Invisalign in Federal Hill

What Invisalign is

Invisalign straightens teeth with a series of clear plastic aligners instead of fixed brackets and wires. Each one moves your teeth a little further than the last, and you change to the next in the series as you go.

They come out for meals and for brushing, which is the practical advantage over braces. Nothing is off the menu, and cleaning your teeth stays as easy as it was before.

Whether it suits your teeth

Invisalign handles a lot of cases, and it does not handle every case. Some bite problems and some severe crowding are still better treated with fixed braces, and Dr. Ellis will tell you plainly if yours is one of them rather than selling you the thing you asked for. See Orthodontic Treatment for the wider picture.

They only work if you wear them

Aligners spend most of the day in your mouth. Leaving them out for long stretches slows everything down, and treatment that should be moving forward simply stalls.

This is worth being honest with yourself about before you start, because it is the single thing that most affects how well Invisalign works and it is entirely in your hands.

What happens at your appointment

Dr. Ellis checks your teeth and gums are healthy enough to start, since teeth cannot be moved through untreated decay or gum disease. Then your teeth are scanned, the sequence of aligners is planned, and you get them along with instructions on changing between them.

You come back periodically so she can check the teeth are moving the way the plan expected.

Retainers afterwards

Teeth drift back toward where they started. That is not a failure of the treatment, it is just what teeth do, and it is why a retainer is part of the process rather than an optional extra at the end.

Plan on wearing one. Dr. Ellis will tell you how much once your teeth are where you want them.