Wednesday 17 / April / 2024
Orthodontic treatment among adults is gaining popularity nowadays. Typically, one would associate braces and other modern orthodontic treatments with young children and teenagers, but what most people don’t realise is that adults too can also benefit from advancements in dentistry. In an ideal scenario a person’s tooth should line up neat just like as it would on a piano. Unfortunately, not all of us are blessed with perfectly lined up set of pearly white, often one must make do with crooked and over-crowded teeth, which could be most likely having mild to severe bite and alignment issues.
Cases where the teeth are overlapping each other, patients usually find it difficult to clean and thereby making more susceptible to gum diseases and dental decay. In case of teeth alignment issues, it can make it difficult for the patient to eat or chew properly and in severe cases even make it difficult for them to speak and may lead to facial pain.
Orthodontics science has advanced greatly over the last 15 years making it possible for people of any age to benefit from the advantages of properly aligned set of teeth. In fact, in my practice I have seen this number rise rapidly within the last few years, with the advent of Invisalign. Traditionally orthodontic treatment used metal braces to move the teeth into their desired spot. However, with the advent of Invisalign, the orthodontic treatments have been completely revamped. Invisalign treatment involves using a series of invisible or clear invisible trays that potential patients are required to wear over a period of 12-18 months to re-align teeth into their desired location.
Who is it for?
Invisalign works on a wide spectrum of orthodontic problems from simple to complex cases. It works brilliantly on broad range of crowding, spacing, open bite, deep bite, narrow arches, posterior crossbite, anterior crossbite, extraction among a few to name. Invisalign uses a patented thermoplastic design, to help move your teeth to give it optimum placement with the controlled pressure. What’s more is that it is perfectly suitable to accommodate any kind of lifestyle as it has minimal impact on your everyday life.
How does Invisalign work?
The process starts with your orthodontist evaluating your case, understanding your specific requirement and checking your eligibility for the treatment. Once the kind of treatment required is determined, your doctor will take your 3D impressions and draw out a comprehensive treatment plan for you. This 3D impression is fed into the Invisalign system online and is sent back to the Invisalign labs. Invisalign would then custom create clear aligners with their proprietary SmartTrack, more material for controlled tooth movement. Once your dentist is happy with the fitting of the initial aligner, then you shall continue to receive new pair of Invisalign aligners every 2 weeks. Patients are required to come in for routine check-up only once in every 6-8 weeks to ensure that the treatment is on-track. It takes typically 12-18 months for patients to get the desired outcome.
Benefits of Invisalign
As they are virtually invisible, it doesn’t have any kind of impact on you while socialising with people, this really comes in handy for those especially in the service sector or customer-facing roles. Given that Invisalign can be removable, one can continue to enjoy all their favourite foods with zero food restrictions and as they will be able to continue brushing and flossing normally.
Invisalign has been designed keeping in mind the challenges of traditional orthodontic appliances. As these are completely removable and making it easier for one to brush and floss normally, it thereby massively reduces the potential problems that can be caused due to decalcification.
With each Invisalign aligner used, the pace of the treatment can be controlled. The best part of having Invisalign is that each aligner is designed and customised to use the correct amount of pressure in the right spot to re-align the teeth into their right place. This is particularly useful in avoiding root resorption, which, plainly put is loss or degeneration of root structure if teeth are moved too quickly.
You can be rest assured of no injury as there are no wires/brackets involved. However, one major drawback that Invisalign has over metal braces is the fact that if you are opting for Invisalign treatment then you must comply to wear them for the recommended 22 hours/day, else this would cause a delay in your treatment duration. The outcome of the treatment solely depends on the patient’s compliance to the treatment which was never an issue with metal braces as they could not be removed. Having said this, all my patients who have used Invisalign have found Invisalign supremely comfortable and found it easy to maintain the mandatory 22 hours/day compliance. If you too believe like me that straight and healthy teeth can never go out of fashion, then I would highly recommend to any adult considering orthodontic treatment to look no further and choose Invisalign for beautiful, straight smile that will grow your self-confidence.
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Dr Siju George is Specialist Orthodontist at Wassan Specialty Dental Center
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