Aligners are transparent aligners for teeth straightening, made individually from impressions. The number of mouth guards depends on the complexity of the situation, each mouth guard is worn for two weeks, then changed to a new one until the dentition becomes even.
Teeth aligners are gaining popularity and are becoming cheaper due to increased competition. Already in Russia, they began to produce a domestic analogue to the American invisaline (Star Smile). In the USA, a competitor to Invisalign is Smile Direct Club, which offers to correct teeth remotely without visiting the dentist. They only need impressions of your teeth, they will send aligners and instructions for them, and any questions you can ask “your ” dentist through the application.
Recently, such an opportunity has appeared in Europe – to correct teeth with aligners without going to the doctor. The company name is very similar – Straight Teeth Direct.
I decided to try to fix crooked teeth with aligners after an unsuccessful attempt with a silicone mouthguard. My one year experience is described in this review .
Before contacting Straight Teeth Direct, I still went to the orthodontist to find out what methods of correcting teeth would be right for me. The doctor said that in my neglected case there are only two ways: either invisalign or braces. Treatment with invisalign aligners would cost me 4,500 euros and the treatment would take a year and a half. Treatment with braces for about 2500 euros and two to three years.
I still didn’t have that kind of money, but I found out the main thing – in my case, aligners fit. I started looking for an alternative to expensive invisalign and found it! These are aligners from Straight Teeth Direct, which I refer to myself as “poor man’s invisible.”
Stages of treatment with Straight Teeth Direct aligners
1 . You need to order a box with tools for taking impressions. The price includes further analysis and compilation of a demo video of changing the dentition. Determine the time of treatment. If everything suits you, then proceed to the next stage.
2. A contract is concluded, a treatment program is signed and paid (1500 euros). The company sends aligners approximately every two months and monitors changes in my monthly photo reports.
3 . Fixing the result with removable retainers (included in the price).
How it looks in practice.
Taking casts. Taking casts is not very difficult. There are three attempts for each jaw, so even if you screw it up somewhere, the rest will be saved. I was told that a computerized model of teeth is built on the basis of all six impressions, even unsuccessful ones. As if uniting the results.
Having sent back the box with the casts, I was looking forward to the demo video. The resulting video shows how the lower and upper dentition will change. In my case, all the front teeth on both jaws should protrude strongly forward in order to form a free space, and their inclination will change slightly. The contract said that there would be no changes in the bite, as well as displacement of the teeth in the center (although I would need to). So the goal is just straight front teeth. It was also indicated that I did not need any tooth extraction or tooth separation.
Here I made screenshots from the demo video. My teeth as they are and what they should be.
Duration of treatment. The contract determined the duration of treatment: for the upper jaw 11 months, for the lower 12. The lower ones are more crowded.
If after this time the teeth do not stand exactly as in the video, then the treatment continues at no additional cost.
Aligners. Aligners are sent in two types: soft and hard. They need to be alternated, each pair should be worn for two weeks at least 22 hours a day. Soft aligners prepare teeth for hard ones. Numbered 1a (soft), 1b (hard), 2a (soft), 2b (hard) and so on.
How aligners are felt on the teeth. The soft aligners are easy to take off and on. The pressure on the teeth with the soft aligner is felt only for the first two hours. With hard ones, the jaw sometimes hurts and it hurts to chew solid food for two or three days, then it passes. Then there is a feeling that nothing is happening, that the teeth are not moving and in general there is no sense from them. Rigid aligners are difficult to remove (I use the plastic hook that came with the kit, otherwise there is no way).
Lisp occurs only with rigid aligners and only in the early days. Some people around me noticed this. My husband said that I talk as usual. Some have noticed that I correct my teeth only because of the lisp; visually, no one sees anything point-blank.
Profuse salivation was when I first put on the aligners. It also stops after a couple of days, when the body gets used to the presence of a foreign object in the mouth.
Aligners in the mouth – is it noticeable? When I saw my first mouthguards, I was upset, because they are not completely transparent, not smooth. The structure is clearly visible in the photo.