You may have heard in many cases, Invisalign treatment is faster than braces. This can happen for several reasons.
1. Clear aligner digital treatment planning – orthodontists precisely plan the straightening of your teeth using digital software. The digital software allows our Orthodontist to design different scenarios for your teeth straightening plan. From here, the Orthodontist will determine the fastest and most efficient plan.
2. Tooth movement in smaller increments. Unlike braces, where you have them tightened around every 8 weeks, Urban Smile treatment is a series of clear aligner trays. You start with aligner number one and about every 7 days (at home) you’ll change to your next aligner number in the series. You’ll do this until you reach the last number in your set. It’s easy to track which aligner number you’re up to as they come in separate packets and each aligner has a number imprinted onto the aligner surface. Your first clear aligner is very similar to the shape of your existing teeth when you start treatment, but slightly different. So it will feel a little tight when you put it on as the Orthodontist has planned for the tray to shift your teeth slightly. Your last aligner shape is based on where the Orthodontist has designed your teeth alignment to finish. Each clear tray in between aligner tray 1 and the last aligner is a gradual change in shape. Because your treatment is done in these gradual steps, (as opposed to big wire changes with metal braces), the ability to control your tooth movement can be better than that achieved with braces. This means that with Urban Smile clear aligners, we can often have more control over the tooth movement and therefore achieve your final smile sooner. The gradual changes, broken into a weekly basis are also less painful than the braces tightening which is a bigger change because it is only happening around every 8 weeks.
3. Remote Urban Smile monitoring – At Urban Smile, we partner with remote monitoring with your clear aligner treatment. Using our smartphone app, you’ll be taking photos of your teeth throughout treatment and be able to communicate with our practice. Using the smartphone app, our Orthodontic team will review your photos regularly to ensure your clear aligner treatment is staying on track. This means we can make adjustments to your treatment plan if needed and more importantly when needed. This is different to traditional braces treatment where the Orthodontist can only see if there are issues with your treatment when you visit the clinic in person. The ability to monitor your teeth movement more closely with clear aligners and remote monitoring often means our clear aligner patients finish sooner than braces patients as the Melbourne Orthodontist is able to intervene more quickly should your aligner treatment need adjusting.