Invisalign at Clearsmile Orthodontics: The Initial Consultation and Invisalign Delivery Appointment

You may have read on a previous post how I mentioned that I decided to get Invisalign and how I am going to be documenting my entire process and treatment with you here on the blog!  I know that when I was looking around I couldn’t find a ton of information about peoples’ specific experiences day in and day out with getting Invisalign, so my goal is to share that with you.  I am a patient of Dr. Webb at Clearsmile Orthodontics and am so happy I was referred to him by my dentist.  You can read more about Dr. Webb here.  I will be writing about my appointments and just my general thoughts and feelings regarding Invisalign!

Before I begin, let me back up and first give you the reason behind my decision for Invisalign.  If you know me or have paid attention to any pictures that I’ve put up, you may be thinking that my teeth are pretty straight and I don’t need braces! Growing up, I never needed braces or a retainer or anything like that.  I was very lucky that my teeth just came in very straight!  But over the past couple of years, I’ve noticed my teeth have been shifting…mostly the bottom teeth in the front but also I was starting to notice my front top teeth shifting out of place.

Here are some pictures we made at the first appointment that show the top front tooth that is starting to shift to the right and you can see from the aerial view where the front teeth are really starting to rotate and are crowded. I also have a cross-bite in some places.  Sorry for the up close and personal!!

The bottom teeth didn’t really bother me too much because when I smile you generally couldn’t see my bottom teeth. But once I started noticing the top doing it and I could see it in pictures, etc., I decided I wanted to try to fix it before it got worse, because judging by the movement my teeth had over the past couple years, it was going to get worse.  So in came me making an appointment with Dr. Webb at Clearsmile.

Clearsmile Orthodontics is Charlotte’s sole Invisalign-only orthodontic office.  It’s located in South End, the office is new and super nice inside and out, the staff are all very friendly, and Dr. Webb is great!  Dr. Webb has been designated as an ELITE Invisalign Provider.  Elite providers are doctors that do at least 50 Invisalign cases every 6 months, and Dr. Webb did over 150 in the last 6 months.  So, he knows what he’s doing, in other words!

I gained that clear understanding that I was in good hands after my Initial Consultation appointment with Dr. Webb.  During this appointment, I had my pictures taken of all angles of my mouth and teeth, as well as my digital impressions.  Some offices use that goopy (medical term) stuff that you have to bite into and hold in your mouth for 4 minutes (but it feels like forever) so as to take molds of your teeth to use for impressions.  Dr. Webb’s team can take digital impressions basically by using a wand that scans over your teeth and populates a digital image directly into the computer.  Those impressions get sent to Invisalign, where they manufacture your aligners.  It’s important, however, to know that the orthodontist is the one that is in control of your care and your treatment and why it is important to seek an elite-level provider for your treatment. Dr. Webb is the one that wrote my prescription, designed my treatment plan, and instructed Invisalign to manufacture the aligners that he created for me from that digital impression.  He really knows what he is doing through lots of experience, and because of that experience it leads to more predictability and, therefore, better results in less time.

Not everyone will have their impressions made at their initial consultation appointment, but I knew I was ready to move forward so I went ahead and had them done.  If you’re still deciding about getting them or not, you’ll likely just have the complimentary consultation appointment and would need to come back to get the digital impressions made if you decided to move forward.

I was called back by the office just about a week and a half later with the great news that my aligners had come in, and from there I made my appointment to go back and get them at the delivery appointment.  At this appointment I had the Invisalign attachments put on a few of my teeth (this is where the aligners attach to your teeth, similar to how brackets function with traditional braces) and learned how to care for my aligners as well as how to take them in and out.  I left the office wearing my first set of aligners, and with my next 5 sets in hand. I will be changing my aligners every 5 days and my next appointment with Dr. Webb is at the end of this month to check in and get my next set.

I believe that usually you would wear your aligners for 1 week at a time, but I decided to get the Acceledent device to help speed up my treatment process.

I am SO glad already I decided to do this because it can speed up orthodontic treatment by as much as 50% and reduce discomfort by up to 71%.  It’s obviously too soon for me to speak to it speeding up my treatment, but as far as the reduction in discomfort goes, I can agree to that 100%.  I will touch on that more in my next post following my next appointment.  In that post I will recap my first 25 days in Invisalign as well.

Talk to you then!

xo,

Bess

PS- I should also mention that Dr. Webb has a traditional orthodontic practice in South Park, Webb Orthodontics, but as a way to build up his new Invisalign practice, they are running an amazing Groupon deal right now ($1,500 Value Towards Invisalign Treatment Including a Pre-Treatment Records Package and Free Whitening after Treatment) Click here to read more and get the Groupon.  Also, be sure to check into your dental insurance and what they offer, mine offered up to $1500 off adult orthodontic treatment which was a huge help!