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Invisalign or braces
- Thread starter the prodogy
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Invisalign cannot be used in all orthodontic treatment plans. In very advanced cases, traditional orthodontic techniques must be used.
Cosmetically invisalign wins easily. There are certain cases where traditional braces can be put on the lingual surfaces of the teeth, so no one knows they are there but you and your tongue.
Maintaining good oral hygiene takes a lot of effort with traditional braces, none with invisalign.
The cost depends on the office. You could pay more for either modality depending on where you are.
The biggest "meaningful" difference between them IMO is the fact that at the end of invisalign treatment you may need to have some of the surfaces of your teeth reduced (shaved down) for them to come together properly. This is not something that everyone is willing to do, no matter how little shaving is necessary.
I think I hit everything, but I'm sure others will chime in if needed!
Cosmetically invisalign wins easily. There are certain cases where traditional braces can be put on the lingual surfaces of the teeth, so no one knows they are there but you and your tongue.
Maintaining good oral hygiene takes a lot of effort with traditional braces, none with invisalign.
The cost depends on the office. You could pay more for either modality depending on where you are.
The biggest "meaningful" difference between them IMO is the fact that at the end of invisalign treatment you may need to have some of the surfaces of your teeth reduced (shaved down) for them to come together properly. This is not something that everyone is willing to do, no matter how little shaving is necessary.
I think I hit everything, but I'm sure others will chime in if needed!
According to Wikipedia...
Disadvantages of Invisalign
Despite the considerable cosmetic advantage of Invisalign, the product also has many disadvantages: the very fact that the aligners are removable means they are not continually correcting the teeth. Unlike traditional fixed braces, they are largely dependent on a patient's habits and their consistency in wearing the aligners.
The aligners must be removed for eating. They and the teeth should be cleaned before re-inserting afterwards. This can be troublesome for people who are constantly snacking and may mean the patient has to clean their teeth up to six times daily. However, this tends to discourage snacking, which some people might find useful.
Unlike traditional braces, if a patient grinds or clenches his or her teeth during the day or while sleeping, the aligners or braces can become damaged. In practice, however, this problem is very rare and a new aligner can be ordered. Also, similar to traditional appliances, aligners may cause a slight lisp at the beginning of treatment. This usually disappears as the patient becomes used to the treatment.
The aligners are constructed of implantable grade plastic, however a growing number of reported cases of allergic and toxic sensitivity reactions to Invisalign are being reported to the FDA and online information forums like Archwired.[citation needed] Minor symptoms such as sore throat, cough and nausea have been reported.[citation needed] In more serious cases, the FDA has received reports of systemic swelling or throat pain that has extended to the upper chest and wind passages requiring emergency medical treatment and discontinuation of the Invisalign treatment. It is more than likely that this is all a case of people blaming their illnesses on whatever lifestyle changes they have made recently. None of the medical issues above have been upheld by the authorities.[citation needed] While the Invisalign company provides no information except the MSDS (material safety data sheet) directly to patients or orthodontists, working through the patient's orthodontist Invisalign will make the aligners with several different materials to attempt to reduce toxic or allergic sensitivity.
Disadvantages of Invisalign
Despite the considerable cosmetic advantage of Invisalign, the product also has many disadvantages: the very fact that the aligners are removable means they are not continually correcting the teeth. Unlike traditional fixed braces, they are largely dependent on a patient's habits and their consistency in wearing the aligners.
The aligners must be removed for eating. They and the teeth should be cleaned before re-inserting afterwards. This can be troublesome for people who are constantly snacking and may mean the patient has to clean their teeth up to six times daily. However, this tends to discourage snacking, which some people might find useful.
Unlike traditional braces, if a patient grinds or clenches his or her teeth during the day or while sleeping, the aligners or braces can become damaged. In practice, however, this problem is very rare and a new aligner can be ordered. Also, similar to traditional appliances, aligners may cause a slight lisp at the beginning of treatment. This usually disappears as the patient becomes used to the treatment.
The aligners are constructed of implantable grade plastic, however a growing number of reported cases of allergic and toxic sensitivity reactions to Invisalign are being reported to the FDA and online information forums like Archwired.[citation needed] Minor symptoms such as sore throat, cough and nausea have been reported.[citation needed] In more serious cases, the FDA has received reports of systemic swelling or throat pain that has extended to the upper chest and wind passages requiring emergency medical treatment and discontinuation of the Invisalign treatment. It is more than likely that this is all a case of people blaming their illnesses on whatever lifestyle changes they have made recently. None of the medical issues above have been upheld by the authorities.[citation needed] While the Invisalign company provides no information except the MSDS (material safety data sheet) directly to patients or orthodontists, working through the patient's orthodontist Invisalign will make the aligners with several different materials to attempt to reduce toxic or allergic sensitivity.
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i've been talking with a couple of our ortho instructers about getting some ortho done work, and here are the points they mentioned to me regarding invisalign and conventional braces:
price: price is usually a significant difference...almost 3x as much for invisalign (in some offices)...but even if you were able to find a dentist/ortho who is willing to hook you up and only charge you the lab fees...lab fees are about equal to the price of traditional brances.
time: although some claim that invisalign is shorter in treatment time, this is not always true. it totally depends on your case.
special needs: if you need rotation and slight movement, invisalign can handle these types of movements quite easliy. if you need intrusion or extrusion, these types of movements are supposedly more difficult for invisalign and therefore the outcome is not always ideal
each one of the profs that i talked to said that they personally don't really see any reason to spend the extra money on invisalign, unless aesthetics is a major concern. these are only the opinions (and what I can remember) from a few people, so please take them with a grain of salt...
do some independant research and ask the patients / former patients of the dentist/ortho that your thinking about going to get treatment at to see how the entire treatment proceedure was and to see how happy they were with the outcome.
price: price is usually a significant difference...almost 3x as much for invisalign (in some offices)...but even if you were able to find a dentist/ortho who is willing to hook you up and only charge you the lab fees...lab fees are about equal to the price of traditional brances.
time: although some claim that invisalign is shorter in treatment time, this is not always true. it totally depends on your case.
special needs: if you need rotation and slight movement, invisalign can handle these types of movements quite easliy. if you need intrusion or extrusion, these types of movements are supposedly more difficult for invisalign and therefore the outcome is not always ideal
each one of the profs that i talked to said that they personally don't really see any reason to spend the extra money on invisalign, unless aesthetics is a major concern. these are only the opinions (and what I can remember) from a few people, so please take them with a grain of salt...
do some independant research and ask the patients / former patients of the dentist/ortho that your thinking about going to get treatment at to see how the entire treatment proceedure was and to see how happy they were with the outcome.
