40% of the market. Imagine how much of the market we can still take over, that is, the potential is huge. Therefore, the main competitor is braces.

Age for which installation of structures is indicated Pilot

Like any other braces, Pilot products are best placed in adolescence, when the bite is not yet fully formed. For these structures, the most appropriate age is from 10 to 12 years, when all the teeth have already formed and their position can still be easily changed. At the same time, some bite defects disappear on their own at this time.

Note: When installing braces on teenagers, the duration of wearing them will be shorter, and installation will be easier.

Products can also be installed at a later age (even in old age), but it should be understood that then the treatment will be longer, and the result will have to be maintained by using retainers for quite a long time.

A few words about prices

One of the main advantages of the domestic brace system model is its affordable cost. Thus, installing the device on one jaw can cost the patient from 6 to 12 thousand rubles, while the minimum price for fixing any other metal system will cost at least 15 thousand rubles. It should also be taken into account that you will have to visit the orthodontist once or even several times a month to adjust the operation of the structure and replace the ligatures, and this is an additional expense.

Installation steps

Installing Pilot systems is a fairly simple procedure. However, only a highly qualified orthodontist can do it, who will carefully complete every necessary step.

First, a photograph of the patient’s jaws is taken, as well as casts of them, which will determine the extent of the defect. The data obtained is used for treatment planning and installation begins.

Installation steps:

• tooth enamel is processed;
• Braces are attached to the enamel in the desired position using a special adhesive;
• put on an arch.

If the patient’s entire oral cavity has been treated before installation (if it has caries or other diseases), Pilot braces can be installed in one visit to the orthodontist. The doctor decides how long the patient will wear the structure, based on data regarding the complexity of the pathology.

With Pilot products you can get rid of:

• abnormal bite;
• deformation of the dentition;
• presence of gaps between teeth;
• difficulties for teething.

It is important that after installation of the structures, continue to periodically visit the doctor, who will monitor the progress of treatment.

Thanks to Invisalign for refusing to promote their product in Russia

– We often talk about the fact that we want to engage in technology transfer, respectively, from Russia to the West. Are Western companies in this area working on the Russian market or not coming?

- Well, why, the largest one, here in Russia, is present as a representative, selling the final product - aligners. We compete with them quite successfully. Yes, of course, they have more experience, because they have been doing this for 18 years, we – 4.5 years

, but in terms of flexibility and the price we can offer, we compete quite well with them.

Every year we treat more and more complex cases.

– How will your product continue to improve? What will appear in it in a year, what will appear in it in five years? Or has he reached his best form?

- No, of course, everything is developing. We are moving towards more complex technology, that is, every year we can take on more and more complex cases for treatment. That is, today we are taking on something that we didn’t take on two years ago, two years ago we were taking on something that we didn’t take on four years ago. If we now look at a classic Russian clinic, approximately 50% of patients who come to an orthodontist for bite correction can be treated with aligners. The second half is too difficult.

What restrictions exist regarding the installation of “Pilots”?

The main restriction when a patient is not allowed to have Pilot systems installed is children under 10 years of age.

But for patients over 10 years old, in order to straighten their teeth and get a perfect smile, such products are perfect. Also, Pilot systems are always used before prosthetics, when it is necessary to straighten living teeth, leaving the necessary places for artificial ones.

The treatment time for such braces is approximately one to two years.

In order for the result to be as planned, the patient should follow the following rules:

1. Do not eat solid foods, nuts, crackers.
2. Avoid eating too hot or cold foods.
3. Avoid toffees and chewing gum.
4. Take good and regular oral care.

With Pilot designs you can become the owner of a Hollywood smile at any age. There is no need to use other traumatic methods of therapy; Pilot products can make your teeth straight and your smile attractive.

Our Star Smile software is one of the best in the world

– Vladimir, please tell me, you said that in the West, in the same United States, this technology has been used for 18 years. Accordingly, the question is: you say you are planning to enter that market. How will we win? What is the competitive advantage? Why will people buy Star Smile and not some other?

