Invisible Braces & Invisalign in Cork

Invisalign is an orthodontic system designed to move teeth to the ideal aesthetic position. They are a response from science to the lack of aesthetics and the difficulty of cleaning inherent in traditional braces. Based on impressions or a scan of your teeth a sequence of plastic aligners are constructed which gradually and gently move the teeth into the ideal bite and most visually pleasing alignment. The length of treatment very much depends on the degree of movement required and may vary from twelve weeks to over two years. The vast majority of cases are completed in 6-12 months. The major benefit of Invisalign is its aesthetics. It is to all intents and purposes invisible. Another advantage is its removability. The aligners can be removed so cleaning your teeth is like normal and the aligners can be used to whiten your teeth.

Invisalign’s treatments are based on over 8million successfully treated cases, 8million! So Invisalign know how to successfully and gently move your teeth. Teeth being moved maybe a little tender and very hard food may be avoided however Invisalign is in general painless.

Invisalign costs are based on how many aligners your treatment requires. After the first stage of your orthodontic assessment, detailed records are sent to Invisalign headquarters and a treatment plan formulated which will estimate the number of aligners required. This will designate the case as Express, Lite or Comprehensive and each are priced accordingly. Whilst treatment plans can be modified to make them shorter usually this stage is a very good indication of treatment duration also as each aligner may be changed every ten days ish. So if it is ten aligners then most if not all of the treatment is likely to be completed in 100 days.

Invisalign Express cases will involve small movements to some teeth whereas Comprehensive will involve moving many teeth in many ways usually. Invisalign Lite falls somewhere in the middle and comprises the majority of cases. Whichever Invisalign is right for you, you will find it money very well spent for a lifetime of beautiful teeth. Payment plans are welcomed and orthodontic treatment is tax-deductible so 20% can be claimed back from Revenue. In our opinion Invisalign is the easiest and by miles the most aesthetic way of moving teeth.

Originally Invisalign struggled with some bite types- especially a deep bite where the top teeth overlap the bottom teeth a lot.

Perhaps to the extent that the bottom front teeth are almost invisible. However recent innovations have dramatically expanded what may be corrected and almost all bites can now be successfully corrected.

Any obvious food deposits should be rinsed off your aligners. They should then be cleaned with a soft toothbrush. Toothpaste and mouthwash are too harsh and may cause the aligners to become cloudy and thus more visible. Liquid soap is better and should be well rinsed off. You will be given cleaning crystals with your Invisalign kit which also can be used occasionally. These are placed in a little water and the aligner soaked therein for 5minutes.

There are various products available at the pharmacy which can also be used such as Retainer Brite. Hot water should be avoided as it may distort the aligner and denture solutions again are too harsh for cleaning aligners.

Invisalign developed the plastic material used in its aligners over 8years. The material is known as SmartTrack and it came after 260 other materials were tested and found not to reach exactly the right physical properties that Invisalign required. What was required was a material that will retain its shape in the harsh oral environment at 37 degrees. The material has to keep its flexibility and fit snugly around teeth at any angulation. It also is important not to put dramatically more pressure on a tooth that is very crooked compared with a tooth that’s a little crooked.

It must be possible to remove the aligner to eat and clean yet have the same aligner put gentle continuous force on the teeth to be moved. SmartTrack has achieved these disparate goals while also reducing the tenderness that people have experienced with other aligners including Invisalign’s own earlier materials.

it is recommended to remove your aligners when you are eating and drinking anything that isn’t water. Hot drinks will distort and stain the appliance. If there is any sugar in the food or drink then holding it up against your teeth in an aligner is a great way to get decay.

Beer is sugary and should only be consumed with the aligners out and your teeth well cleaned before they go back in. As the aligners cannot be out for long you may have to drink quickly! Smoking also will stain Invisalign making it more noticeable.

Invisalign Vivera retainers last based on how often they are being worn and whether there is any problem with nighttime grinding of teeth. The range expected would be 2-5 years for your average person and three sets of retainers are provided as an optional extra.

Your Invisalign aligners should be worn 20-22 hours a day. Strictly! If the aligners aren’t in then the teeth will not move. Different bite types and different tooth movements may require a new aligner every week, ten days or two weeks even if it’s a difficult movement. Your original assessment and Clincheck will specify how many aligners you will need to achieve perfection.

Both braces and Invisalign have a place in modern orthodontics. Even with recent advancements it still seems that Invisalign is not quite as good as traditional braces for some bite types and is better at other bite types. There is no doubt Invisalign is more aesthetic than traditional braces even if ceramic brackets are used Invisalign can also be removed for cleaning your teeth- a major benefit.

Another feature of Invisalign is the ability to program the movement of individual teeth or more importantly asking the appliance not to move some teeth. This can be very beneficial if a tooth isn’t able for pressure or perhaps has a previous crown. Speaking of crowns these can be damaged placing and removing train tracks and Invisalign may be preferred. All that being said a lot of orthodontics is carried out on teenagers and if any of them are like my boys there will be a lot of lost Invisalign aligners and a lot of aligners not worn as much as they ought.

Also sometimes extra elastics are used to correct how the jaws meet and traditional braces facilitate these better. All told the fact that train tracks are stuck in there working away 24/7 is a major advantage for most teenagers and some adults! In our experience Invisalign may be a little quicker than braces but not majorly so. Teeth have to be moved slowly and gently no matter what system is used.

Invisalign tends to be relatively similarly priced to braces and is perhaps a little cheaper for simpler cases.

Wisdom teeth, in general, don’t make any difference to the operation of Invisalign and do not need to be extracted in advance of Invisalign treatment.

Invisalign Go is a limited Invisalign system used by general dentists which concentrate on the front ten teeth only using a limited number of aligners.  It is used for mild cases often before some restorative work also.

If you have gaps between your front teeth that you would like to close, Invisalign can be a great option. Invisalign uses clear, removable aligners to shift your teeth into the desired position gradually. The aligners can be customised to focus on closing gaps in your front teeth, and the treatment is very effective. The clincheck pretreatment planning involved in Invisalign can accurately measure the size of the space and the movements required to close the space. It is usually a movement that Invisalign tends to be very good at. There can sometimes be more to closing a space than simply pushing the teeth together. Usually, closing a space with traditional braces or Invisalign will also involve retracting or pulling back the teeth; this will often be entirely appropriate. However, consider the case where a person has a flatter profile with perhaps thin lips and an upturned or pointy/large nose. The last thing to be desired may be to retract the teeth and flatten the profile further. This may ‘dish out’ the profile and make the nose appear more prominent than it is. The preplanning aspect of the Invisalign Clincheck™ allows the dentist to run each scenario separately to envisage which will work best, either retracting the teeth from the front or pulling the back teeth forward. It may indeed require a mixture of both.

Individual programming of tooth movement makes it easier to ‘tell’ the teeth where to ‘go’ or ‘stay put’. If retracting the teeth to close the spaces is the most desirable path, then the lower teeth will be a concern as upper teeth may only be retracted as far as the position of the lower teeth will allow without creating a reverse overlap or underbite. Again, this is very easily viewed on a Clincheck. The length of treatment will depend on the severity of your gaps, but you can expect to see results within a few months of starting treatment and throughout treatment, encouraging you to stay on the road. The size of the gaps and, therefore, the amount of movement required decides whether the case may be accomplished with Invisalign Lite, Moderate or Comprehensive.