Looking to straighten your teeth with aligners rather than traditional braces?
Whether it’s to improve your smile or help correct the position of your jaw and teeth, clear aligners represent an innovative alternative to traditional braces. Here at Limitless Dental, we always step our patients through all the different options to help straighten their teeth – read on to learn more about aligners as a potential option for you.
What are clear aligners?
These are thin, high-grade plastic ‘trays’ which are moulded to fit directly over your teeth to gently guide them into the desirable position. They mimic the pressure that conventional braces and wires exert on teeth to move them into place, without the visibility. From afar, people won’t be able to tell that you’re wearing clear aligners!
What’s the process of getting and wearing aligners?
As with any treatment, your dentist will need to take images and x-rays to determine the optimal plan for straightening your teeth. Once we’ve determined that you’re eligible for aligners, you will need to have a mould of your current teeth taken. However, gone are the days of unpleasant putty in your mouth – at Limitless Dental, we use state-of-the-art scanners to produce a 3D digital mould of your teeth. Based on these 3D scans, we then work with our provider (Spark Aligners) to determine the best course of action for safely shifting your teeth into the correct position. Spark Aligners will then produce a set number of aligner ‘trays’.
You’ll then revisit us to have the first tray fitted to your teeth; this is usually a very quick and painless appointment and you’re off on your way with the first set of trays to wear!
While you remove aligners to eat and drink, they do need to remain on your teeth for the majority of your day and night in order to achieve the right results in an optimal timeframe. Each week, or whatever time frame that your dentist advises, you will change to the next aligner ‘tray’ which has a slightly different mould of your teeth – they represent where your teeth will move to next. At set intervals over the course of your aligners treatment, you’ll pop into the practice for the dentist to check your progress.
Are aligners painful to wear?
When straightening your teeth, you will experience some degree of discomfort at certain times with both aligners and braces. When you first wear the aligner tray, you may feel a tightening sensation around your teeth – it’s a snug fit, but this is pressure that’s required to move your teeth. This tightness will ease up as you wear the aligner, until you move on to your next tray. It’s all worth it in the end though when your teeth straighten out and you smile with more confidence!
Are there payment plan options available?
We know orthodontics have been known to be costly, however we have different payment plan options available to our patients to help – just enquire with our team.
Ready to straighten your smile? Give us a call on 9569 8091 to book in a free orthodontic consult with one of our dentists, who can discuss the different options available.
