What is Invisalign?

Hi, it’s Dr Michael Ghobrial here from Sure Dental. We have a lot of patients that call up and come in and are asking about Invisalign. And they know that Invisalign exists, they want to know a little bit more about it. And so often we are explaining to people what Invisalign is. And so I thought I’d write this blog to help you understand what Invisalign is and how it works and who it’s beneficial for. So hopefully at the end of this blog, you’ll have some useful information about what is Invisalign.

So, Invisalign actually has been around for quite a while. It was initially begun around 1998. So it’s been a couple of decades now of Invisalign, and it has progressed a lot over the years. But essentially what it is it’s a clear aligner system that straightens your teeth. So Invisalign is there for people who want to straighten crowding, who want to correct the position of their teeth but don’t want to wear braces. And so it’s essentially made out of a clear tray that you put over your teeth putting pressure on your teeth, allowing them to be put in the right position.

Invisalign is amazing for people who want to straighten their teeth and don’t want people to know they’re going through treatment. It’s also a bit more comfortable than the conventional braces cause you don’t have brackets and metal wires that kind of dig into your cheeks and things. But I think my favourite part of Invisalign is the ability to be able to take the trays and on to clean your teeth. And so Invisalign allows you to eat normally and clean your teeth normally, which as a dentist I appreciate a lot.

The way Invisalign works is they use your photos that are taken by a dentist or orthodontist, these days most people use the digital scan of your teeth and we plan through their digital platform called ClinCheck, where we want the teeth to be positioned and how we want the movements to happen. And then they print out a bunch of these trays that we change about every week, depending on your case. And each tray is in a slightly different position, putting different forces on the teeth. And the way these trays engage is using some little resin tooth-coloured attachments that we put strategically in some areas around your teeth. And that allows us to have a lot of control over the positioning.

So back in 1998, when Invisalign started really it was about tilting teeth. There wasn’t a whole heap of other uses for it, but nowadays, 24 years on or so it’s actually very, very effective at doing most movements that we require in orthodontics. And so nowadays you can strain your teeth more comfortably without people knowing that you’re straightening your teeth, no metal, no braces, and it works really predictably and effectively.

So if you’ve been considering straightening your teeth, if you want to know more about Invisalign, why don’t you give us a call on 07 3113 9698 or leave us a line on our website inquiry or on social media, we’d love to hear from you. I hope you found this blog useful.