Dentistry

What are invisible and clear aligners?

You may have heard when going about your day about clear aligners. But you may be unsure of how they work or perhaps you are entirely new to the subject altogether.

Either way, clear aligners are a transparent gum shield-like device that you wear over your teeth; they alter their position all the time and have a similar role as traditional metal braces. 

The difference is that they are translucent and therefore can be worn with confidence in public, as it is highly unlikely that anyone will notice that you’re wearing them and only realise you’re receiving orthodontic treatment when your teeth start straightening up. 

Invisalign Glasgow in particular and dental aligners in general have gained a lot of popularity among adult patients. This is due to the fact that there are reduced costs compared to traditional braces for an adult and not having to attend appointments as often as you would if you were using an orthodontic brace.The biggest producer of invisible aligners in the UK, this brand provides local dentists with this orthodontic to use on suitable patients.

Another thing that has added to its popularity is that patients can watch that as their teeth straighten up.

Unlike with braces where you have to wait until the completion of treatment and the removal of the brace in order to see the progress which has been made, the effect of seeing the teeth getting into a proper position becomes obvious after the second week of use.

How Do Invisible Aligners Work?

Invisible aligners work by performing orthodontics in a computer simulation and then taking that information and using it to design  a set of aligners.

Many invisible aligner providers have developed an extremely high fidelity model of the human mouth. During the fitting at the start of invisible aligner treatment, a 3D scan is taken of your mouth; this is used to calibrate a simulation. Then, an orthodontist rearranges the position of the teeth in the computer program. It calculates the amount of force required to push the teeth from their current position to the idale to finished position created by the orthodontist. Force infraction is then used to design a set of aligners that will apply the necessary pressure for the appropriate amount of time to get the results seen in the simulation. This allows the smallest quantity of force to be used to achieve the realignment, an intelligent approach to orthodontic treatment, while minimising discomfort whilst achieving maximum results.

Cleaning And Maintaining Aligners

Cleaning and maintenance of aligners is also much more straightforward than braces. You can remove them from your mouth at any time. This means you don’t have to eat with them in, and it does not restrict your food choices in the same way that the brace does. It also means cleaning them is as simple as rinsing them under lukewarm water. 

Because they are removable, there is a temptation with under motivated patients to skip wearing their aligners, sometimes for days on end. This can significantly reduce the overall treatment effectiveness and greatly extend the treatment time sometimes having to result in restarting from the beginning.

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