Orthodontist in Houston: braces and Invisalign
Dr. Bernard Boback is our orthodontist and he trained at Harvard. Metal braces are $4,500 here, the value option. Invisalign and ceramic braces are both $5,500, because both are the discreet option: choosing between those two is about your bite and your habits, not the price.
What Orthodontic Treatment Costs in Houston
Traditional metal braces are $4,500. Invisalign is $5,500. Ceramic or clear braces are $5,500, the same as Invisalign, since both are the discreet option. Retainers after treatment are $175.
Those figures cover the appliance, every adjustment or check-in visit for the length of treatment, and the refinements at the end of an aligner case. You get the number in writing after the exam, the X rays and the scan.
Whatever quote you are comparing, from us or anyone else, judge it by what it includes rather than the headline figure. Ask whether the records, every adjustment visit, the refinements and the retainers are in the fee, and whether the quote is capped by treatment length or grows if the case runs long. A complete quote answers all of that in writing.
Do You Need an Orthodontist or Will a Dentist Do?
This is one of the most common questions on the subject and it deserves a straight answer.
An orthodontist is a dentist who completed two to three additional years of full time residency in tooth movement and facial growth after dental school. Any licensed dentist may legally provide braces or clear aligners; only an orthodontist has that specialist training.
For a straightforward case, plenty of general dentists produce good results. Where the training shows is at the edges: severe crowding, a bite that needs real correction, teeth that must move a long way, a growing child where timing matters, and any case that stops behaving the way the plan predicted.
The practical test is not the credential on the wall. It is who designs your treatment. Aligner software will propose a sequence for anybody. Ask whether an orthodontist decided that sequence or whether it was accepted as returned.
At Omega Dental Specialists, Dr. Boback plans every orthodontic case himself.
How Braces and Aligners Actually Move Teeth
A tooth is not fixed in your jaw. It sits in a socket suspended by a periodontal ligament, and it can move.
When steady pressure is applied to one side of a tooth, bone on that side is resorbed by cells called osteoclasts while new bone is laid down on the opposite side by osteoblasts. The tooth migrates into the space created. Braces and aligners both work this way. What differs is the delivery.
Braces apply that force through brackets bonded to each tooth and a wire changed at intervals. The force is continuous, 24 hours a day, whether or not you think about it.
Aligners apply it through a series of trays, each shaped slightly differently, producing roughly a quarter of a millimetre of movement per tray. They work only while they are in your mouth.
This is also why treatment cannot be rushed. Bone remodelling takes the time it takes, and forcing teeth faster than the biology allows damages roots.
Your Options, and What Each Is Best At
• Metal braces at $4,500. The broadest range of any option: severe crowding, significant rotations, large vertical movement, real bite correction, extraction cases, and growing patients. Visible, and they work whether or not you remember them. Also the lowest fee here, which makes them the value option.
• Ceramic or clear braces at $5,500. The same mechanics with tooth coloured brackets, far less obvious at conversational distance. More brittle than steel, so more repair visits, and the elastic ties stain between appointments.
• Invisalign at $5,500. Removable, essentially invisible, and much easier to keep clean. Handles crowding, spacing, relapse and mild to moderate bite correction. Requires 20 to 22 hours of wear a day, every day.
• Retainers at $175. Not optional, and covered below.
Invisalign and ceramic braces carry the same fee because both are the discreet option, so between those two the recommendation is about your bite and your habits rather than the margin. Metal braces cost less; if visibility does not bother you, they are the value option, and we will say so.
Who Is a Good Candidate, and When to Start
Crowding, spacing and gaps. Overbite, underbite, crossbite and open bite. Teeth that have drifted back years after childhood braces, which is one of the most common adult cases we treat. Teeth that are hard to clean because of how they sit, which matters more than appearance.
Adults are treated routinely and make up a large share of our orthodontic patients. Teeth move at any age. The one genuine limit is that a true skeletal discrepancy, where the jaws rather than the teeth are misaligned, cannot be grown out of once you have stopped growing, so full correction in an adult may need surgery alongside orthodontics.
For children, the American Association of Orthodontists recommends a first orthodontic check at around age seven. Treatment usually does not start then. The point is that a growing jaw can still be guided, and a crossbite, a narrow upper arch or space lost to an early extraction is far simpler and cheaper to address while growth is happening.
Anything active gets treated first. Decay and gum inflammation are dealt with before teeth are moved, because orthodontics only moves teeth that have a solid foundation under them.
What the Process Looks Like
The consultation is free. We take photographs, X rays including a panoramic view, and a digital scan. If the case is skeletal we add a lateral cephalometric X ray, the side view that shows whether the problem is the teeth or the jaws.
You see the plan and, for aligner cases, the projected outcome on screen. You leave with the timeline and the fee in writing.
Fixed braces are adjusted every six to eight weeks. Expect two or three days of soreness after each visit, and expect at least one bracket to come off during treatment.
Aligner check-ins are every six to ten weeks and are short. You change trays at home.
Typical treatment runs 12 to 24 months for aligners and 18 to 30 months for complex fixed cases. The number of aligners, or the complexity of the movement, tells you more than the number of months.
Then retention, which is where results are kept or lost.
Retainers, and Why Results Relapse
Teeth drift for your whole life, and the pull back toward the original position is strongest during the first year after treatment.
Retainers are $175. Expect full time wear at first, then nights indefinitely. A thin wire bonded behind the front teeth is an option that removes the need to remember anything, and for someone who has already relapsed once it is usually the better answer.
Retainers wear out and they get lost. Tell us early if one cracks or the fit has gone loose, so it can be replaced before the teeth have a chance to move. Replacements are charged at the same $175.
