When you have misaligned teeth, it may cause you to feel self-conscious about your smile and can put your teeth at risk of problems if it goes untreated. Therefore, most dental practices offer teeth straightening treatments such as Invisalign Macleod.
What is Invisalign?
Invisalign stands out from some other teeth straightening treatments because you won’t need to have any dental appliances fixed to your teeth throughout the treatment. Invisalign uses clear, plastic aligners that can be easily taken off and put back on whenever needed. The aligners are custom-made just for your teeth, to ensure that the treatment is tailored to you and your needs.
The process
The Invisalign process is simple and that is why its popularity has continued to rise throughout the years. The treatment involves minimal dental appointments, no invasive surgeries, and allows you to have more control of your teeth straightening journey.
To begin with Invisalign, you will firstly need to have a consultation with your dentist. This appointment will mainly involve your dentist examining your teeth and taking scans, pictures and videos of your teeth. All these things contribute to making the treatment tailored just for you, to ensure that you get the most useful results possible. The scans, pictures and videos will all be sent off to influence the creation of your custom aligners if you choose to go ahead with the treatment after this appointment. The consultation also gives you an opportunity to discuss Invisalign with your dentist and ask any questions you may have about the process.
Once your custom-made aligners have been created, you can really begin your Invisalign journey. Your dentist will provide you with a few aligners at once, and you will wear each one for around 2 weeks before changing onto the next one. Each aligner is slightly different, and this is what moves your teeth into a straighter position over time. People typically start seeing results within 6-18 months, and during this time, you will only need to see your dentist every 6-8 weeks for a check-up appointment.
When it comes to wearing your aligners on a day-to-day basis, they are very manageable to use and comfortable to wear. It is recommended that you wear your aligners for around 20 hours a day to get the full effects of the treatment. One of the best things about Invisalign is that during these 20 hours, you can easily remove your aligners to do things such as eating and brushing your teeth. This means that during the process, you can eat whatever you want without worrying about damaging the aligners. All you will need to do is remove them, eat your tasty meal, brush your teeth, and pop them back in, it’s as simple as that!
Once you have finished the Invisalign treatment and are enjoying your new, straighter smile, your dentist will highly recommend that you wear a retainer to help keep your teeth in their new position. Naturally, your teeth will try and revert to their original position but wearing a retainer will stop this from happening.
Disclaimer: Any surgical or invasive procedure carries risks. Before proceeding you should seek a second opinion from an appropriately qualified health practitioner.