Brace technology has advanced in leaps in bounds in the last 20 years. Back in the early 90s, although clear aligners for straightening teeth had been developed in the dental lab years before, no one had quite got it together to create a commercially-available version. If you wanted straighter teeth, you’d have to use some form of a bracket and wire brace.
And strangely enough, the next evolution in braces didn’t come from dentists – it came from two business students. After being turned down by other institutions, Zia Chishti and Kelsey Wirth got funding from the University of the Pacific School of Dentistry in America to carry out a feasibility study for a new kind of brace. This was the start of Invisalign clear aligners.
Invisalign first became available to dentists in 1999 and has been growing in popularity ever since. It has now been used by more than 4 million patients worldwide.
At Sheen Dental in Richmond, Invisalign is particularly popular with our adult patients who have busy social and professional lives. This is because the transparent aligners offer a discreet way to straighter teeth – no one will know you are wearing them unless they are really close up.
How does Invisalign in Richmond work?
The aligners are custom-made using 3D technology. Our dentist will scan your teeth and gums to create a digital treatment plan at your initial assessment, which means you can see how your teeth will look by the end of the treatment, before it even starts. This information is sent to the Invisalign technicians in the US, who use it to create the aligners.
And because they are uniquely contoured to fit your mouth, they don’t irritate your gums, as metal braces can do.
Once you receive your set of aligners, the rest is up to you. Every 7-10 days, when you feel the pressure on your teeth releasing, you will need to replace the current set with the next in the series. You keep doing this until the teeth are at their desired end point. You will need to see your dentist every 6-8 weeks to check everything is progressing as it should.
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