All About Invisalign

Hi, Dr. Bobbi of Stanley Dentistry here. I wanted to talk to you today and give you some information about Invisalign. Invisalign are clear aligner braces that can help straighten your teeth without being intrusive in your personal life. I’m going to turn it over to our lead Invisalign assistant, Zara, to tell you more.

Invisalign is a clear aligner system that is a part of orthodontics that allows patients to be able to align their teeth for many different reasons. It’s very painless, almost virtually painless, and it is also pretty much invisible. You’re not able to see them as much as [traditional braces] and they’re usually faster. A lot of patients average maybe six months to a year of treatment. So, with regular orthodontics, it requires the placement of brackets and the use of metal wires to be able to move teeth precisely — which is a very effective way [to straighten teeth]. But, what’s great about Invisalign is that it’s not fixed in your mouth, thus you’re able to take it out and have very proper hygiene. It’s minimally invasive and it does well for a lot of our patients.

Who’s a good candidate for Invisalign?

So, people who are candidates for Invisalign are generally people who have a wide range of malocclusion. Whether it’s minor relapses, maybe they’ve had orthodontics done in the past, or it could be used for some more major procedures such as if they’ve had teeth extracted and are interested in implants. Invisalign could also be good for patients who want veneers and they need to correct their deep bite. There are really very few limits to the kind of patient who would need or want Invisalign.

What’s the Invisalign process like?

In the Invisalign process, there’s a set of aligners that we customize for your teeth specifically. You wear them for twenty to twenty-two hours out of the day which is the highest recommended effective time for them. You only take them out to eat and brush. Otherwise, you’re wearing them at all times to get the most ideal smile.

For your first Invisalign appointment, we’ll take an Itero scan. [The intraoral device] stitches together numerous images simultaneously to create a model. That way, there’s no need for gooey impressions. The process is very, very fast. We take [the scan] and take a series of photos and send them off to Invisalign to evaluate so we can get the best result for your smile. They correspond with Dr. Bobbi directly. This means they’re able to let us know of any adjustments, or if there’s anything you’re interested in changing as a patient, or if Dr. Bobbi wants to do something to perfect your smile. She goes back and forth with the lab and then they create your Invisalign aligners. We receive the aligners back from Invisalign and we bring you back into the office to make sure that they fit perfectly for you.

One thing that we might do at this first appointment is place attachments. They are little buttons of composite that go on the front side of your teeth. They serve specific anchor or rotation points for the aligners to make them more effective. Sometimes, doing this can cut down on the number of aligners you’ll need. At the very end of treatment, we polish those off.

What happens after the first appointment?

At that first appointment, where you receive your first few sets of aligners, you go home and you continue to wear them and go about your life. Then your follow-up appointments will take place virtually. We provide a virtual platform and that way you’ll be able to check-in with us. We’ll be able to talk about how you feel like things are going and we’ll also be able to have you send pictures and check on your progress. We’ll be able to see how your teeth are tracking and if everything looks great, we’ll set up a curbside pickup for your next few sets of aligners.

This is great because it doesn’t require you to set up an appointment. You just swing by and we’ll make sure you get your next few set. Then we’ll continue to follow up with you virtually. At the end of all your aligner sets, we’ll talk about whether there’s more that you want to change — if there are minor adjustments that we want to make. If not, you’re all ready to get your retainers.

For those, you come into the office and we take one more scan of your mouth to get a perfect fit for your retainers. We send that off and the turnaround time is about a week. You come back in, we polish off all your attachments, and then we get you set up with your retainers.

Ready to schedule?

In order to know if you’re a good candidate for Invisalign, we have to gather some information about your oral health, your current alignment, and your smile goals. Come in for a free consultation and we’ll be able to chat about your options!To set up your first appointment, just call (919) 460-9665. We’ll see you soon!