Invisalign has been transforming crooked smiles and boosting confidence since the technology hit the scene in 1998. Misaligned teeth can affect your child’s speech and eating habits. These effects of misaligned teeth can prevent him or her from smiling confidently and achieving overall health. To obtain straight teeth, Premier Dentistry of Eagle offers Invisalign. It involves plastic aligners instead of the usual metallic brackets and wires, which our patients love. Learn if this option is a good fit for your teen!

What Are the Effects of Crooked Teeth?

Most people will have crooked teeth at some point in their life, whether it’s in the baby teeth or adult teeth. However, there are more problems with crooked teeth as an adult that can develop without proper orthodontic treatment. The National Institutes of Health report that more than 92% of Americans have tooth decay. A major contributing factor to that tooth decay is crooked teeth. When the teeth are crooked, areas of the mouth become harder to clean, and thus susceptible to decay. Flossing can become difficult and oral health issues can set in. This can happen early-on in childhood and especially in adulthood.

Gum disease is also a major oral health disease that affects more than 64.7 million adults. This is a disease of the soft tissues of the mouth, namely the gums. Over time, when the teeth are not being cleaned effectively, plaque and acids decay the teeth. This happens commonly around the gum line, which irritates the gums, which in turn begin to pull away from the teeth. This can lead to major tooth loss and irreversible oral damage. Simply brushing and flossing the teeth can correct many of these issues. However, if the teeth are crooked, tooth decay and gum disease can be hard to avoid. You want to correct these issues during the teen years to both avoid oral health diseases and to boost your teen’s confidence in how their smile looks.

Confidence in a Smile

Does your child or teen feel confident in their smile? Do they like how their teeth look? During adolescence, there are so many things that children and teens worry about, especially their appearance! Studies show that one of the first facial features others notice is a smile. The company that invented Invisalign actually created their own studies based around a simple smile.

This study took over 2,000 people on the street and compared pictures of people with straight smiles compared to people with crooked smiles, without the participants knowing the smiles were the main focus of the study. The results were incredible! Subconsciously, viewers saw people with straight smiles as being more confident, trustworthy, successful and happy. Imagine how that would translate into everyday life when straightening your teen’s teeth with Invisalign.

We believe that smiles are meant to be shared. You don’t want to hide behind crooked teeth, and neither do your kids. Studies show that orthodontic treatment in elementary-aged children actually boosted their confidence and likelihood of taking part in social activities with others. It helped teens even more. That confidence continues through the teen years and into adulthood, which is why you want to correct bite and alignment issues as early as possible.

Teenage school kids smiling to camera in school corridor

What Is Invisalign?

Invisalign treatment is one of 4 different types of methods for straightening the teeth. However, it’s the only method that is so discreet that no one can even tell you have orthodontics. The traditional form of teeth straightening is metal braces fixed to the front of each tooth. These can take up a ton of space in the mouth, plus, they are very noticeable. Lingual braces are similar, but they may be made of different metals and they are placed on the back of the teeth. Ceramic braces are white braces that are fixed to the front of your teeth.

Invisalign treatment is the one that’s different than all other types of orthodontics. The Invisalign® treatment system is an alternative to metal braces and far more comfortable than traditional braces. They aren’t ideal for fixing major dental or craniofacial issues, but will work for most patients that have alignment and bite issues, and especially crooked teeth.

How Do You Benefit?

• Invisalign® uses clear, comfortable aligners that are custom made to fit your smile. You simply wear these aligners over your teeth and instead of tightening metal brackets every month, you switch sets about every two weeks to gradually, gently guide your teeth to their proper positions.
• Invisalign aligners are created from transparent, smooth plastic that is both exceptionally comfortable and virtually invisible. This allows you to maintain a professional, natural-looking appearance while you straighten your smile.
• The aligners are removable, so you can take them off when you need to eat, floss, brush your teeth, or have your picture taken! Teens can take them out for music lessons, playing sports, or eating lunch, which is something you can’t do with other types of orthodontics.
• Invisalign® is a good choice for those who want discreet orthodontic treatment vs. traditional metal braces.

Straightening Smiles with Invisalign

Is your teen’s teeth crowded, crooked, or gapped? Do they want to straighten their teeth without metal braces? Teens and adults alike can benefit significantly from Invisalign treatment! It’s the best way to straighten your teeth without anyone knowing.

In most cases, Invisalign in Eagle, Idaho, can be used to correct the same orthodontic issues that are normally treated with braces, including crowding, misalignment, and gapped teeth, as well as bite problems like an overbite, open bite, cross bite, or underbite. To discover the power of Invisalign treatment for you or your teen, contact Dr. Shane S. Porter at Premier Dentistry of Eagle by calling (208) 546-0655!