It is possible to have teeth straightened as adults.
The Invisalign product acts exactly as traditional braces, only it is undetectable to the eye. A patient will need to wear the small plastic device for twenty hours everyday for about a year.
How does Invisalign work? Only certified Centerville and Miamisburg dentists and orthodontists can advise patients on and administer this product.
Invisalign may not work for everyone, and each dentist or orthodontist will determine that through a consultation before beginning treatment.
If deemed appropriate the dentist will take impressions and photographs of the patient’s teeth, and send them to the Invisalign manufacturing department operated by the company’s founding group, Align Technologies. The Invisalign laboratory then manufactures anything between twenty and thirty aligning devices for the patient, using state of the art computer software. These aligners shift the teeth gradually .25 to .33 millimeters during every session into their ideal placement and are changed every two weeks for that purpose. The dentist keeps the series of aligners in their office and releases one or two sets at every check-up. In this way progress and changes can be monitored and optimal results achieved usually in about a year.
Patients undergoing Invisalign treatment must wear this device for not less than twenty hours a day, and not eat or drink anything except water while wearing them.
It is important to work only with a Centerville or Miamisburg dentist or orthodontist who is certified to treat patients using the Invisalign product, and to be sure that regular check-ups are followed to ensure results are what they should be.
What if Invisalign procedure is not deemed appropriate for a patient? Traditional corrective products are still used by orthodontists in the treatment of alignment problems, including the wire and metal braces for the more critical cases. Although they are not undetectable like the Invisalign products, traditional braces are considerably less bulky than in previous generations and work as effectively and quickly as Invisalign aligners.
It is the dentist’s or orthodontist’s job to choose the best course of treatment for every dental problem, and one should seek consultation when trying to determine a course of treatment.