Deciding to have orthodontic treatment as an adult is becoming more and more popular but one factor that puts a lot of people off is the thought of having metal wires and brackets on show. The cost is also sometime prohibitive for patients.
So The March of the Digital Aligners (to Darth Vader's theme tune)...
What used to be a market cornered by invisalign, is now a broad range of Digital Aligner services available to busy practitioners. These workflows range from completey laboratory managed to completely practitioner managed. Personally, being a tech and a dentist means that i love making stuff so i do follow a completely digital workflow for Digital Aligners that i outline below:
1) Detailed Assessment including radiographs ( CASE SELECTION is the most important thing!)
2) Imaging: Omnicam scans and full extra and intraoral photos
4) Communication: Send patient treatment simulation and organise consent
5) Manufacturing: 3D print models on anycubic photon printer and fabricate aligners using a pressure laminator
6) Package Digital Aligners and deliver to patient
I do, however aknowledge that this completely digital approach with 'in surgery aligner fabrication' is not for most busy practitioners. Most pracitioners favour a "scan (or impression) and send" approach when they will receive a custom treatment plan, treatment visualisation and a complete set of aligners from the beginning to end of their treatment plan.
Well, the market has opened up from the days of invisalign's stranglehold on the clear digital aligner market. Also, the scanners and 3D printers required for the in house digital aligner planning and fabrication have become cheaper, easier to use and much more widely available. Auxiliary staff can be trained to assist in many of these stages saving the dentist time and money. For laboratories, (often i get criticised by technicians for encourageing dentists to get more technically involved !!!) it means that they can get in on the act too. Utilising the advantacges of digital workflows and 3D printing, technicians find it easier and cheaper to manufacture aligners too.
So what is the deciding factor for treatment success?
CASE SELECTION.
Keep your cases simple and appropriate. If you stick to simple cases of anterior cosmetic orthodontics with easy going patients, you will have greater success and fewer problems.