Does anyone know if we are able to do invisalign while in the military? or can we do this outside of the military sphere while serving in the military.
Invisalign in military
- Thread starter RTAQ
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I can only speak for the Navy, but coming directly from an orthodontist at the postgrad programs in Bethesda is that Invisalign is not currently used in the Navy.
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In the Army I have used Essix Raintree and other similar systems on a few patients (link below) http://www.essix.com/orstore/default.aspx
It is similar to invisalign except you do all the adjustments yourself. NiTi wires are still the preferred way - quicker/more accurate results. However you will not be doing either unless you have had some kind of residency 1 or 2 year AEGD or Ortho.
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You have to become a certified Invisalign doc, I believe it's one or 2 all day seminars. You probably wouldn't be able to do it in the military setting unless you were in a residency of some sort, but if you were moonlighting and you wanted to get certified, by all means do it. There are alot of simple class 1 occlusion, tooth straightening patients that would be perfect for this. (I know they claim they can do very difficult cases with Invisalign, but I'll let an Orthodonist do that). From some of the results I've seen on patients it works nicely. The key is understanding which patients to do it on and which ones to refer to an Orthodontist. I've gone to some of their short presentations, but an not currently certified. As soon as I get out of the military I will though, it's a great service.
The other thing to consider about doing it while moonlighting, is that you need to be available for the coarse of treatment. It might not be a good idea to start someone and then get deployed and leave your patients hanging.
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To my knowledge, we aren't currently using Invisalign in the AF. Ortho is not an entitlement in the armed services. Most cases completed by Orthodontists are orthognathic cases and are best treated with fixed appliances. As a GD, I do treat some ortho cases, but I go with fixed appliances or modified Hawley type retainers.
Invisalign has a significant cost compared to conventional fixed appliances. I think the Tri-service Ortho residency provides some training in Invisalign, but it's not used much.
Invisalign has a significant cost compared to conventional fixed appliances. I think the Tri-service Ortho residency provides some training in Invisalign, but it's not used much.
