One of the reasons Invisalign has captured a big portion of the orthodontics market is it attracts adults who only need limited treatment with no bite correction.
With traditional braces, it is hard to achieve limited treatment because anytime you put a brace on a tooth it has to move. When we put braces on the front teeth, we have to put them on back teeth to stabilize any movement in the front.
However, with Invisalign, we can program things to move at different points or not to move at all. For example, we can devise a limited treatment to address just the front teeth without having to adjust any teeth in the back.
Here are the top three limited treatments that can best be addressed with Invisalign.
Relapse
The most common reason patients come to us needing limited treatment aligner therapy is relapse for adults who had braces when they were young. Either due to lack of retainer wear or just natural, gradual relapse, patients often have a couple of teeth that have shifted and now are misaligned years after wearing braces.
Most patients will notice that their bottom teeth tend to relapse the most. With Invisalign, we can straighten just the front two or four teeth if that is all that is needed to address minor crowding.
Gaps
For patients with gaps between their front teeth, Invisalign is the perfect option, as it can close the gaps by just addressing those front teeth needing alignment, without disturbing the back teeth.
Restorative
Working in conjunction with dentists who are treating patients getting ready for restorative work, such as crowns or implants, we can put the teeth in a better position to be restored.
With some of these limited treatments, during which we are just tweaking minor crowding or closing gaps, corrections can be made in as little as four to six months.
The beauty of Invisalign is that we can program specific teeth to do specific movements addressing only a portion of the smile. That’s why we choose repeatedly and routinely to use aligner therapy for these types of limited cases.
