What aligners fix well, and what they do not
| Your situation | Realistic answer |
|---|---|
| Mild to moderate crowding | Aligners, comfortably. This is what they were built for |
| Spaces and gaps you want closed | Aligners, usually one of the quickest cases |
| Teeth that drifted back after childhood braces | Aligners, often three to six months. The most satisfying case there is |
| Severely rotated teeth | Braces are more predictable. Aligners lose grip on a badly turned tooth |
| Closing space after an extraction | Braces, generally. Bodily tooth movement is hard for aligners |
| Significant overbite, underbite or crossbite | Orthodontist. This is skeletal, not cosmetic |
| Children and teenagers still growing | Orthodontist. Growth can be used to your advantage, and that is a specialist skill |
Aligners against fixed braces
| Clear aligners | Fixed braces | |
|---|---|---|
| Appearance | Nearly invisible | Visible, though ceramic brackets are discreet |
| Cleaning | Removed to brush, so hygiene stays normal | Harder. Brackets trap plaque and can leave permanent white marks |
| Comfort | Pressure for a day or two per tray, no wires | More soreness, occasional poking wires |
| Depends on you | Completely. 20–22 hours a day or it will not work | Not at all. They work whether you cooperate or not |
| Range of cases | Mild to moderate | Everything, including the difficult |
| Appointments | Fewer, often every 6–8 weeks | Every 4–6 weeks for adjustment |
The row people skip is compliance. Braces have one real advantage: they are working at three in the morning whether you remembered or not. If you know you will leave aligners in your bag, saying so at the consultation saves you a year and a great deal of money.
Invisalign, Spark, ClearCorrect — does the brand matter?
Most people searching for clear aligners in Lebanon type "Invisalign", because it was first and it markets hardest. It is a brand of clear aligner made by Align Technology, not a category of its own. Spark (Ormco), ClearCorrect (Straumann) and several others make the same class of appliance, and a clinic offering one rather than another is usually telling you about its laboratory contract, not about your teeth.
What actually separates a good aligner result from a disappointing one is not the plastic. It is the diagnosis: whether the case suits aligners at all, whether the attachments are placed where the teeth need pushing, whether space is created properly rather than by tipping the front teeth forward, and whether somebody checks the fit at every stage instead of handing you a box of trays and waving. Those are decisions a dentist makes, and no brand makes them for you.
Ask any clinic three questions before you commit, whatever the name on the box: who plans the movements, what happens if a tooth stops tracking the plan, and what the retainer arrangement is afterwards. The answers will tell you more than the brand.
How treatment runs
- Records first. Photographs, X-rays and a scan or impressions. Gum health and decay are checked before anything, because moving teeth through active gum disease loses bone faster.
- A digital plan you see before you commit. The projected movement is simulated so you can look at the intended end result, and say if it is not what you wanted, while it is still free to change.
- Attachments and spacing. Small tooth-coloured bumps give the aligners something to grip, and tiny amounts of enamel are sometimes polished between teeth to create room. Both are normal and both should be explained before, not discovered on the day.
- The trays. A new one every one to two weeks, each moving the teeth a fraction. Reviews every six to eight weeks.
- Retainers, then retainers. See below. This is the part that decides whether the result survives.
Retention: the part nobody mentions until the end
Teeth move for your whole life. Relapse after orthodontic treatment is the expected outcome, not bad luck, and it is why so many adults arrive asking us to redo braces they had at fifteen. Retention is therefore part of the treatment, not an afterthought: a fixed wire bonded behind the front teeth, a removable retainer at night, or both. Plan on wearing something at night indefinitely, tapering to a few nights a week over the years. We tell you this before you start rather than at the final appointment, because it should affect your decision.
Straighten first, then veneer
Many people ask for veneers to fix teeth that are actually just out of line. Ceramic can disguise a position problem, but only by being made thicker on one side, which means removing more enamel and accepting a bulkier result. Aligning first usually means fewer veneers, thinner veneers and a longer-lasting outcome. It costs months, which is exactly why it is often skipped. We will price both routes and tell you plainly what each one costs you in tooth structure. The same logic runs through our Hollywood smile guide: aligned first means fewer, thinner veneers.
Hygiene during treatment
Whichever route you take, plaque control decides whether you finish with straight healthy teeth or straight decalcified ones. Aligner wearers must brush before putting trays back in, since sealing sugar against enamel for twenty hours is worse than not wearing them. Brace wearers need interdental brushes around every bracket. Either way we shorten your hygiene interval to three or four months for the duration. Those permanent white squares seen on teeth after braces come off are decalcification, they are irreversible, and they are entirely preventable.
What sets the price
Clear aligner treatment starts at $2,000 for the full course. That is a starting figure for a straightforward case; a longer or more complex one costs more, and nobody can tell you which yours is without looking at your teeth.
The examination itself is $20, and it is deducted from the cost of treatment if you go ahead — so if you are treated here, the examination has cost you nothing.
| Factor | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Complexity and number of trays | A six-month relapse case and an eighteen-month crowding case are different treatments |
| Aligner system | Brands differ in laboratory cost and in what they can predictably achieve |
| Preparatory work | Fillings, hygiene or gum treatment needed first are itemised separately |
| Retainers and reviews | Should be written into the quote from the start. Ask, because this is where surprise costs hide |
After your assessment you receive a written, fixed, itemised quote that names the system, the expected number of trays, the review appointments and the retainers.