During the last ten years or so in orthodontic care, there has been something of an upheaval in the majority of dental surgeries, particularly relating to adult orthodontic care.
Most dental surgeries are now able to offer patients invisible or clear aligners to straighten their teeth, provided that they have a straightforward clinical presentation and a mild to moderate misalignment. Meaning that if you are an adult who wants to straighten their teeth, but feels braces would be excessive, this might be the right option for you.
At Cannon Street Dental we are exceptionally proud of the orthodontic options that we can offer to our adult patients. Our dentist in London will be able to assess the severity of your misalignment and will offer the best treatment option for you, with the most popular of all the orthodontic tools we can offer being Invisalign.
However, you may have heard that Invisalign is expensive or that it simply doesn’t work and, in this article, our dentist in London aims to debunk 5 of the most common myths about this very popular aligner.
Myth 1- The treatment takes too long
This is one of the most common myths that our dentist in London hears and in actual fact when you come to our team to have aligners fitted, the process will take on average between 3 to 6 months to straighten your smile. Compared to 36 months for fitted metal braces, that is a serious saving on time! The process is not long, but will vary slightly depending on the severity of the misalignment being corrected.
Myth 2- The aligners are hard to look after
Compared to regular braces, invisible aligners like Invisalign are exceedingly straightforward to look after. You simply need to wear them for 22 hours a day, clean them by running them under a cold water tap and using the toothbrush to remove any debris, and ensure that you clean your teeth before you put them back in. Of course, you will need to avoid rinsing them under hot water as this can cause them to warp out of shape.
Myth 3- The process is expensive
Many people have concerns that because Invisalign is something of a new innovation it will be excessively expensive. However, our team at Cannon Street Dental can offer financing options to our suitable patients to help spread the cost of this treatment. Once again, when compared to traditional metal braces, Invisalign is not that expensive at all, but price will vary based on your specific clinical requirements.
Myth 4- Online aligners are just as good
In a word, no they are not, and this is because you need to have a dentist with you at the beginning to measure the position of your teeth. At-home aligner kits often send dental moulds for you to take, which increases the margin for error and will have an impact on the overall shape of the aligners which are sent to straighten your teeth.
Myth 5- The aligners don’t work
They wouldn’t be popular if they didn’t work! The aligners that we can offer at Cannon Street Dental work for all of our patients but if we feel that you have a misalignment that is deemed extreme or complicated, we will suggest fitted metal braces.