– Well, look, if we are talking about America, then we are currently the first manufacturer there that offers this new model (we call it “in office production”), when we come: “Dear friends, until now you have bought a complete set of aligners, we offer you to buy the planning service from us and make the aligners yourself. Because now it’s easy to make aligners yourself.”

– Like Kodak: they installed these machines that printed photographs in shopping centers.

- Absolutely, very similar. Thanks to this, the clinic receives a bunch of advantages - lower costs, shorter production times, more flexibility, and so on. Therefore, we quite easily convince foreign clinics to start using our service. Well, the advantages are efficiency. That is, due to the fact that we have our own software, we are working on efficiency, on automation, and through this we plan to compete.

How a Banker Became a Leading Dental Rescuer

- Fine. Personal question now. You said that you are from the banking sector, and suddenly you decided to go into orthodontics. How did this happen, at what point did you decide that...

- Difficult question, yes. Now many years have passed. Maybe a midlife crisis, I don’t know. No, seriously, I spent 18 years working on operational issues and automation in banks. And, in general, banks are a rather conservative area; in 18 years I haven’t changed many jobs, I worked in three banks, and in each bank I did approximately the same thing. My last place was Mitsubishi (car bank) and when I did it the third time I thought: where should I go next? I really didn’t want to do this a fourth time, I really didn’t want to anymore. I wanted to do something more creative and interesting. And it so happened that one of my relatives is an orthodontist. Through her, I absolutely accidentally found out about this American company that invented aligners and this technique, and at first I tried to become their distributor here. But I will say, fortunately, we lost the competition, this professionally really hurt me and motivated me to try to do it myself. That's how it all turned out.

Indications and contraindications

Any braces have both indications and contraindications.

Let's look at when you can use Pilot braces:

1. If you have a malocclusion.
2. When there are interdental spaces.
3. If teething is difficult.
4. If there are abnormally located teeth in a row or their inclination.

Contraindications for use:

1. The presence of complex chronic diseases.
2. Diseases that oppose the restoration and reconstruction of the jaw bone.
3. The patient’s inability to adequately evaluate everything that the doctor does to him.
4. Poor oral hygiene.
5. The presence of generalized periodontitis can lead to a decrease in bone tissue, which will greatly complicate the alignment process.
6. The patient has allergic reactions to the metal present in the design.

Advantages and disadvantages

The positive qualities of Pilot products are as follows:

1. Affordable price, which makes them very popular among the middle class population. At the same time, the effect of their use is similar to the use of more expensive structures. The low price is due to local production. The price does not have to include transportation, customs duties, and so on. In addition, the cost reflects the fact that the system is no longer new.
2. Safe to use. Such products do not cause allergies and do not injure the oral cavity during installation, as well as during operation. Despite its significant size, such designs are quite comfortable to wear.
3. Reliability. The strength of the material used in the manufacture in combination with the classic structure contributes to the most reliable fixation using any special components. This means that there is no need to replace individual components during the treatment process.
4. Minimum friction force between the groove and the arc of the structure.

The main disadvantages of Pilot braces include the following:

1. They are quite massive, which makes the products noticeable on the teeth, reducing the aesthetics of the smile.
2. Treatment programming results may not be accurate.
3. Possibility of increasing the expected treatment period.

Treatment procedure

Pilot systems can be installed only after a visual inspection and assessment of the client’s condition, analysis of all the disadvantages and advantages, as well as prediction of the result obtained.

Let's consider the main stages of treatment with such structures:

1. The diagnostic stage involves taking an impression of the jaws and making a diagnostic model. At this stage, the need to use these particular braces as a leveling system is identified. Today, 3D models are used as modeling, predicting the outcome of treatment at a high level. So, you can clearly see what teeth look like before and after wearing braces. At this stage, an individual design is also selected and a treatment plan is drawn up.
2. The preparatory stage includes examination of the patient’s oral cavity, filling of teeth affected by caries (if any). Thus, the proliferation of pathogenic bacteria in the oral cavity is prevented, and teeth are protected from caries. If tartar or plaque is present, these should also be removed. You can proceed to the next stage only when the oral cavity is completely sanitized.
3. The installation stage proceeds quite quickly, thanks to the ease of installation of Pilot braces. The installation takes place in one visit to the orthodontist.