Invisalign® – Williamsville, NY

Crowded Teeth

When teeth become crowded and crooked, they create tiny nooks and crannies. These areas are often more successful at hiding plaque, meaning they are harder to clean. Although it may seem that there isn’t enough room to shift your teeth, we may be able to address overcrowded teeth with Invisalign and enable you to maintain proper oral hygiene as well as a more balanced appearance.

Gaps Between Teeth

With more space, larger bits of foods can linger in the mouth, encouraging bacterial growth and increasing your chances of decay and infection. Fortunately, Invisalign can close these gaps, ensuring the perfect spacing of teeth. As a result, keeping your smile healthy, clean, and beautiful is as simple as possible.

Overbite

If your top teeth come drastically in front of the bottom teeth when you close your mouth, it’s called an overbite. This may make eating a challenge as well as create a “buck tooth” appearance. Invisalign can help bring the lower jaw forward to match up properly.

Underbite

Opposite to an overbite, an underbite occurs when the lower teeth jut in front of the upper teeth. On top of biting and chewing issues, this position can also lead to jaw pain and other issues with the joint. By aligning the bite, we can make eating more efficient and comfortable.

Crossbite

A crossbite consists of a mixture of bite alignment. Some upper teeth are in front while some lower teeth are positioned forward. This setup can increase your chances of teeth grinding while you sleep, jaw joint issues, and inefficient biting and chewing. Through treatment, we can give you the function and perfect smile you deserve.

Open Bite

If you have spots where your upper and lower teeth do not touch at all, you may have what’s called an open bite. As you might imagine, having these spaces means you can’t grind food sufficiently for digestion. In mild to moderate cases, we can bring the top and bottom teeth together for better eating.

Improved Comfort

With braces, you have to deal with not only the soreness of shifting teeth but also the bulky brackets and wires that can poke, irritate, or even cut your cheeks, tongue, or lips. The first week of treatment can be downright miserable!

There are no uncomfortable metal wires or brackets to worry about with Invisalign® clear aligners – only smooth plastic that’s been designed to fit your unique smile. While you still will likely experience some soreness as you switch your aligners, which is a sign that treatment is working, your mouth should feel much more comfortable with Invisalign than with normal braces.

Discreet, Subtle Trays

The clear plastic of the aligners renders your care virtually invisible, which means that most people shouldn’t even notice that you’re undergoing treatment. With this subtlety, you can carry on with work, social interactions, and life in general without your smile drawing unwanted attention.

Better Dental Hygiene

With a system of brackets and wires, traditional braces can be challenging to keep clean. In fact, oral hygiene takes much longer and is more complex than usual. Invisalign® aligners are removable, meaning that your oral hygiene routine and diet can stay the same throughout the treatment. You will need to brush and floss after you eat, in the morning, and at night before bed. At your next dental checkup appointment, you may be surprised at how fast your cleaning is!

Quick Follow-Up Appointments

Follow-up appointments with braces occur at least every few weeks to adjust the hardware and check progress. Check-in visits with Invisalign are typically shorter and allow more flexibility in scheduling because they are meant mostly to make sure you’re progressing as planned. Also, you don’t have to worry about emergency appointments for broken brackets! If you lose or break your aligners, give us a call, and we should be able to give you instructions over the phone.

Boosted Confidence

Having metal hardware bonded to your teeth can make you feel more self-conscious about letting them show when you talk or smile. You may fear that the braces will be all anyone sees. If, however, you straighten your teeth with Invisalign, you can have the confidence to talk, laugh, and smile freely.

Non-Invasive Treatment

When a patient starts braces treatment, their lifestyle must change in various ways, from their oral hygiene routine to the foods they eat. Frequent appointments can make travel difficult to plan, and your appearance is significantly altered during treatment. However, Invisalign gives you the freedom to eat whatever you want, travel with greater ease, maintain your usual oral hygiene habits, and experience fewer disruptions to your life.

Factors That Affect the Cost of Invisalign

When we calculate the cost during your consultation, we consider primarily the severity and type of your misalignment as well as how long we predict treatment to take to correct the issues. Only after we’ve had a chance to examine the current state of your teeth can we provide a specific estimate for your individual case. Another contributing factor to the overall cost is how well you follow instructions and wear the aligners as directed.

Invisalign vs. Smile Direct Club™: Which Costs More?

Over the past few years, other kinds of clear aligner treatments have hit the market. Brands like Smile Direct Club and others claim to offer the procedure from the comfort of your home at a discounted price, which initially can sound very convenient. However, by taking those first steps on your own, you run the risk of taking inaccurate impressions, which leads to aligners that don’t fit correctly or a faulty treatment plan. In addition, no certified professional supervises your progress, which means you’ll have to go through frustrating customer service if something goes wrong. In the end, it is often worth the extra cost to have peace of mind and reliable results.

Does Dental Insurance Cover Invisalign?

At Amherst Dental Group, we know insurance can be confusing, especially if you’re not familiar with it. For instance, although most dental insurance policies include benefits for orthodontic care, they often don’t apply to Invisalign treatment. After you’ve met with one of our dentists to talk about Invisalign, we can look up your plan and see whether part of the cost of Invisalign in Williamsville can be covered by your insurance.

Options for Making Invisalign Affordable

Regardless of your insurance situation, our team is happy to work with you to make treatment affordable. Currently, you can meet with us for an Invisalign consultation for free! This means you can learn more about the treatment and get an estimate at no cost. If you decide to move forward with Invisalign, we also accept payment through CareCredit, a trusted financier. If you qualify, you could get low-interest financing, which breaks up the total into smaller monthly payments.

How Long Does Invisalign Treatment Last?

The results of Invisalign treatment are supposed to last for the rest of your life! However, if you fail to wear your retainer as instructed after you’ve finished with the aligners, your teeth can revert back to their former positions in a process called orthodontic relapse. That’s why your six-month checkups are especially important! We can make sure you aren’t losing the progress you’ve made and you hold onto the results you’ve worked hard for.

Are There Food Restrictions with Invisalign?

One of the downsides to having traditional braces is that you have stay away from certain foods while your teeth are being straightened. That isn’t an issue with Invisalign because the aligners can be taken out, allowing you to eat basically whatever you want. You just need to brush and floss before putting the plastic back into position. In other words, not only does Invisalign help your appearance and confidence, but it also gives you priceless freedom!

How Should You Take Care of Your Aligners?

Even though you’ll be switching out your aligners about every two weeks, you still need to maintain your aligners during the short time you have them. Otherwise, they can become cloudy or discolored, which defeats the purpose of having aligners in the first place! To keep them crystal clear, make sure you’re brushing and flossing your teeth properly. Do not eat or drink with the aligners in your mouth, and gently brush the aligners once a day with a non-abrasive toothpaste. You may also use the cleaning crystals or other products sold directly by Invisalign to prevent plaque buildup in the aligners.

Am I a Good Candidate for Invisalign?

Most patients who are interested in Invisalign qualify for this treatment. First, you must be in good oral health, which means you can’t have gum disease, cavities, or other issues. If you do, we can perform the necessary procedures to get your mouth healthy again. You also must have only mild to moderate misalignment problems. More severe cases may require more intensive orthodontic care. When you schedule your consultation, we’ll take a detailed look at your smile as it currently is and let you know whether Invisalign is a good choice for you.