Braces Colors: Choosing the Perfect Shade for Your Smile (2024)

Wearing braces is, admittedly, not always easy.

Orthodontic appliances can be uncomfortable and some treatments like the traditional metal braces can be downright unsightly.

Fortunately, elastic bands for braces provide a chance to make the most of your braces. Colors ranging from the softest pink to the boldest blue let you customize your look.

By choosing the right colors for your braces, they can serve as a brilliant canvas that accents your smile.

Who says braces can’t be fun?

When you hear about colors for braces, the term is probably referring to the tiny rubber bands that adorn the brackets of metal braces.

An orthodontist attaches brackets directly to your teeth with a special dental cement. These brackets are often usually made from metals like stainless steel or a titanium alloy. They have a slot across the front which the archwire slides through. When this wire is tightened, it puts snug pressure on your teeth to help gently guide them into better alignment. The brackets ensure that the wire stays securely in place.

But to make sure that the wire doesn’t slip out of the brackets, your orthodontist will wind orthodontic ligatures or ties, also known as rubber bands or elastic bands, around each bracket after the arch wire is placed.

These simple little bands come in a huge array of colors; most orthodontic practices offer dozens of vibrantly-colored bands to let their patients customize their smile.

Besides the bands, there is another way braces can come in different colors.

The sky’s the limit when it comes to your options for choosing colors for braces.

Most orthodontists offer a dozen or more colors for the elastics. You’ll have to check with your local orthodontist to find out what colors he or she offers. Their selection may be limited to the range offered by their preferred orthodontic ligature supplier.

Just to give you an idea of what colors you may have to choose from, here’s one orthodontic supply company that offers basic ligature ties in 33 colors!

There’s no one braces color that’s perfect for everyone.

To choose the right color for your adult braces (or your kid’s), you should consider factors like:

• Age
• Personal preference for brightly colored braces or a discreet look

When choosing elastic bands for your own braces, keep in mind that the right colors can actually help your teeth look whiter. The wrong colors, on the other hand, can bring out the yellow and dark tones in your tooth enamel.

For brighter-looking teeth, choose elegant cool-colored bands such as:

• Navy Blue
• Emerald
• Dark Purple

The braces color that’s right for you depends on what you want to achieve with your braces look (and, of course, the braces cost you can afford, it won’t be the same to have braces with color ties than clear aligners).

Do you want to express your creativity?

Celebrate a special event?

Coordinate with an upcoming holiday?

Make it look like you’re not wearing braces?

Decide what kind of look you want to go for and then select one color or a combination of colors that will help you achieve that goal.

Here’s one idea to provide you with a little inspiration: try picking elastic band colors that complement your eye color.

An orthodontic practice called Murray Orthodontics recommends these color pairings:

• Brown eyes - choose green-colored bands
• Blue eyes - choose pink, blue, or lilac-colored bands
• Green eyes - choose purple, red, green, or orange-colored elastic bands

Want to get serious about matching your braces color to your looks?

Try matching your orthodontic ligature bands to complement your skin tone.

This InStyle article with tips on choosing the right colors for your skin highlights the best color pairings for each complexion type.

For example, warm or olive skin tones look good with reds, yellows, oranges, magenta, olive green, and turquoise. People with cool skin tones look best in bold and royal colors like sapphire and emerald and ruby. If you can’t tell where in the spectrum your complexion falls or if you have hazel eyes, then you might have a neutral tone which pairs well with light and mild colors like jade green, dusty pink, and gray.

So let out your inner fashionista and have fun coordinating the perfect color combo to highlight your natural beauty!

Over the course of orthodontic treatment, a girl might go from a pretty-in-pink scheme, to bold purple, to an edgy black and neon-blue pairing, to school spirit red and yellow, to rose gold. There are lots of opportunities for a girl like your daughter to change up her look.

Take pictures of every one of your little girl’s color choices as she progresses through her treatment. Not only will these show how her teeth have changed over time, but it’ll be fun to look back on each snapshot that captures each phase of your daughter’s developing personality.

When it comes to choosing the perfect feminine color combo for your own braces, you can take any of the principles shared in this article and just run with it! Choose whatever color scheme suits your personality and interests the best.

If you’d prefer to keep your braces as discreet as possible, then choose either tooth-colored ceramic braces or clear aligners to straighten your teeth.

But if you want to broadcast your personality to the world, then go to town with customizing your elastic bands!

Want to get spooky for Halloween? Black and orange are a popular combination of band colors at that time of year.

You can’t go wrong with red, white, and blue on your braces if you’re feeling patriotic.

Love hunting or want to show your support for the Armed Forces? Ask for a combination of green, brown, gray, or beige bands to create a camouflage pattern effect.

Show off that school spirit by rocking a combination of your alma mater’s colors.

Dive head-first into the game season by wearing the colors of your favorite sports team.

You can also mix and match colors to celebrate seasons with warm tones like maroon, orange, and gold for autumn or pale pink and fresh green to welcome the spring.

Ready to hit the beach? Bring a tropical grin by wearing yellow and aqua bands that recall blue waves and plenty of sunshine.

The possibilities are truly endless when it comes to colorizing your smile! In fact, combining colors in your elastic bands is often preferable to wearing just one color. Some colors can look funny when worn alone.

Red, for example, can make it look like your mouth is bleeding. And white can stand out in stark contrast with your natural tooth color and make your teeth look dark.

Just remember that it’s okay to experiment; your temporary braces bands will be changed out soon, anyway, but a mouthful of straight teeth is forever.

So whether you have colorful braces or invisible aligners, wear your smile with confidence!

• Colored Braces and Bands — Murray Orthodontics. (2020). Retrieved 4 January 2021, from https://www.murrayorthodontics.com/colored-braces
• G&H Orthodontics. (2020). Retrieved 4 January 2021, from https://www.ghorthodontics.com/store/main.aspx?p=ties&group=ties
• How to Find the Best Color to Wear For Your Skin Tone. (2020). Retrieved 4 January 2021, from https://www.instyle.com/how-tos/how-to-find-best-color-to-wear-for-your-skin-tone
• What Purpose Do Rubber Bands Serve on Your Braces?. (2020). Retrieved 4 January 2021, from https://www.verywellhealth.com/rubber-bands-on-braces-what-purpose-do-they-serve-1059338