Invisalign: A Better Fit for Adult Orthodontics

If you are unhappy with your smile because of crooked, crowded, or gapped teeth, you might be wishing you got braces as a teenager. But you hated the thought of wearing braces as a teenager. The appearance of metal wires and brackets on your teeth, the feeling of them on your cheeks, and the effect of them on your diet and lifestyle all seemed like they weren’t worth it.

And braces haven’t gotten any more appealing as you’ve gotten older. In fact, they’ve gotten worse, because your life has only gotten more hectic and more demanding. Plus the thought of wearing braces in a meeting with your boss or while trying to pitch to a major client seems unbearable. But you also know your smile may be closing doors on your career.

Fortunately, there’s another option for straightening your teeth: clear plastic aligner treatments like Invisalign or ClearCorrect.

How Invisalign Works

The key to moving teeth with orthodontics is just steady pressure over time. Braces accomplish this with wires that pull on the brackets attached to your teeth. Invisalign uses clear plastic aligners to push your teeth.

First, we will scan your teeth to determine their current location. Then we will plan where we want your teeth to be. This information is then sent to Invisalign, whose computers divide the goal into small movements, each taking about two weeks to accomplish. Invisalign then manufactures a series of aligner trays to accomplish these movements.

When you put on an Invisalign tray, you will feel the pressure it applies to your teeth. This can cause minor soreness at first, but you can take over-the-counter pain relievers to help, and the discomfort passes in a day or two.

After two weeks, you switch to a new aligner tray. When you’ve finished all your aligner trays, your teeth should be in the desired position. How many aligner trays you need depends on how much movement your teeth need. It could be as few as five if you only need minor straightening, but 25 is not uncommon.

Why Invisalign Is Better for Busy Adults

Invisalign is just a better fit for adults with a demanding schedule. You don’t have to spend as much time on meticulous cleaning around your braces. You just brush and floss normally after every meal.

You also don’t have to make as many visits to our office. Instead of coming into our office for a tightening every month, you can be given a set of aligners to take home. When you finish with one, move onto the next one. You can go six or eight weeks between visits to our office.

Maintain a More Professional Appearance with Invisalign

Do you think people will take you as seriously if you’re wearing braces? Probably not–we still associate them with being a teenager, so it’s likely people will think you’re younger, and less responsible or competent.

Plus there’s the risk that you’ll get something stuck in your braces and won’t notice or won’t be able to get it out before you head back to work. And with braces, there’s nothing you can do if you develop a lisp or other speech impediment that can make it harder for people to understand you on conference calls or during presentations.

But with Invisalign, few people will be able to tell you’re wearing them. The clear plastic aligners are nearly invisible, so you won’t have any stigma related to your orthodontics.

There are no wires to catch food, and cleaning your teeth with Invisalign is easy–just brush and floss normally to have sparkling teeth when you come back to work.

And if you develop a lisp or other speech problem while wearing Invisalign, you can take your aligners out for conference calls or major presentations so you can make yourself be understood.

Get an Executive Smile without Putting Your Climb on Hold

If you want a smile ready for the C-level office you’ve been working for, but don’t want to add stumbling blocks to your path, Invisalign is a great choice. It won’t interfere with your schedule and it will help you maintain your professional appearance.

To learn more about the benefits of Invisalign in Tulsa, please call (918) 528-3330 today for an appointment with cosmetic dentist Dr. Hodges at élan Tulsa Cosmetic Dentistry.