How Do Direct Delivery Clear Braces Work?

As with any medical procedure, you want to know what you’re in for when it comes to clear braces. If you go to the direct delivery route, the process is straightforward.

1. Dental Impressions

Dental impressions are critical for your braces because they indicate where your teeth are starting. The lab will use them to create your customized aligners.

To start, you’ll request an impression kit from the manufacturer. This kit lets you take your own impressions at home and send them to the lab.

2. Treatment Plan Design

When the lab receives your impressions, they’ll be able to see how to transition your teeth to the alignment you want. They identify where each tooth should go and how to move it.

The lab’s skilled team of dental experts will use design a customized treatment plan for you based on those impressions. They’ll plan your treatment in stages to indicate how to shape each aligner.

3. Custom Aligners

Based on the team of dental experts plans, the lab creates your customized aligners. They’ll start with moulds of your impressions and adjust the shape of each aligner to follow the dental expert’s designs. When the aligners are ready, the lab will ship them to you so you can get started.

4. At-Home Teeth Straightening

With your new aligners in hand, you can start the process toward straighter teeth. Simply follow the instructions you receive about how to wear, change, and care for your aligners. Within weeks you’ll start seeing your teeth moving toward the beautiful smile you want.

Advantages of Clear Braces

Are clear braces the right choice for you to get a straighter smile? Ask yourself if these benefits are appealing.

1. More Discreet Look

On the surface of white teeth, metal braces stick out like a sore thumb. For some people, this is a deal-breaker.

With clear braces, people will be able to see you and see the joy in your smile rather than seeing your braces alone. They’re also more suitable for people who don’t want it to be obvious that they’re straightening their teeth. Adults often opt for that advantage because braces are less common in adulthood than they are in their teenage years.

2. Lower Cost

Braces can put a serious strain on any family’s budget. Metal braces cost thousands, and not all the orthodontic offices have patient-friendly payment plans. You could be left paying high-interest rates on a credit card or loan to foot the bill.

When you choose clear braces that don’t require orthodontic visits, the cost is far lower. You could pay as low as $95 per month interest-free.

3. No Eating and Drinking Restrictions

When people have metal braces, the braces stay on while they eat and drink. As a result, they need to avoid certain foods that could damage the braces. This includes popular favourites like popcorn, gum, nuts, and just about anything chewy or crunchy.

With invisible braces, on the other hand, you remove the aligners at any time you eat or drink. This allows you to enjoy any foods you want without restrictions.

4. Built-In Protection for Teeth Grinding

In the US, there are around 26 million people who grind their teeth in their sleep: a condition called bruxism. If you’re one of them, you’ll find clear braces especially easy and helpful.

Dentists typically offer night guards for these patients. The night guards look similar to clear braces, but the only function is to put a protective layer between your teeth. This limits the amount of damage your teeth sustain from the grinding while you sleep.

Clear braces, interestingly, can serve that purpose as well. Considering that many people with bruxism don’t realize it, your braces may protect your teeth while you sleep.

5. Fewer Struggles with Oral Health

Metal braces don’t only present a cosmetic problem. They also make it difficult to brush your teeth and especially challenging to floss with braces. This could lead to tooth decay by the time your teeth are straightened.

Clear braces don’t have that problem. You simply remove them every time you need to brush or floss. You care for your teeth like you normally would and then put in the aligners again.

6. No Orthodontic Visits

With metal braces, you’ll find yourself seeing your orthodontist more often than you may like to. After your initial consultation and getting the braces on, you’ll return every several weeks for the orthodontist to adjust them. You’ll likely need check-ups after the braces are off to ensure that your teeth stay in place too.

When you choose direct delivery invisible braces, on the other hand, you can bid the orthodontist adieu. You’ll be able to handle the whole process at home on your own.

That means less time out of your busy life, fewer scheduling headaches, and less money for office visits.

7. More Day-to-Day Comfort

Metal braces tend to come with plenty of discomforts. The initial application is uncomfortable, and there is often pain following each adjustment.

In addition, the metal can cut the inside of your mouth from time to time, even while taking precautions. This could lead to painful canker sores that take a week or more to heal.

Patients with clear braces typically report far more comfort. You’ll feel some pressure with each new aligner as your teeth adjust. However, the discomfort is minimal and you eliminate the sharp edges of metal braces.

8. Quicker Results

No matter how comfortable or easy your braces are, every person wants the quickest results they can get. You’re eager to finally have a smile that makes you feel confident.

While nothing happens overnight, clear braces tend to produce faster results than metal braces. The average for metal braces is 18-36 months. Clear braces average 4-6 months instead.

9. No Trade-Off for Your Self-Esteem

If you’re looking for braces, it’s probably because your smile has affected your self-esteem. No one wants to feel self-conscious at the joyous moments in their lives.

For so many patients, though, metal braces require them to dislike their appearance even more for several months or years before they get results. You’re trading a few years of increased self-consciousness for decades of confidence. That price is too high for some.

If you choose invisible braces, you won’t have that trade-off. The aligners aren’t visible at all from a distance and they’re difficult to see when you’re face-to-face. You get the decades of confidence without the years of sacrifice.

10. Bonus Advantage: Less Temptation for Bad Habits

While this may be an unintended advantage, clear braces tend to help people break bad habits while straightening their teeth.

For instance, biting your nails can damage your aligners. The idea of limiting their results is enough to make many people stop.

Smoking and excessive snacking fall into that category as well. If you have to brush your teeth and clean your aligners after every cigarette or snack, you tend to think twice and decide it isn’t worth the effort.