"SmileDirectClub" experiences/alternatives?
Discussion
I was looking at getting aligners for the Mrs but want to do some research before I take the plunge.
From what I can tell "smiledirectclub" (and some others) offer similar treatment to "Invisalign" but without the Orothodontic appointments, so a reduction in cost of a few grand. Obviously some professional oversight lost as well.
Does anyone have any experience of the company/aligners in general?
I guess my first question is do they actually work?!
From what I can tell "smiledirectclub" (and some others) offer similar treatment to "Invisalign" but without the Orothodontic appointments, so a reduction in cost of a few grand. Obviously some professional oversight lost as well.
Does anyone have any experience of the company/aligners in general?
I guess my first question is do they actually work?!
So I have aligners, well literally finished yesterday from my dentist and I know someone who is using smiledirect also.
My dentist takes a full 3D scan of my teeth and then must run through some sort of application to work out how much the teeth can move and be realigned. What I didn't know was I needed to have several teeth filed down to create a gap for the realignment to be achieved, and several teeth need to have a plastic tag glued on to help the aligners lock and push the relevant teeth to the desired position.
Now as far I am aware from my friend, smiledirect do not do any of the above, you take photos of your teeth using your phone and they create the aligners based from that, no filing (if required), no alignment tags etc.
I'm not actually sure how smiledirect could work, well they certainly wouldn't work for me given the approach/skill required from my dentist.
My dentist takes a full 3D scan of my teeth and then must run through some sort of application to work out how much the teeth can move and be realigned. What I didn't know was I needed to have several teeth filed down to create a gap for the realignment to be achieved, and several teeth need to have a plastic tag glued on to help the aligners lock and push the relevant teeth to the desired position.
Now as far I am aware from my friend, smiledirect do not do any of the above, you take photos of your teeth using your phone and they create the aligners based from that, no filing (if required), no alignment tags etc.
I'm not actually sure how smiledirect could work, well they certainly wouldn't work for me given the approach/skill required from my dentist.
I understand they have a small number of shops you can visit and/or they take impressions of your teeth.
Given there is no guarantee of success, there's quite an incentive for the company to suggest everyone can benefit, with no orthodontist involvement I would think there's no one's reputation to consider either.
The key thing here is price though. At £1,600 this is hugely cheaper than even Invisalign which can cost £5,500, which for me (sadly) is prohibitively expensive.
I'm obviously not an orthodontist, but it would seem the same basic principle at work here as well.
I've an open mind in any regard.
Given there is no guarantee of success, there's quite an incentive for the company to suggest everyone can benefit, with no orthodontist involvement I would think there's no one's reputation to consider either.
The key thing here is price though. At £1,600 this is hugely cheaper than even Invisalign which can cost £5,500, which for me (sadly) is prohibitively expensive.
I'm obviously not an orthodontist, but it would seem the same basic principle at work here as well.
I've an open mind in any regard.
I've had invisalign. The cost was around £3k, and totally worth it. As said above, the results are likely to be much worse without the extra specialist work such as scans, attachments on the teeth and regular checks to ensure everything is moving correctly.
Depending on how the teeth need moving, it might not even be possible to move them correctly without the attachments bonded on, and there will be no room for them if they don't use the dreaded floss-sandpaper.
You really do get what you pay for in this instance, and unless your wife only needs very very basic straightening, I'd go straight to Invisalign.
Depending on how the teeth need moving, it might not even be possible to move them correctly without the attachments bonded on, and there will be no room for them if they don't use the dreaded floss-sandpaper.
You really do get what you pay for in this instance, and unless your wife only needs very very basic straightening, I'd go straight to Invisalign.
Freakuk said:
So I have aligners, well literally finished yesterday from my dentist and I know someone who is using smiledirect also.
My dentist takes a full 3D scan of my teeth and then must run through some sort of application to work out how much the teeth can move and be realigned. What I didn't know was I needed to have several teeth filed down to create a gap for the realignment to be achieved, and several teeth need to have a plastic tag glued on to help the aligners lock and push the relevant teeth to the desired position.
Now as far I am aware from my friend, smiledirect do not do any of the above, you take photos of your teeth using your phone and they create the aligners based from that, no filing (if required), no alignment tags etc.
I'm not actually sure how smiledirect could work, well they certainly wouldn't work for me given the approach/skill required from my dentist.
Same as me. I I also had some appointments through the process whereby some teeth needed a little shaving to make space for the others to come in. I also had the plastic knobs glued on my teeth which needed removing when finished. Like you've said, I'm not sure how it would actually work. It definitely wouldn't be as precise as Invisalign. My dentist takes a full 3D scan of my teeth and then must run through some sort of application to work out how much the teeth can move and be realigned. What I didn't know was I needed to have several teeth filed down to create a gap for the realignment to be achieved, and several teeth need to have a plastic tag glued on to help the aligners lock and push the relevant teeth to the desired position.
Now as far I am aware from my friend, smiledirect do not do any of the above, you take photos of your teeth using your phone and they create the aligners based from that, no filing (if required), no alignment tags etc.
I'm not actually sure how smiledirect could work, well they certainly wouldn't work for me given the approach/skill required from my dentist.
