What you should know before starting Invisalign treatment.

Over the last couple of weeks I have performed several ‘disappointing’ orthodontic examinations on patients who were treated with what they were told was Invisalign. As it turns out, their provider used a far inferior product known as ClearCorrect ™ instead of the much more superior Invisalign product that is on the market.

The first telltale sign may be that instead of using a digital scanner to capture the teeth and bite relationship, the gooey old impressions were used.  Some providers of Invisalign are still using this outdated and often inaccurate approach, but they are few in number and have not treated many cases.  Don’t be the  ‘Guinea-pig’ patient, as they say when you need practice.

The second tip that you are not using Invisalign is the packaging. Ask to see the shipping package as well as the individual packages. Displayed clearly is the Invisalign logo. The word Invisalign is also displayed on the aligners themselves.

Another important note is the fit of the aligner; because Invisalign aligners fabricated from a digital scan are more accurate, the aligners themselves are very flexible and the fit is extremely accurate. They do not contact the tissues and they have no sharp edges. Often ClearCorrect ™ is very tight, poor fitting, and often cuts the lips and cheeks.

Finally, the most important key note is the experience of your provider. Do you really want to be one of the first patients to have someone experiment on you? Would you have your general practice physician perform heart surgery on you? You only want to go through this treatment once, and with no regrets! Those patients that I examined last week were thoroughly disappointed after having invested over $5,000 dollars on a treatment that their providers “tried” and it did not work! Now they have to haggle with their provider to get their money back-Good luck!

So before you begin Invisalign treatment, check the Invisalign website for the provider in your area with the most cases completed and the best reputation to stack the deck in your favor!

-Dr. Christopher Frigo