What Are Clear Aligners?
Wish you could straighten your teeth without hunky metal wires and brackets? Now you can! Clear aligner therapy involves fabricating custom-made removable plastic aligners for you to wear over your teeth for 22 hours a day.
They exert gentle but firm pressure on your teeth to gradually shift them throughout your treatment. These comfortable aligners allow you to experience more freedom and flexibility in your everyday life.
You will change to a new aligner every 2 weeks, slowly shifting your teeth into the correct alignment with each tray you wear. The average treatment time is 12 to 18 months. Contact us at Auburn Hills Family Dentistry today to schedule a consultation with Dr. Josh Haycock.
What Can Clear Aligners Treat?
Clear aligners therapy is highly effective at treating minor to moderate orthodontic problems like overcrowded or crooked teeth, closing small gaps, and correcting bite problems. Clear aligners can fix over, under, open, and crossbites with the help of plastic attachments.
While those with severe malocclusions and teeth that need to be rotated past 20 degrees may be a better candidate for braces, we encourage you to come in for a consultation so we can evaluate your teeth and determine if clear aligner therapy is right for you.
The Clear Aligner Therapy Process
- Consultation – Dr. Haycock will examine your teeth to assess the severity of your orthodontic case. Not everyone will make a good candidate for clear aligner therapy. You need to be willing to wear your aligners for 22 hours a day and properly maintain them. Your orthodontic case also shouldn’t be too complex.
- Impressions – To fabricate your custom aligners, we will need to take impressions of your teeth along with x-rays and send these to the lab that will use them to create a 3D model of your teeth that they base the aligner fabrication on.
- Wear Your Aligners – After a few weeks, your aligners will be ready for pick up from our office and if you require attachments, we’ll bond these to your teeth during this appointment. You’ll receive enough aligners to change them out every 2 weeks.
- Regular Appointments – Unlike braces, you don’t need regular adjustments for your aligners. However, we will need you to periodically return every few weeks for a regular checkup. This gives us the ability to ensure that you’re on track with your treatment plan.
- Retainment – At the end of your treatment, you will need to wear a retainer to maintain your results.
Benefits of Clear Aligners
Clear aligners are more discreet than braces because they are transparent instead of metal. They blend in with your natural teeth which is what makes them such a popular option within the adult population that may have some reservations about getting orthodontic treatment later in life.
Because clear aligners are removable, you can eat a restriction-free diet. Just be sure to remove your aligners before consuming anything other than water. The removability of the aligners means they’re also more hygienic because you can brush and floss all of the surfaces of the teeth, unlike with braces.
With our digital software, we can digitally map out and plan your entire treatment from start to finish so you’re fully informed from the very beginning. We can show you what your alignment will look like throughout the process and the final results.
Clear aligner therapy is also much more comfortable because the materials are plastic rather than metal. You don’t have to worry about brackets breaking and damaging your gums or causing oral injuries. They cause less gum soreness as the pressure is much gentler.
