Invisible orthodontics aims to reduce the visibility of the treatment, at the patient’s request. It has the same benefits and duration as conventional braces.
What is invisible orthodontics?
The concept of invisible orthodontics encompasses a series of techniques and appliances aimed at eliminating or reducing the visibility of the treatment. These techniques include: lingual orthodontics and orthodontics based on removable plastic aligners. In addition, these techniques can be combined with each other and also with traditional brackets, as stated by experts in dentistry and stomatology.
The importance is that, once the patient shows interest in concealing the method of correction during treatment, the expert practitioner should offer the existing options to pursue that end, in addition to the therapeutic one. The practitioner should not be subject to the yoke of any particular house or commercial promise. He has a series of armamentarium that he knows and masters and, therefore, applies the best means to solve the patient’s problem, in addition to his expectations of low or no visibility. Having clear the therapeutic purposes of health, functionality, aesthetics and stability, and having as faith the “first do no harm”, the professional experience will guide perfectly the possibilities, pros and cons of the various options that, properly explained, will help the patient to start his treatment. In this sense, the novel promises of invisibility of the device should never be greater than a good diagnosis and good therapeutic objectives.
The important thing to emphasize is that it is not the appliance, but the diagnosis, the treatment plan and its objectives.
For which pathologies is invisible orthodontics used?
In principle, all problems can be approached from the perspective of making the correction system less visible. Nowadays, the limitations and technical capabilities of the different so-called “invisible” appliances are not a problem and they can be used to treat all or part of any orthodontic problem that may arise. In addition, some of them are especially indicated when certain oral conditions determine the need to maintain a very specific hygiene, as in the case of periodontal patients, who simultaneously need an occlusal and esthetic treatment. In these cases the use of removable plastic aligners is an advantage and allows the patient to maintain excellent hygiene. At the same time, the same periodontitis condition forces us to do things in a way that is much more adapted to the patient’s problem.
People who can undergo invisible orthodontics
What imposes limitations is not age, gender or condition; the most limiting factor is the state of dental health.
In the case of clear aligners it is also necessary for the patient to know the details of the use of the appliance, because in these cases the success is directly proportional to the good compliance in hours of use and care of the aligners. It is necessary to be a willing and responsible person. This means that, for the youngest patients, it can be a very seductive approach at first, but it is not advisable because it puts the patient beyond his or her limits of collaboration and motivation.
Duration of invisible orthodontic treatment
The duration does not have to be longer. One of the most common criticisms of this type of treatment is that it is slower, which is not true. What happens is that we are used to the fact that movement with conventional brackets shows, in the first months of treatment, advances that are sometimes very striking and fast. However, this type of braces are much slower in the later stages of treatment, in the phase of fine adjustments and finalization of the case. Thus, the overall final duration is the same.