Could You Have Sleep Apnea? [quiz]
June 20, 2016
Don’t Let Headaches Interfere With Your Life
June 24, 2016
Being flexible is a good thing for most people, most of the time.
As the old saying goes, “The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” We know people who are meticulous planners in every aspect of their lives. We also know people who just seem to go with the flow all the time.
No matter where you fall between those two extremes, you will still face unexpected situations from time to time. You may not realize it, but those unexpected situations can affect orthodontic treatment, too.
If you have been considering your options to make your teeth straight, we encourage you to talk to one of the dentists at any Sunrise Dental location. Our team can help you see how Invisalign® may be the flexible solution that can help you.
How Is Invisalign Flexible?
This is an understandable question. With Invisalign, you will use a series of plastic aligners to push your teeth.
The aligners aren’t all that flexible. (They wouldn’t move your teeth very well if they were.) However, they are flexible in some other, perhaps more significant, ways.
First and foremost, you can feel comfortable wearing your aligners anyplace and anytime. One of the key features of Invisalign is that the aligners are clear.
When we say clear, we mean they are practically transparent. You can wear your aligners over your teeth without drawing attention to them. This can help you feel more comfortable wearing them to work, to social gatherings, or to run errands.
Some people are already self-conscious about their smiles. Some orthodontic treatments, like traditional metal braces, can make them even more aware of how their teeth look.
Second, Invisalign aligners are removable. (Don’t try this with braces. If you do, then don’t say we didn’t warn you.)
With Invisalign, orthodontic treatment doesn’t have to interfere with your daily life. You do need to wear your aligners most of the time. Twenty-two hours per days is recommended.
But you may find there are times when you want to remove them for your own convenience. Let’s say you were planning to spend a lazy day at home when a friend calls to invite you to lunch.
You can simply remove your aligners, eat whatever you would like, and enjoy your friend’s company. When you are finished, you can put the aligners back in.
Sure, you could still go eat with braces, but you may not be able to get what you really want when you scan the restaurant’s menu.
Faster And Still Effective
One reason many adults are hesitant to seek orthodontic care is the time commitment involved in the process.
All orthodontic treatment will start with an evaluation of the condition of your teeth. That evaluation will determine what options are available to you to straighten your smile.
With braces, you will need to have the brackets places and the wires attached to your teeth. You will need to return to the dentist or orthodontist’s office on a regular basis to have your braces adjusted.
For average patients, this can take two years although it may take longer for some patients.
That’s two years of visits to the dentist (which we know everyone already loves doing, right?) and two years with brackets and wires attached to your teeth everywhere you go.
With Invisalign, we will still ask you to stop in from time to time to track your progress, but your adjustments are so much simpler. All you do is remove one aligner and replace it with the next one as needed (usually every two weeks or so).
The average Invisalign patient can complete his or her treatment in about 12 months, about half the time it would take with braces.
Plus you can remove your aligners to eat, to brush and floss your teeth, or just when you need a short break.
Schedule Your Consultation Today
We offer Invisalign because we know that it does work for people with mild and moderate alignment problems. We’ve seen the kind of difference it has made for many of our patients.
To learn more, you just need to talk with a dentist at our Sunrise Dental locations in Chapel Hill, Durham, Raleigh, and Cary. Getting started is a simple as calling or using our online form to make an appointment.
The sooner you start, the sooner you could be looking at your new and improved smile in the mirror.