Techniques of Invisalign
We at
COSMODENT INDIA have always been keen on increasing understanding and awareness of various technical aspects of dentistry. This section would help our readers to be provided with a brief insight into how the world’s most advanced aligner system works. How does the Invisalign technique enable aligning teeth without the help of bulky metal/
ceramic braces?
Traditional braces can put your life on hold more than you think.
Invisalign aligners use an innovative approach to gradually straighten teeth. The technique involves the use of precise and accurately customized transparent aligner trays that fit snugly onto all of your teeth.
The concept behind this technique was first introduced by Dr.Kesling in 1945. He fabricated the tooth positioning appliance as a method of refining the final stage of orthodontic finishing after demanding phase. A positioned was a one-piece pliable rubber appliance fabricated on the idealized wax set-ups for patients whose basic treatment was complete.
The practical advantage of the positioned lay in its ability to position the teeth artistically and to retain the alignment of the teeth achieved through fixed mechanotherapy. Kesling predicted that other than various minor tooth movements that could be incorporated into the positioner, certain major tooth movements could also be accomplished with a series of positioners fabricated from sequential tooth movements on the set-up as the treatment progressed.
This gave birth to the concept or technique behind
Clear Aligner technology. Various developments did happen over the years, like “Invisible Retainer” by Dr.Ponitz in 1971, also the work done by Dr.Sheridan with a combination of interproximal reduction and Essix retainers to bring about tooth movements. But these techniques were excessively time-consuming.
In 1997, Align Technology introduced Invisalign Appliance that was made available to the
orthodontists in 1999, and made Kesling’s proposal much more practical. Instead of necessitating a new set-up for each new aligner, fabrication of Invisalign Appliance involves Computer –aided-design and computer-aided manufacturing (CAD-CAM) technology, combined with laboratory techniques, to fabricate a series of positioners/aligners that can move the teeth in small increments of around 0.25-0.3mm.
Over 20 years Invisalign has advanced leaps and bounds in its research and development and the current Smart Track technology that Invisalign uses makes use of extremely gentle forces to direct the teeth in the desired locations with absolutely NO pain/discomfort to the patients.
As the highly advanced software is used to plan the positions of the teeth and the required changes, Its practical error-free and the snug fit of the completely customized fabrication process assures the precision and accuracy in tooth movements.
Each patient, several Aligner sets are required that is based on how much corrections are desired. That’s why it differs for each patient and a unique plan applies for every individual.
The Smart track material used to make these
Invisalign aligners is quite elastic and easily brings about the desired changes in all the 3- dimensions. Usually, each Aligner tray is suggested to be worn for over 400 hours in total to express the tooth movements programmed in the Aligner.
Invisalign uses attachments and pressure points where the contact between the Aligner tray and the attachments or the contact between the Aligner tray and the remaining surfaces of the teeth make sure the teeth move as pushed by the forces designed in the Aligners.
Currently, we provide the Invisalign System in 6 Categories based on our patient requirements.
These include:
a) Invisalign Go
b) Invisalign Express
c) Invisalign Teens
d) Invisalign i-7
e) Invisalign lite
f) Invisalign Moderate
g) Invisalign Comprehensive
Ask us, which category suits your treatment needs the best.