Tag Archives: complications with Smile Direct

Does smile direct work?

I keep seeing advertisements on Facebook for smile direct club. They’re offering a free start on their program and it’s much less expensive than Invisalign. Does it really work?

Sadie

Dear Sadie,

The Smile Direct Club is an company which has been in business since about 2013. They’ll mail you your aligners which you’ll wear for three weeks. With Invisalign, you switch the aligners every two weeks.

Their biggest benefit is the money savings. It does cost less than working through a dentist with Invisalign. It appears to work out fine for many patients. But (you knew there would be a but), there are risks.

Dangers with Smile Direct

  • Gum Disease

While you submit a photo and a dentist reviews it, only certain cases of gum disease are able to be diagnosed this way. Dentists will also do x-rays and probe the tissue.

If you do this treatment and have gum disease it will quickly get worse. As it progresses, your teeth can become loose. Combine that with shifting of tooth movements for your orthodontic treatment and you could end up losing teeth.

  • Complications

While for most patients things will go fine, there are exceptions. Sometimes a tooth his supposed to rotate which doesn’t. This affects the entire treatment process.

Another, more common issue, is when there’s crowding. When that is an issue, some of the sides of the teeth have to be shaved down to make room for the correct alignment.

This is something you’ll have to do at a dental office. However, removing the right amount of enamel is tricky. You’d really want a dentist who’s invested in the case to do the work on it. Without that, It might not go as well as you’d like.

So, could it work? Possibly. In many cases it does. The thing to be aware of is what to do if something doesn’t. At the very least, I’d recommend you get a good check up with a dentist ahead of time and make sure you don’t have any signs of gum disease before proceeding.

This blog is brought to you by Lafayette Dentist Dr. Mike Malone.