Teeth Straightening / Invisalign

Invisible teeth straightening

Teeth Straightening and Invisalign® El Cajon

Dr. Patricia Campillo is our in-house orthodontist at Rancho San Diego Dental Group in El Cajon. Dr. Patricia Campillo is trained to deal with complex cases, both through the use of clear aligners, or traditional braces. She has decades of experience, and has straightened the teeth of thousands of happy patients.

There is a common misperception that any dentist can use clear aligner technology to straighten teeth. While it is true that the technology is available to all dentists, not all dentists have the experience and expertise to properly create a treatment plan that will correctly straighten teeth without complications. Like with all things in life, practice and repetitions matter.

Do you or your teenager have crooked teeth? With Invisalign®, ClearCorrect™ and other clear aligning systems we can straighten your teeth and enhance your smile without metal braces. These teeth straightening systems use clear plastic aligners to straighten teeth. Best of all, they are almost undetectable.

How Invisalign® and ClearCorrect™ work

Both advanced systems use clear, virtually invisible aligners to straighten teeth. Aligners are comfortable custom-fit plastic trays that fit closely over your teeth. Taking care of your aligners is easy: you just take them out when you want to eat or brush and floss your teeth.

The aligners are designed to move your teeth gradually into their desired position by changing them on a scheduled basis. You’ll visit Dr. Nathan Christensen periodically to check on your progress and get a new set of aligners, until you eventually have the straight smile you desire.

Conditions Invisalign® and ClearCorrect™ treat

These alternatives to braces are for patients who have complete jaw growth and full adult dentition, and are effective on a broad range of cases. Even teenagers can benefit from these advanced teeth straightening systems.

  • Overly crowded teeth
  • Widely spaced teeth, gaps
  • Crossbite—Some of your top teeth go under the bottom teeth
  • Overbite—Your upper teeth bite over the lower teeth
  • Underbite—Your lower teeth are protruding past the edge of your upper teeth
Advantages of Clear Aligners over other methods of teeth straightening

There are many advantages to using clear aligners as compared to standard braces. These include:

  • Clear aligners are virtually invisible
  • Easy to keep your teeth clean—just pop the aligners out
  • Aligners are removable when needed
  • As the aligners are removable, you can eat whatever you want
  • Less mouth irritation as there are no wires!
  • Fewer doctor visits

The Invisalign Process

Living with misaligned teeth can have a huge impact on your life.  Not only can it cause other oral health concerns, but it can harm your self-esteem and cause you to hide behind your hand whenever you smile or laugh.

Traditional orthodontic braces can help to correct misalignment issues, but wearing them as an adult is understandably embarrassing.  The good news is, Invisalign provides an attractive alternative that offers the same benefits as braces with none of the drawbacks.

The process begins with a consultation to find out if you’re a good candidate for Invisalign.  If you are, impressions of your teeth will be taken in order to create a plan for care and craft your custom invisible aligner trays.

These BPA-free, removable aligner trays will fit perfectly over your teeth, so as not to cause irritation or cut the soft tissues of your mouth, as braces are prone to.  You’ll have to wear them 22 hours each day to gain the full benefits, but unlike traditional braces, you can remove them to eat and clean your teeth.

Depending on your personalized plan, you will upgrade to a new set of aligners approximately every couple of weeks, but unlike braces, you won’t have to schedule an appointment with your orthodontist for adjustments every three weeks.  Instead, you’ll have check-ups at approximately 6-week intervals just to make sure your alignment is progressing as planned.

Within as little as about six months, depending on your particular case, you could have the perfectly straight smile you’ve always dreamed of, thanks to custom Invisalign clear aligner trays.  As with braces, you may have to wear a retainer afterward to ensure that your teeth don’t shift back to previous positioning, but these can typically be worn at night, while you sleep, to maintain your beautiful, straight smile for life.

Invisalign | Teeth Straightening | El Cajon, CA

Misalignment and other orthodontic issues can lead to problems with your oral health, and they can do a lot of damage to your self-esteem as well. It’s difficult to feel confident in yourself when you lack confidence in your smile.

Of course, you can always go with traditional braces if you’re looking for a teeth straightening treatment that can address all your orthodontic issues.

However, that solution is not for everyone, particularly if you’re older than the typical person who might have braces. A mouth full of metal can make you even more self-conscious about your smile than you were before you even had braces.