Aligners: What kind of treatment is that?
The treatment with (plastic-) aligners is nowadays a very big "hype" and in contrast to the classic braces discreet and almost invisible. The Invisalign® system, among others, can be used to correct teeth. Since transparent aligners are used, it is also called semi-invisible orthodontic treatment. Very few people realize, however, that even such a treatment is not a purely cosmetic procedure, but a real medical treatment with possibly significant side effects.
The procedure of such a treatment, however, is relatively simple:
An impression is taken in the mouth of the upper and lower jaw. This impression is then sent to a company, which makes the aligners according to computer specifications. These are then delivered and inserted accordingly.
This is exactly where the problems of the new companies lie, where the aligners are simply sent to you without an orthodontist monitoring the findings, delivery and progress. The responsibility and liability lies solely with these companies, which are all located somewhere outside Switzerland. It is very, very difficult to fall legally back on them, if the teeth, gums or jaws are damaged, because a wrong treatment was made.
With us, the responsibility for aligner therapy lies entirely with us. That is, why we really only work with companies, where we can rely on the product 100%. These are companies like Invisalign®, Nivellipso® and Clear Aligner®.
In practice, aligner treatments are not really suitable for every patient and depend very much on the respective malposition. Therefore the indications for such splints should be set and selected very precisely. This is exactly the task of the orthodontist to ensure, that a good, stable and safe result can be achieved without damaging the masticatory apparatus.
Not to forget the so-called "retention", i.e. the time after the splint therapy is over. It is a very big and widespread misconception, that the teeth do not move after a stabilisation phase of e.g. 1 year. Your own teeth move (fortunately) for a lifetime and thus also shift for a lifetime. In order to avoid this shift ("relapse"), all patients treated by us receive retainers in the upper and lower jaw. The aligner therapy should be designed, so that this is also possible in the upper jaw. You will certainly not get this "service" from companies, that simply send you the splints. The chance, that you will spend money for a new treatment later on, is therefore very high.
Another possibility for correcting your teeth is the fixed Incognito® braces. These internal and therefore almost invisible braces help to correct the teeth as unobtrusively as possible. In contrast to splints, these braces are fixed firmly to the inner sides of the teeth.
Example 4:
Patient was disturbed by an unattractive frontaligment in the upper and lower jaw. The open bite in the front can only be closed with aligners to a limited extent. Clear stripping was necessary. The discoloured tooth came from an accident the patient had during the treatment.
Left pictures before treatment, right pictures after treatment:
Example 5:
Maximum possibility of treatment with aligners, rounding out and stripping (enamel reduction) without having to remove teeth (good compromise). A further reduction of the enamel could have led to hypersensitive teeth and increased susceptibility to caries and a further rounding out could have led to possible recessions of the gums.
Left pictures before treatment, right pictures after treatment:
