Personalization
Flavor and color combinations help patients feel ownership over a part of treatment that is usually treated as a commodity.
Ligatures reimagined
Transforming orthodontics with taste, comfort, and personalization
Smileys Orthodontics is developing flavored, customizable elastics that turn a routine braces component into a more engaging patient experience.
The opportunity
Millions of patients wear elastic ligatures for months and the experience has barely changed
Traditional ligatures do the mechanical job, but they rarely give patients choice, delight, or a reason to feel involved in treatment. Smileys focuses on the emotional side of orthodontics: comfort, color, flavor, and self-expression.
Comfort
A sensory-first experience can make daily wear feel less repetitive and more patient-friendly.
Engagement
Making the ligature experience more enjoyable may support patient enthusiasm and appointment-to-appointment compliance.
Product concept
A small orthodontic part with a bigger patient experience
Smileys ligatures are designed around the same everyday orthodontic use case patients already know, with a more expressive sensory profile layered into the experience.
Flavor options
Color choice
Temperature response
Patient appeal
Project story
Built to make braces feel more personal and easier to talk about
Student invention
A student idea built from a real braces experience
Smileys is a developing project focused on patient comfort, creativity, and the kind of small design change that can make healthcare feel more human.
Current focus
Learning from patients, orthodontists, mentors, and reviewers while developing the idea responsibly.