What is Invisalign?
Invisalign is an orthodontic treatment that uses clear plastic aligner trays to straighten your teeth and jaw. It’s a popular alternative to traditional metal braces that offers patients a more comfortable, convenient, and aesthetically pleasing approach to orthodontic care. Over 8 million people worldwide have used Invisalign to get a straighter and healthier smile.
How does Invisalign work?
Your provider designs your Invisalign aligner tray to fit snugly over your teeth and exert a small-but-constant pressure that gradually pushes them towards a straighter position in your mouth. Over time, this continuous pressure causes your teeth to shift into their desired arrangement.
If this method sounds familiar, it’s because it’s the same basic principles on which traditional metal braces operate. The difference is that your Invisalign aligners accomplish this task with an added degree of comfort, convenience, and cosmetic appeal.
How can Invisalign improve my smile?
Invisalign effectively treats many different orthodontic conditions, including:
- Crooked teeth
- Crowded teeth
- Widely spaced teeth
- Overbite
- Underbite
- Crossbite
- Open bite
These are essentially the same conditions for which you would normally use metal braces, making Invisalign an exciting new alternative to the more traditional orthodontic systems.
Why should I straighten my teeth?
Straight teeth and a properly aligned bite do much more than just make your smile look more cosmetically appealing, they also improve its function.
When your teeth or jaw are misaligned, it distributes the force in your bite unevenly, which can lead to excessive wear and tear in localized areas of your mouth. Uneven bite force can also cause pain in your jaw muscles and lead to TMJ disorder. Straightening your teeth makes your biting force more evenly distributed across your mouth, alleviating these symptoms.
Straight teeth are also easier to keep clean. If you have crooked or crowded teeth, there are simply more areas for plaque and debris to collect, and if you have particularly complex nooks and crannies in your smile, it might be more challenging to remove that buildup, which can lead to tooth decay and gum disease. By straightening your teeth, you make it easier to stay healthy.
What are the benefits of Invisalign?
Invisalign’s system of clear plastic aligners has several benefits over traditional metal braces, including:
Comfort
The smooth plastic of your aligners won’t irritate the insides of your cheeks like the wires and brackets of traditional metal braces.
Convenience
Unlike metal braces, Invisalign’s aligners are removable, so you won’t have to change your diet or learn special techniques for cleaning your teeth. All you have to do is remove your aligners whenever you want to eat, brush, or floss, and put them back in afterward.
Cosmetics
Your aligners are virtually invisible when they’re on your teeth, so you won’t have to endure the mouthful-of-metal look that’s unavoidable with braces.
Don’t wait any longer to straighten your smile. Schedule your Invisalign consultation with the Center for Advanced Dentistry by phone or book an appointment today.