I always had a large gap between my front teeth, and was always self-conscious about it.
I had seen these adverts, but thought it sounded too good to be true, but then my niece had hers done through smiledirect club.
I looked into it and found a company online based near Brighton who advertised at £799 for the treatment.
I got the impressions done, then I was sent before and after images with a video showing each tray moving them little by little.
The trays arrived a few weeks later and after 5 months no gap and teeth much nicer (pretty perfect actually).
I had 10 sets, 2 weeks for each set.
There was an online check-up every month via digital photos to the orthodontist, no issues identified.
The first set were initially quite painful as they really do apply pressure to move your teeth, I found that each new set were very tight for 1 or 2 days then totally fine.
I'm now just wearing retainers and finally smile with my teeth on show, I never did this before.
The company I used have ceased trading so I can't recommend them, it really was a total bargain.
My dentist does invisalign and would have cost over £4k through them.
I honestly I think they all do the same, but you are paying for the visits and closer customer care.
One thing to be aware of is the additional teeth hygiene required, lots of brushing and drinking water.
I stopped coffee for months as it means more brushing.
I had seen these adverts, but thought it sounded too good to be true, but then my niece had hers done through smiledirect club.
I looked into it and found a company online based near Brighton who advertised at £799 for the treatment.
I got the impressions done, then I was sent before and after images with a video showing each tray moving them little by little.
The trays arrived a few weeks later and after 5 months no gap and teeth much nicer (pretty perfect actually).
I had 10 sets, 2 weeks for each set.
There was an online check-up every month via digital photos to the orthodontist, no issues identified.
The first set were initially quite painful as they really do apply pressure to move your teeth, I found that each new set were very tight for 1 or 2 days then totally fine.
I'm now just wearing retainers and finally smile with my teeth on show, I never did this before.
The company I used have ceased trading so I can't recommend them, it really was a total bargain.
My dentist does invisalign and would have cost over £4k through them.
I honestly I think they all do the same, but you are paying for the visits and closer customer care.
One thing to be aware of is the additional teeth hygiene required, lots of brushing and drinking water.
I stopped coffee for months as it means more brushing.
Edited by superpp on Tuesday 4th April 11:38
Edited by superpp on Tuesday 4th April 14:48
It seems pretty much like you'd expect, proper orthodontic care means better results are much more likely, but it is possible to see some improvement with the cheaper options.
I'll have a think. If I'm stuggling to find ~£4,000 I think gambling £1,600 seems an odd choice, but I'll have a chat with the companies and see how they account for the differences.
Thank you!
I'll have a think. If I'm stuggling to find ~£4,000 I think gambling £1,600 seems an odd choice, but I'll have a chat with the companies and see how they account for the differences.
Thank you!
To be fair my dentist now creates his own retainers etc, god knows how much he must have invested in the kit from scanning, software to predict the movement, production of the retainers and all of the training etc he must have undertaken to be able to perform this.
He did originally use invisalign, but he's about 1/2 price of what he was charging previously by doing it all in-house.
He did originally use invisalign, but he's about 1/2 price of what he was charging previously by doing it all in-house.
I used a company that 2 years ago was still called PlusDent, now called Dr Smile. Cheaper than Invisalign but you still need to get a full scan by a dentist, however unlike Invisalign they only can fix from canine to canine, I was quoted around £1300 if I remember correctly and had a 14 week treatment and am just left using the overnight retainers to stop any movement. I did try to use Invisalign first, but despite me sending off emails for appointments with the Invisalign dentists, no one ever got back to me.
I wouldn't trust any company that only needs pictures of your mouth to create the aligners to be honest. If it helps, Plusdent aka Dr Smile (technically the same people but renamed) create their moulds in Germany and they are sent over.
I wouldn't trust any company that only needs pictures of your mouth to create the aligners to be honest. If it helps, Plusdent aka Dr Smile (technically the same people but renamed) create their moulds in Germany and they are sent over.
The other thing to bear in mind that I’ve just remembered is the amount of aligners you get. If you get 1 aligner/tray to last for 2 weeks then you are putting 2 weeks worth of movement pressure into your teeth on the first day of that tray hence the people that say they’re painful.
I hear of people saying they have 14 trays in total. Each tray lasts for a week. That’s 3 months or so worth of treatment. When I had proper Invisalign done my trays lasted for 3 days. So I was doing lots of small painless changes often rather than big changes. It means the whole mouth is less stressed through the process. I think I had about 80-90 aligners in total. Most lasted 3 days. Some I had to wear for double time until the digital scan (done after every tray) was approved by my dentist and I was cleared to move onto the next tray.
I hear of people saying they have 14 trays in total. Each tray lasts for a week. That’s 3 months or so worth of treatment. When I had proper Invisalign done my trays lasted for 3 days. So I was doing lots of small painless changes often rather than big changes. It means the whole mouth is less stressed through the process. I think I had about 80-90 aligners in total. Most lasted 3 days. Some I had to wear for double time until the digital scan (done after every tray) was approved by my dentist and I was cleared to move onto the next tray.
_Rich_ said:
Just anecdotes I guess, but still a useful post, thank you.Gassing Station | Health Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff