Welcome to our blog!
This is Dr. Wenzel writing this blog (hello!) not some marketing team or anything I copy pasted off a brochure somewhere, so you know you’re getting the good stuff.
Technology is one of my favorite parts of practicing dentistry, and the development of a clear tray alternative (i.e. Invisalign) to wire braces to move teeth is one of the coolest things to happen to dentistry in the past several decades. Invisalign is nearly invisible – meaning that you can straighten your teeth without all your friends and family asking about it or worrying about how you’re going to look in photos for the Gram or the SnapTok or whatever the youths are up to today. *Get off my lawn!* The trays are also pretty comfortable to wear since there are no wires poking out anywhere, and it makes it much easier to clean your teeth since you can take them in and out to brush and floss. Did you floss today? This is your sign.
The concept of Invisalign is pretty easy to understand. We take a scan of your teeth to create a 3D model using our fancy 3D scanner. We send that model to the lab, and the technicians and I work together to design your smile based on your concerns. It’s personalized to you. Then, plastic trays are printed, one for every week of treatment. With every new tray, bit by bit, teeth are nudged a little closer to that ideal spot. Some teeth will have “handles” temporarily glued on to allow the aligners to grab onto the teeth for more difficult movements. The handles are tooth colored and easy to clean around.
With a concept so simple, it’s no wonder there is a new invisalign copycat product on Instagram every week where you take the impressions yourselves and they send you everything you need in the mail. I had a job recruiter try to hire me for one of these companies once and the conversation went something like this:
“How would you like to do dentistry working from home?”
*Very confused dentist* “Uhhhh, how would one do that?”
“Well I’ve got a company that is hiring dentists to approve clear aligner cases from home, $60 per case, each case takes about 2 minutes to review”
(If you were thinking – WOW, that is not a lot of time for someone to look at my teeth – you would be correct. It takes much longer than two minutes to properly review and plan a case.)
“Do I have x-rays?”
“No, but you can request them if you need them.”
“Do I have gum charting?”
*Recruiter is very confused* “I suppose you could request that too…”
“I would have to request that for every single patient because that is necessary information…”
There are things that need to be reviewed by a dentist in person like the health of your gums and teeth before you get them straightened, otherwise it has the potential to make some problems worse and in some extreme cases people could end up losing teeth. Don’t do that. Some people have extra challenges before getting ready for treatment, some people have extra bite issues like jaw pain or tooth wear that need to be diagnosed and addressed within that scope of treatment. We take a very detailed and whole person approach to everything we do. If you have had online orthodontic treatment and weren’t happy with the results, it’s okay, we’re a no judgement zone and we can help with that as well.
Food.
Good. I have your attention again.
You can enjoy any food you want with Invisalign! Eating is really easy with Invisalign because you can just take the aligners out to eat, clean your teeth, and put them back in.
How much does Invisalign cost? It depends on how much movement we need for teeth, but less complex movements can be done for as low as $200 a month for eighteen months and more complex movements can be done for $242 per month for twenty-four months. We do our financing through Care Credit, so anything paid off within the promotional time period is no interest.
We are easily reachable and have a tight-knit team who can help answer any questions or concerns you might have! You can contact us by phone or text at 513-241-1477, email us at info@piattparkdental.com, or if you want to go ahead and get started, you can schedule your $50 Invisalign consultation using the button on the top of our page.
Thank you for reading and have a wonderful day!
