Besides Invisalign, what other dental aligner brands do dentists recommend?

Doctor's Answers 2

Invisalign is the world leader and their treatment planning algorithm is very good, so that’s the main strength of it. There’s Zenyum, which is not exactly the same because it can treat very limited cases. I am on Zenyum but I haven’t actually had a case to play with. But yes, for Zenyum I’m actually quite strict with the selection criteria. Then there’s also WhiteSmile Clear, which is based in Malaysia. It looks very promising, I’ve seen orthodontists use it with really good results for extractions and stuff like that. But I haven’t really played with it. So again it comes down to -- it doesn’t matter what brand. Like, the teeth don't know what brand of the aligner is going on them, they just know that there’s a force and they’re being pushed so they will just go there. So ask your dentist to show you some before and afters, show you the cases that they’ve done. You can spend all the time researching the aligner brand, but again the aligner is only as good as the dentist designing the treatment plan and the patient who’s supposed to wear it.

However, a lot of times, find that I’m not very happy with the end result of aligner treatment, it needs a lot of inching because of compliance. It means the patient is not wearing it enough and then that’s where a lot of the problems come.

Compliance is the hard part. That’s very difficult. Because I had Invisalign, so I know what kind of dedication and discipline you need. It’s like, you want to snack but you have to think “Do I really want this snack because then I will have to brush my teeth and put my aligners on again”. It depends, for some patients it can work really well, like simple cases where the treatment duration is quite short so they don’t burn out. For some complex cases, I’ve had patients asking if they could do Invisalign, I just tell them no. It won’t work and you will waste a lot of time doing it, and Invisalign is quite expensive, at least in our practice.

I think the compliance of the patient is one of the most important. So if you can’t comply with 22 hours of wearing your aligners a day, please just wear braces. I mean there are different types of braces options as well, you don’t have to wear the metal ones, which you see most teenage kids wearing. There are also ceramic ones which are more suitable for adult patients if you want it to be more aesthetically pleasing. Those are fixed in your mouth and compliance of wearing is not going to be an issue. In those cases, compliance in taking care of your oral hygiene will come into play. That would be very important.

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Can Invisalign or braces help to fix a slanted jaw without the need for jaw surgery?

It is great that you are thinking about correcting your bite. With skeletal issues such as a slanted jaw, surgery is indeed required in order to achieve a good stable bite. However depending on the degree of skeletal discrepancy (slanted jaw) braces / invisalign are still options for you to consider in order to straighten out your teeth and give you a good smile. Straight and aligned teeth can be achieved but there are limitations so it depends on what your ideal smile is! My suggestion would be to consider all your options and if needed seek a second opinion.

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Thank you for your question. Tooth extraction may be indicated during Invisalign treatment for a few reasons: Create space for relief of crowding: all the adult teeth are unable to fit into the size of the jaw. This is usually indicated for moderate to severe crowding. More than 5mm of space is needed to achieve a good outcome. Create space to correct protrusion: teeth are protruding or inclined forwards. Space is needed to draw the teeth backwards and improve the inclination of the teeth.

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