I did a series of videos a few years ago called “The POTS and PANS of Dentistry.
“POTS” = Plain Old Tooth Stuff
“PANS” = Pretty Amazing New Stuff
We have plenty of POTS and PANS for orthodontics in our Bryn Mawr Dental Office, some of which has been around for 50 years and others in just the past couple decades.
To understand how general dentists can straighten teeth without braces we need to understand how tooth movement works. It’s very simple, if you consistently apply a force on a tooth and there is space for it to move there, it will move. All orthodontices work on this principle.
INVISALIGN is very well recognized as an industry leader.
Did you know that there are companies that predated INVISALIGN?
For decades before INVISALIGN there were labs that would take models of people’s teeth and set their teeth in wax and move the teeth specific amounts and make a series of trays (aligners) that would capture with these deliberate changes. Patients would wear the trays for 2 or 3 weeks and then move on to the next aligner until they achieved the desired alignment.
INVISALIGN saw that this was working and made it sexy with CAD CAM (Computer Aided Design, Computer Aided Manufacturing) technology. This made the process less labor intensive and more precise. It did, however, raise the cost of set-up for a case.
We found that this often priced-out some of the more minor cases we were offering to our patients.
Fortunately, the other companies we were using before INVISALIGN, made these cases possible with much lower fees. So, we can still use them to help provide affordable orthodontics for many people.
The company that we were using the earliest, Orthotain, offers a great product that can correct the alignment of teeth as they are coming into a child’s mouth. It is a procedure that we selectively use for some kids that keeps them from ever needing orthodontics at all, or at least, will make the final job much easier.
As you see, there are several companies that do clear aligner therapy and we can pick and choose from all of them to offer each specific patient the best, most affordable orthodontics, right here on the Main Line. Call us if you would like to come in for a consult to see what POTS and PANS we can offer to give you the smile you’ve always wanted at: 610-525-5497. We’re happy to share our experiences and options with you.
Here is a link to the video we did on Orthodontics.
Click Here