What are the cons of Invisalign?

[Aidan1]

Hi

I would like to have my teeth fixed as they are all over the place and crooked. My own dentist recommended metal braces but I don't want to go to work with obvious braces on my teeth. Its obvious that the invisalign clear braces would be far better from a cosmetic point of view, however I would like to know if there are any cons with Invisalign? Are the results with Invisalign just as good as with metal braces? Which type of brace would take longer to finish treatment?

[Dr Mohsen J. Esfahani]

Some of the questions you have asked, vary from case to case and we can only anwser them once we have seen your teeth. Broadly speaking though the cons involved with Invisalign are:

1. Invisalign relies on patient compliance, so if the patient does not wear the aligners sufficiently it will not work. However with fixed braces, the patient cant remove the braces and so there is no problem with compliance there.

2. Invisalign can mainly do tipping movements, whereas fixed braces can do tooth bodily moevement.

3. In crowding cases, Invisalign mainly works by IPR (interproximal enamel shaving) whereas fixed braces can work with tooth extractions which can create more space for severe crowding cases.