Clear Aligner Therapy (Orthodontics)
What Is It?
Clear Aligner (Invisalign/SureSmile) treatment uses a series of virtually invisible, removable, and comfortable aligners that allow you to smile more during treatment as well as after. Clear aligners are made with advanced 3D digital computer imaging technology, meaning no goopy or molding impressions – we take a digital scan of your teeth to make your custom-fitted aligners. If you want more information about our digital impressions, please see the link “Digital Impressions.”
O’Shea Dentistry Patient Testimony
Imagine getting that perfect smile you’ve always wanted without wearing metal braces and staying in one place for your routine dental care. Now that’s possible with Clear Aligner Therapy (i.e. Invisalign or SureSmile) at O’Shea Dentistry.
How Does It Work?
You wear each set of aligners for one-two weeks and remove them only to eat, drink, brush, and floss. As you replace each aligner with the next in the series, your teeth will move — little by little, week by week — until they have straightened to their final positions.
You’ll visit us about once every 6-8 weeks to ensure your treatment is on track as planned. Total treatment time averages 9 to 12 months, with the typical number of aligners is between 18 and 24, but both will vary from case to case.
Why Would I Want It?
Not only are the aligners virtually invisible, but they are also removable, so you can eat and drink what you want while in treatment. Plus, brushing and flossing are no problem.
The aligners are also more comfortable than traditional braces, with no metal or wires, which also usually means less time in our office for an appointment.
Relationship Between Crowded Teeth and Breathing
Most folks coming through our practice have heard of "Invisalign" or other "clear aligner" technologies that are a modern form of braces. The popularity seems to lie mostly with patients who have experienced enough life to have had crooked teeth resolved with braces as a teenager, only to find that they have the same crooked teeth now as they did before going through all those years of braces way back when. Yes, in most cases, Invisalign, or any clear aligner therapy, is an effective modern option for hitting the refresh button for straightening teeth. What most people don't know is that Invisalign can also be a powerful tool to impact your breathing....yes, breathing.
Before I unwind this any further, I'll first spell out what Invisalign is. Invisalign is the name of a company that fabricates clear aligners. Its early prominence in the market has made the company name synonymous with the product itself, like Xerox or Kleenex. Invisalign uses a series of custom clear aligners or plastic trays that are worn all day and night but can be taken out for meals or social occasions. Each individual aligner is worn for about 2 weeks and very gradually moves teeth closer to the desired alignment planned from the beginning based on a series of digital scans and photos of the starting point. After wearing the aligners for two weeks, the teeth will have moved enough to be ready for the next set of aligners that gradually move the teeth further along the next segment of the journey...eventually ending with straight teeth as initially planned.So where does the breathing come into play? This topic can be extremely complex and go in countless different directions, but I will do my best to keep it as simple as possible. Most people who are interested in Invisalign are doing so because they have crowded or overlapped teeth and want them to be uncrowded and straight again. If the teeth are crowded, that means that the arch form, or rainbow or "U" shaped alignment of the teeth, has collapsed to some extent. If the arch form of teeth has collapsed, then the space under the rainbow or within the "U" shape arch is reduced. If the space within the U has been reduced, then the soft tissue that otherwise lives in that space, mainly the tongue, has a reduced amount of real estate to rest and function. If the tongue is crowded into a reduced boundary of real estate, it has to go somewhere...and that somewhere is the empty space behind it, which is the airway. If the airway is the bailout zone for the tongue, then it is almost certain that breathing will be impacted on some level.
This is the point where the discussion can go in countless directions due to the number of factors influencing the system and the number of cascading dominos that are related to breathing and sleep quality. But my goal for this writing is to bring awareness to the relationship of your teeth to your airway. So now back to Invisalign or any mechanism used to move teeth... If we look at that same collapsed arch form of teeth, what might happen if you moved the teeth outwards from the tongue and restored that broad, expansive rainbow or U-shaped arch? In theory, you would increase the amount of real estate for the tongue to live that allows it to be positioned up and out of the airway, which would create a spatial environment more suitable for easy breathing. The more real estate allowed by the boundaries of your top and bottom teeth, the more room your tongue will have to stay clear of your airway.
Every Invisalign case we work up is evaluated for potential airway issues and resolutions...it's just part of our assessment. Most of the time, the primary concern of the patient is to resolve the issue of having crooked and crowded teeth. We are happy to meet those situations where they are and address those concerns...but know that we are still looking at the potential airway issues and resolutions for every case as we work it up and we will bring awareness and offer the chance to explore those possibilities. Our goal for every Invisalign case is to resolve the specific issues that are initially brought by the patient, and to do so in a way that reduces stress on the system by creating more space for the tongue and soft tissues...and worst case scenario remaining at net neutral. If someone is interested in addressing both the crowded teeth and learn more about potential airway problems, we are obviously happy to go over all the imaging and necessary background information we can to piece the picture together with potential paths forward, which often can go beyond discussions of Invisalign to treatment options that can be more robust in restoring the facial architecture.
Hopefully this has been helpful in painting a picture of what is possible and perhaps where we are limited. Invisalign is one of several tools that can be utilized to address dental concerns that impact the airway. Its level of impact will vary with every case, each of which is truly unique. Our goal in any case is to create or maintain as much space as possible for breathing to be free from obstruction while addressing the dental issues impacting the system. Ensuring that the newly created space is actually utilized is another critical piece of the puzzle that will be covered in a future post.
Thanks so much for reading. Please feel free to reach out with any questions. —-Dr. Matt O’Shea
