What Are Invisible Braces, Aligners, and Transparent Braces? Dr. Rohit Agrawal Explains Their Benefits

I am Dr. Rohit Agrawal. I am a Professor at Dental College and an MDS specialist, and I am a practicing dentist at the Dental Department at Agrawal Hospital & Research Institute, Gwalior.

So what is this new topic that we are going to discuss?Invisible Braces, Aligners or Transparent Braces, and we are going to see what it is and what are the advantages or benefit that we are going to get out of these invisible braces.

Invisible braces are a specially designed set of clear plastic trays that are worn by patients to correct and align their teeth. So where exactly do invisible braces help and why have we got this new invention when the tradition metal braces already exist? Well as you may already know, a lot of the patients coming to me are really disturbed because of the problems that traditional fixed metal braces create for them. A very commonly complained aspect among them is, the inner lining of the cheeks is getting injured and you are prone to have cuts, abrasions, ulceration and soreness from the braces that are in the mouth, due to their constant rubbing against the teeth.

Not only this, but the food restrictions that you get with these traditional metal braces are really massive, since there are many food items such as non vegetarian items, hard substances, chaat, pakodas, junk food and several other crunchy food items are not recommended when you are on traditional metal braces because there is a chance of your brackets breaking. Another problem is hygiene management. Proper cleaning of the teeth with fixed braces is very tedious, cleaning is not easy and there is a very high chance that the patient is left with yellow patches after they are removed due to poor plaque management along with the brackets.

But you are able to overcome a lot of these limitations using the invisible braces, that are actually a set of removable clear plastic trays that you can remove whenever you want; you can remove them while eating as well as whenever you have to brush your teeth, so the hygiene management is definitely much better and is more comfortable.

Because these aligners are completely transparent and sit very snugly around the teeth, no one will be able to notice that you are wearing the braces. This would definitely help people working in corporate sector, social media lovers, YouTubers, speakers, people who attend many meetings or functions or party. As such many people do not want others to notice that they have got traditional fixed metal braces on because it makes them feel conscious. But it’s totally possible that people don't even get to know about aligners in your mouth!

There is an important fact that is gaining a lot of attention these days, that you have companies who are even shipping their aligners to your house! I will generally strongly advise you not to start treatment with any sort of invisible aligners or any sort of braces without consultation. Always get a diagnosis and start treatment from a specialist that we know as orthodontist. The aligners are fabricated with digital scanning methods using modern scanners to ensure a perfect fit around the patient's teeth. Another fact is that these are less number of visits to your orthodontist, as we typically give the patients a set of trays and tell them to wear each one for about 15-20 days before switching to the next one. This is useful for people who are staying in other cities. Let’s say, if you stay in Mumbai and my patient, they will have one initial appointment, after which we can actually dispatch the trays at their place with occasional follow-up sessions every six months.

So, Invisible Braces/Aligners are giving good oral hygiene, comfort, fewer dietary restrictions and good aesthetic value in a cosmetic orthodontic treatment plan, but all this goes down the drain if the patient is not ready to wear them regularly for the prescribed duration of treatment as this can increase the treatment time for you. If you are having a debate between going in for fixed braces or invisible aligners, I would suggest that I would usually recommend invisible aligners, with consultation of your orthodontist.