Many adult patients fall into the trap of resigning themselves to their misaligned teeth, assuming that they have missed the opportunity for effective dental intervention. Is the treatment of misaligned teeth as an adult still extremely disruptive and inconvenient?
Effectiveness
Invisalign London and other clear aligners are considered to be appropriate and effective treatment for mild to moderate misalignments, and provide great cosmetic improvements when the care is overseen by a qualified dentist/orthodontist.
Invisible aligners shouldn’t be considered as a panacea, but when used to their full potential, they are an excellent solution that combines the effectiveness of braces, with a convenience and subtlety far beyond them.
Treatment times can vary between 6 months to 2 years, depending on the complexity of the case. Either way, your aligner treatment will give you good results and can be extended as necessary until finished.
A day in the life of an invisible aligner user
Upon waking after a night of wearing their aligner, the patient will start their day as normal; removing the device to rinse it under the tap, and brush their teeth. At breakfast they can place it beside their plate to enjoy their meal before rinsing their mouth or cleaning their teeth and replacing their aligner once more. A process like this will repeat itself with every meal and at night, they will sleep with their aligner snugly fitted over their teeth.
Aligners are removable, but in order to keep pace with treatment, they need to be worn almost constantly; only a 2 hour break per 24 is deemed acceptable and that is usually reserved for eating.
The translucent, slender and relatively non-visual nature of clear aligners makes it easy to forget about them, whether you are wearing them or not. This can lead to patients who are using them to take extended breaks from their aligner and then, their current tooth position falls out of synchronisation with their treatment schedule. This can force a restart in the treatment, or provide an opportunity for the teeth to regress, extending treatment and increasing the discomfort of getting back on course.
Getting treatment and paying for treatment
Thankfully, clear aligner based orthodontic care is not specific or targeted treatment. It is useful for the vast majority of the population. If you have current active tooth decay or require a repair or restoration concerning previous dental work, this will need to be corrected before any other orthodontic treatment is considered.
Also they are not recommended for less responsible or uncommitted patients due to compliance and discipline being required for this kind of care to be effective.
The costs of dental care are often significant and they weigh heavily on people’s minds even before they are diagnosed. Some end up cutting corners with their care or avoiding care all together, but many providers will offer various funding and credit based systems to spread out the costs over many months or even years. Giving you access to the range of care that you need without a sudden shock to your everyday finances. There are new rules about how dental surgeries represent their prices fairly on their websites so you should endeavour to shop around.
