Miss S came to see Sarah Mack for a new patient examination. She had had braces as a child, but had not had fixed or removable retainers to hold them in place. She had started to clench her teeth and was waking up with pain; she used to have a bite guard for this, but no longer had one.
Sarah performed a thorough assessment of Miss S’ teeth and gums, including photographs of her teeth and smile and x-ray pictures. She discussed her findings and together they discussed her options to protect her teeth and improve her smile.
Sarah advised that Miss S have a new bite guard made to protect her teeth when clenching. Sarah took impressions of Miss S’ teeth to be sent to the laboratory to make a bespoke plastic mouth guard that Miss S can wear at night to protect her teeth from bruxism (excessive teeth grinding or clenching).
Sarah discussed that she could improve the alignment of Miss S’ front teeth with Invisalign Go. Using advanced iTero Element scanning technology, Sarah could plan and create a series of clear aligners to predictably move Miss S’ front teeth into position in around 3–9 months. This offers an ideal solution to quickly straighten adults’ crowded front teeth or teeth that have relapsed after having orthodontics as a child.
Invisalign Go involves a series of removable aligners made from a lightweight, strong, thermoplastic material that fit over Miss S’ teeth and apply gentle forces to gradually move her teeth into place (maximum 14 sets). Miss S wore each aligner for around 7–10 days (until each became passive), before moving on to the next aligner in the series. Miss S wore her aligners all the time, but removed them for eating and drinking anything other than water (and for swimming).
Invisalign Go treatment was completed in just over 6 months; fixed and removable retainers were then made to securely hold Miss S’ teeth in position.
Miss S was delighted with her Invisalign Go aligners to straighten her teeth and improve her smile.