A large share of the adults who come to us about shifting teeth had braces as teenagers and stopped wearing their retainer in their twenties. It is the single most common way a good orthodontic result gets undone, and it is entirely preventable.
Insurance, Financing and Paying Monthly
Orthodontic benefits sit apart from the rest of a dental plan and the differences catch people out.
They usually carry a separate lifetime maximum rather than an annual one, so once it is used it does not reset. Many plans apply an age cutoff, commonly limiting the benefit to dependants under 19, which means adults are frequently excluded. Some plans pay the benefit in monthly instalments to the practice across treatment rather than as a lump sum.
Whether your policy contributes anything, and how much, depends entirely on that policy. We verify your specific orthodontic benefit with your insurer before you start, at no charge, and give you your out of pocket share in writing rather than estimating it.
FSA and HSA funds cover orthodontic treatment and the money is pre tax, which is how many of our adult patients pay.
Cherry, Affirm and Sunbit split the balance into monthly payments, and Affirm and Cherry offer 0% APR plans, so on a qualifying plan the total stays the figure on your written quote rather than that figure plus interest.
Our in-house membership plan is $199 a year and covers exams, cleanings and X rays. It does not cover orthodontic treatment, and we would rather say that plainly than let it be assumed.
Seeing an Orthodontist in Midtown Houston
Dr. Bernard Boback trained at Harvard and handles orthodontics here. He plans every case himself rather than handing it to a technician or accepting whatever the software proposes.
Being multispecialty matters more in orthodontics than people expect. If gums need treating before teeth are moved, our periodontist Dr. Shirin Farhadian is in the same building. If a case needs a surgical component, our oral and maxillofacial surgeons are too, including Dr. Jonathan Rosenstein, who is board certified and a Diplomate of the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. Coordinating a combined case across two practices usually costs months; here it costs a corridor.
We are at 106 W Gray Street in Midtown, between Downtown and the Texas Medical Center, with parking on site. We treat patients from Montrose, River Oaks, the Heights, EaDo and the Museum District. Saturday appointments run 9 to 3, which matters when the patient is in school and visits run every six to eight weeks for a year or more.
The consultation is free and includes the records. Call (713) 322-7474 or book online. Spanish-speaking staff are available every day.
Treatments & pricing
Invisalign
Clear removable aligners. Most cases finish in 12-18 months. Free 3D scan to start.
Traditional braces
Metal brackets $4,500, ceramic $5,500. Most predictable option for complex cases.
Retainers
Bonded or removable retainers to lock in your result.
Prices are estimates for self-pay patients before insurance. What your own plan contributes depends on the policy, and we verify it with your insurer before treatment. Financing available - most patients qualify in minutes via Cherry or Sunbit.
Frequently asked
How much do braces cost in Houston?
At Omega Dental Specialists in Midtown Houston, traditional metal braces are $4,500 and Invisalign is $5,500. Ceramic braces are $5,500, the same as Invisalign. Retainers afterward are $175. The fee covers the appliance and every adjustment visit for the length of treatment, and you get the number in writing after the exam.
Is $5,000 too much for braces?
Not on its own. Traditional braces are $4,500 here and Invisalign and ceramic braces are $5,500, so a $5,000 quote sits inside the normal Houston range. The headline number matters less than what it covers: ask whether the records, every adjustment visit, the refinements at the end and the retainers are included, and whether the fee is capped by treatment length. Those answers explain most of the spread across Houston.
Is it better to see a dentist or an orthodontist?
An orthodontist is a dentist with two to three additional years of full time residency in tooth movement and facial growth. Any licensed dentist may legally provide braces or aligners, but only an orthodontist has that training. For straightforward cases many general dentists do good work. The training shows in complex bites, large movements, growing children, and any case that stops behaving as planned.
Can you pay monthly for braces in Houston?
Yes, and most patients do. Cherry, Affirm and Sunbit split the balance into monthly payments, with 0% APR plans available through Affirm and Cherry, so on a qualifying plan the total stays the figure on your written quote. FSA and HSA funds also cover orthodontic treatment pre tax. We verify any orthodontic insurance benefit with your insurer first and apply it to the written quote.
Braces or Invisalign: which is right for me?
Braces have the broader range: severe crowding, significant rotations, large vertical movement, extraction cases and growing patients. They also work whether or not you remember them. Invisalign suits crowding, spacing, relapse and mild to moderate bite correction, and requires 20 to 22 hours of wear a day. Metal braces at $4,500 are the value option here; Invisalign and ceramic braces are both $5,500, because both are the discreet option, so between those two the choice is about your bite and your habits rather than the price.
How long does orthodontic treatment take?
Typically 12 to 24 months with clear aligners and 18 to 30 months for complex fixed braces cases, though minor corrections finish sooner. Fixed braces are adjusted every six to eight weeks; aligner check-ins are every six to ten weeks and are short. Bone remodelling sets the pace, and forcing teeth faster than the biology allows damages roots.
Will I need retainers after treatment?
Yes. Orthodontic results relapse without retention, and the pull back toward the original position is strongest in the first year. Retainers are $175 at Omega Dental Specialists, with replacements at the same fee. Expect full time wear at first then nights indefinitely. A bonded wire behind the front teeth removes the need to remember, which suits anyone who has relapsed once already.
Are adults too old for braces?
No. Teeth move at any age and adults make up a large share of our orthodontic patients, most commonly for crowding that developed after a childhood retainer was abandoned. The one real limit is that a true skeletal discrepancy, where the jaws rather than the teeth are misaligned, cannot be grown out of once growth has finished, so full correction may need surgery alongside orthodontics.
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