Is Invisalign as good as braces?

Is Invisalign as good as braces? What a great question! Invisalign vs braces has been an ongoing battle for some years now. Invisalign, also known as invisible braces, is growing in popularity in comparison to traditional metal braces, but the question remains, is Invisalign better than braces?

What are traditional metal braces?

Metal braces, frequently called train track braces, work by attaching brackets to the teeth along with metal ligature wires to slowly pull the teeth into their desired position. Much like Invisalign, more pressure is applied to the teeth when the braces are ‘tightened’.

Whilst metal braces have slowed down in popularity over the recent years, due to their visible appearance, the irritation they often cause to the mouth, and frequent dentist visits they do have a real use purpose. Metal braces are fantastic for aligning complicated cases, as they have more ability to stabilise bite issues which typically Invisalign cannot. While Invisalign is usually favoured for light to moderate cases, complex cases are nearly always passed to good old reliable metal braces. Another huge benefit of metal braces is that your treatment is controlled by your dentist, and this is especially useful for children having teeth straightening.

Before deciding if Invisalign is better than braces, let’s start with the most basic question, what is Invisalign? Invisalign is a new way of aligning teeth, they provide aligner trays to be changed every 10 days which slowly move the teeth to their corrected position. These trays are created using AI and a scan of your teeth, clever, huh?

So why might Invisalign be better than traditional metal braces for less complex cases? Today, Invisalign is typically considered the go to when it comes to teeth straightening, like we’ve mentioned they’re considered invisible braces, they can be removed, the outcome is highly predictable and they don’t require so many dentist visits. These are just some of the options that make Invisalign more popular, but another huge reason is the comfort.

Metal braces often cause irritation with the metal attachments on the teeth, and the control is solely with the dentist. With Invisalign, you have control over your treatment and will be responsible for changing the aligners. When it comes to Invisalign, changing your aligners is directly comparable to having your metal braces tightened.

What’s our final word on the matter?

Invisalign is our preferred choice when it comes to light to moderate cases, this is due to how discrete they are, the predictability of movement as you will be shown the outcome before starting treatment and allows people to eat whatever they want during treatment. If money comes into the decision, when paying for teeth straightening privately the Invisalign cost is not too different from the cost of metal braces however, this will depend on the length of treatment required. So for us, Invisalign is our favourite, but metal braces will always be a great Invisalign alternative. We want to emphasise that there is no right answer for everyone and it will depend on your individual needs, age and dental condition.

Want to book a virtual consultation to find out more? Use the link below to book in.

https://dental-concepts.com/virtual-consultation-with-dr-manish-at-dental-concepts