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Why Invisalign is Better Than At-Home Aligners

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orthodontic tray In recent years, many companies have sprung up that promise they can help someone get Invisalign-quality results without them ever having to step foot in a dental office. You simply take an impression of your own teeth at home, mail it off, and you eventually receive a clear aligner treatment that will straighten your smile over the course of a few months. Sounds easy, right? Unfortunately, this approach comes with a lot of drawbacks. Today, we reveal why Invisalign is better than at-home aligners.

Starting off on the Right Foot

When you go to see an orthodontist to get Invisalign, they’ll visually examine your mouth, take a digital impression, and look at some X-rays so they can have all the information they need before putting together your treatment plan. With at-home aligners, you just take the impression, and all of this vital information is left out. This can allow a patient to begin treatment despite having a cavity, gum disease, or another oral health problem, which inevitably will derail their progress. With an orthodontist and Invisalign, this type of pitfall is easily avoided.

Help Along the Way

During the Invisalign process, a patient regularly goes to see their orthodontist for check-in appointments so their progress can be monitored. If anything needs to be adjusted or changed, it can be done before someone’s treatment time is greatly affected. This isn’t the case with at-home aligners. If an aligner doesn’t fit right, gets lost, or is broken, a patient is essentially stuck and may have to wait weeks for assistance. With Invisalign, you can just call your orthodontist at the earliest sign of a problem.

Results You Can Trust

At-home aligners are designed to help people with small, cosmetic dental misalignments. Problems like large spaces or crooked bites are a bit beyond their scope, but most people don’t know this before beginning the treatment. In the end, they may get a smile that looks good, but the bite might not come together properly, leading to uncomfortable chewing and persistent jaw pain.

Working in-person with a patient, an orthodontist can use Invisalign to correct a much wider range of issues, plus they can ensure their smile will look and function perfectly at the end of treatment.

All over the country, countless people who have used at-home aligners are having to go through treatment again with an orthodontist to correct issues caused by the aligners themselves. This leads to wasted time and much more expense versus just getting Invisalign in the first place. So, while the commercials and ads may make mail-order aligners sound great, know that the treatment you need is actually just a phone call away with your local orthodontist—your future self will thank you!

About the Author

Dr. Jeffrey Shirck is an award-winning orthodontist based in Powell, OH who has been an Elite Invisalign Provider since 2017. If you’re thinking of using at-home aligners, he strongly recommends that you DON’T. Invisalign is safer, proven, and you’ll get to work with a certified professional who has already used the treatment to help countless patients successfully straighten their teeth. You can even get started for FREE with a complimentary in-person consultation. To schedule it, click here.