Family and Cosmetic Dentistry in Tulsa
Tulsa, OK
Clear aligners in Tulsa
Adult orthodontics with ClearCorrect. Removable, clear, and handled by your own dentist rather than a mail order company.
Clear aligners straighten teeth using a series of clear removable trays instead of brackets and wires. Each tray moves the teeth a small amount, you change to the next one on schedule, and over the course of treatment the teeth arrive where they were planned to go. We use ClearCorrect.
Adult orthodontics
Most of the people who ask about aligners here are adults, and the two most common reasons are the same. Either they never had braces and have always been bothered by crowding, or they had braces as a teenager, stopped wearing the retainer, and have watched the front teeth drift back over twenty years. Both are straightforward aligner cases.
Aligners appeal to adults because they are hard to notice across a meeting table, and because they come out. You take them out to eat, so nothing is off limits, and you take them out to brush and floss normally, which matters because braces make cleaning harder at exactly the age when gum health starts to need attention.
Treated by your own dentist
The difference between this and a mail order aligner service is that someone examines your mouth before treatment starts and watches it while it happens. Teeth are moved through bone, and moving them when there is active gum disease, an untreated infection, or a failing filling causes real harm.
Dr. Hanna checks all of that first, treats what needs treating, and then plans the movement. If your case is better suited to a specialist, you will be told that rather than sold a set of trays.
Not sure where to startCall and describe what is going on.
Call (918) 205-7458What treatment involves
It starts with a consultation and records, including X-rays and a digital scan of your teeth. From the scan, the movement is planned tray by tray, and you see the projected result before agreeing to anything. Trays are worn about twenty two hours a day and changed on the schedule you are given. Check in appointments are short and confirm the teeth are tracking as planned.
How long it takes depends on how far the teeth have to move. Mild crowding or minor relapse after childhood braces is often a shorter case than a bite that needs significant correction. You will be given a realistic estimate at the consultation.
After treatment
Teeth drift for life, so treatment ends with a retainer. Wearing it is what keeps the result, and skipping it is the single most common reason people end up in aligners a second time. Fixed and removable retainers are both available here.
What clear aligners cost
Aligner treatment is priced as a whole case rather than per visit, because the trays, the planning, the check ins, and the retainer at the end are all part of one course of treatment. The figure depends mostly on how far the teeth have to move, so a mild relapse after childhood braces sits well below a case that needs significant bite correction.
Some dental plans include an orthodontic benefit, usually as a lifetime maximum rather than an annual one, and some restrict it to patients under a certain age. Our team will check whether yours has one before you commit. Where there is no cover, treatment can normally be spread over the course of the case.
You get the full figure and what it includes at the consultation, before records are taken.
Living with aligners
Trays go in for about twenty two hours a day and come out to eat and to clean your teeth. In practice that means three meals and your normal brushing, and everything else is with them in. Drinking anything other than water with them in is the habit to break, because sugar and acid get trapped against the enamel.
New trays feel tight for a day or so. That pressure is the treatment working, and it settles. Changing on schedule matters more than anything else you do, because the trays are planned as a sequence and moving on early or late is what makes cases run long.
Clean the trays with a soft brush and cool water rather than hot, which distorts them, and rinse them when they come out so they do not cloud. Keep the case with you: far more trays are lost wrapped in a napkin at lunch than any other way.
Common questions
The questions patients ask us most about this treatment, answered plainly.
Are clear aligners the same as Invisalign
They work the same way, with a series of clear removable trays. We use ClearCorrect, which is a different manufacturer. The treatment planning, the appointments, and the retainer at the end are the same process.
How many hours a day do I have to wear them
About twenty two hours a day. They come out for eating and for brushing and flossing. Wearing them less than that is the main reason a case runs longer than planned.
Am I too old for orthodontics
No. Teeth move at any age as long as the bone and gums are healthy, and most aligner patients here are adults. Gum health is the deciding factor rather than age, and that is checked at the consultation.
Book your appointment today
Call the office and we will find you a time that works.