What are Invisalign braces?

The convenience and ease of use of the Invisalign system have made it the choice of over half a million people. In fact, Invisalign has been effective in giving hundreds of thousands of people amazing new smiles.

If you have been looking into orthodontic treatments, you may have come across Invisalign before and wondered what it’s all about. It is generally acknowledged that whilst braces help to improve your smile in the long run, one of their main drawbacks is their appearance in the short run.

Traditionally, braces are made using metal, plastic or ceramic brackets. These brackets are fixed in place to the front of the tooth and a wire is then held between them. Whilst braces are clinically proven to deliver very effective results, many prospective patients are afraid to wear them as they do not like the idea of their appearance during treatment.

We offer a solution as our dentists can fit you with Invisalign which will give you a beautiful smile as conventional braces will, but without compromising your appearance during the treatment.

Invisalign offers the patient a series of clear, removable aligners which are changed every 2-3 weeks. There is no tightening to be done, no changing of wires and no elastic bands to get in the way. Instead, all of the adjustments are made with one new aligner every few weeks.

Since the aligners are clear they are hardly visible in the mouth at all and will fit perfectly against your teeth. As each aligner is individually moulded to specifically fit each patient, Invisalign is much more comfortable than conventional braces.

Invisalign programme

Invisalign offers the complete cosmetic orthodontic programme. We will begin with the most important part of straightening your teeth with the series of Invisalign aligners. After this stage has been completed, we will whiten your teeth (if required), followed by any re-contouring (if required) to truly give you that perfect smile!

You will then have the choice of having removable or bonded (our preferred choice) retainers to help maintain your new smile. This is already included in your treatment plan. We prefer the bonded retainers as they will be discretely hidden on the backs of your teeth, which is great for vanity and aesthetic reasons, and it also means there isn’t any chance of taking out your retainers to eat and breaking them (which can be common with removable retainers).

How long do treatments take?

The time needed for Invisalign to work its magic will depend on the severity of the patients case. This means that cost will also vary from patient to patient as some people will need many aligners and others will require just a few.