Invisible Braces

Who does it?
● Cosmetic Dentist

What is it?
Invisible braces offer a less embarrassing alternative to traditional ‘train track’ braces, for people who want to straighten out their smile without revealing a ton of metal every time they open their mouth – who could forget Miranda from Sex and the City’s humiliation when she had to wear a brace in her thirties?

The most popular systems in the UK are Invisalign and Clearstep, although there are plenty of alternatives out there. The braces are removable, so you can take them out to eat and to brush or floss your teeth.

Who is suitable?
You’ll need to have a thorough consultation with your dentist or possibly even an orthodontist to determine if you’re a suitable candidate.

Generally, any problem that can be treated with traditional braces could potentially be treated with the invisible kind – so overcrowding, wide spacing, crossbites, overbites and underbites can all be dealt with.

What’s the treatment like?
Once you’ve ascertained that you’re a candidate for invisible braces, the dentist will make a mould of your teeth and use 3D imaging technology to determine a full treatment plan.

Based on this, your own personal aligners will be made and sent to your dentist, along with the treatment plan that will tell you exactly what to do.

You will be given several sets of clear aligners, which you will need to change about once every two weeks, moving through the course until your teeth have reached the desired position – each set is aligned slightly differently to the one before, to allow your teeth to move gradually.

You should start to see results quite quickly, and depending on the scale of your problem, you might find it is corrected in as little as four months – although severe cases can take up to two years.

It’s important to remember that although the braces are removable, you need to wear them for as much of the time as possible in order to get the result you want.

What happens afterwards?
Just like with traditional braces, you may find you need to wear a retainer at night afterwards to maintain the results – teeth and jaws continue to change and move over time, and although braces can reverse damage that has already been done, they can’t stop it from happening again in the future.

Generally, however, most people are very happy with the results brought about by invisible braces – particularly as they eliminate the embarrassment factor that is usually associated with having orthodontic treatment in later life.