For many professionals in the Northern Virginia area, traditional metal braces are simply not an option. While metal braces are effective, you may not want to sacrifice your mature, professional appearance. Dr. Pamela Marzban understands those feelings, which is why she is proud to offer Clear Braces (also known as Invisalign) as an alternative to braces.

Invisalign® uses a series of clear, removable plastic aligners to straighten your teeth. This system eliminates many of the drawbacks associated with braces, allowing you to achieve the beautiful smile you desire in a more discreet and comfortable manner while still being clear braces.

If you would like to straighten your teeth, but prefer to avoid the hassles and inconvenience of traditional metal braces, then clear braces may be the right option for you. You can receive individualized treatment recommendations by speaking with Dr. Marzban in person. Please call 703-323-8200 or contact us today to schedule a consultation. Our dental office is conveniently located in Burke, Virginia.

Benefits of Invisalign

Invisalign Dentist - Burke, VA - Dr. Pamela MarzbanInvisalign is among the most popular orthodontic options for adults and older teens, and it doesn’t take much to understand why. Using clear plastic aligners, Invisalign is unobtrusive and practically unnoticeable, allowing for greater confidence during the course of treatment.

In addition, the ability to remove clear braces aligners is one of the most important benefits you’ll receive. Removing aligners before eating eliminates the dietary restrictions necessary for braces. Fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, and other healthy foods that cannot be enjoyed when you wear braces can remain part of your diet with Invisalign. This allows you maintain a balanced and healthy diet during the course of treatment.

Removing aligners prior to brushing also makes oral healthcare easy. Unlike braces, which require special tools and cumbersome routines, cleaning your teeth with Invisalign is straightforward and simple: brush twice a day and floss once a day the way you typically would if you didn’t have braces.

In addition, Invisalign provides you with several other important benefits compared with metal braces:

  • Improved comfort — The smooth plastic aligners are custom-fit to your teeth and will not irritate your mouth or gums like the metal brackets and wires of braces do.
  • Customizable treatment — You will receive a set of clear Braces aligners that are customized to address your unique bite alignment issues.
  • Fewer dentist visits — You won’t have to visit our office as frequently since there are no brackets and wires that require tightening.

And thanks to Invisalign’s new innovations, treatment is faster than ever! Now treatment can be completed in half the time. Since Invisalign used to take about the same amount of time as traditional braces, now it’s much faster.

Am I a Candidate for Invisalign?

Fairfax Invisalign dentist - Dr. MarzbanInvisalign is an effective option for treating a wide range of orthodontic issues, including:

  • Overbite
  • Underbite
  • Crossbite
  • Open bite
  • Gapped teeth
  • Crowded teeth
  • Unevenly spaced teeth

In addition, ideal Invisalign candidates should have healthy teeth and gums. While tooth decay or gum disease won’t necessarily prevent you from undergoing Invisalign treatment, Dr. Marzban will need to restore your teeth and gums to a healthy state before you start wearing your aligners.

It’s also important to understand that while Invisalign achieves excellent results on mild to moderate bite alignment issues, not all orthodontic issues respond well to Invisalign. In these situations, Dr. Marzban may recommend alternative orthodontic options to achieve your desired outcome.

The Invisalign Procedure

Dr. Marzban uses 3D computer imaging technology to capture a digital impression of your bite. This impression is used by the Invisalign lab to design a customized set of aligners to correct your unique orthodontic issues.

Each aligner is worn for 1-2 weeks in order to incrementally shift your teeth towards their optimal position. You will then move onto the next aligner in the series, repeating this process every 1-2 weeks throughout the treatment period. Once you’ve worked through all of your aligners, you will have the straight, beautiful smile you desire.

In order to achieve optimal results, you must wear your Invisalign aligners for 20-22 hours a day. While you can and should remove them to eat and brush your teeth, it’s important that your aligners remain in your mouth at all other times, including at night while you sleep.

Common Questions about Invisalign:

Treatment time used to be similar for Invisalign and traditional braces. Now many people can get significantly faster treatment thanks to new developments in Invisalign technology. They may be able to take only half the time to straighten their teeth.

Unlike braces, Invisalign won’t interfere with most of your daily life. Some people have difficulty speaking with the aligners in. For most people, this passes quickly, but for some people, this persists throughout treatment.

Invisalign uses the same basic principles as traditional braces–gentle pressure over time–to achieve a straighter smile. The pressure causes your body to reshape the bones around your teeth, allowing them to move. It just applies the pressure more evenly on your teeth using aligners instead of metal braces that simply pull on the point of attachment.

Invisalign makes its aligners of a durable, clear, BPA-free thermoplastic. They look similar to teeth whitening trays, but are more durable. The Invisalign tray is constantly improving. New SmartTrack material is an advanced plastic that can deliver a more constant and predictable force than previous materials. The SmartTrack material is part of the reason why many people can now get Invisalign treatment in half the time.

All orthodontic treatment requires the use of retainers to ensure stability of your new tooth positions. The newly-formed bone around your moved teeth isn’t as strong as the old bone, which means that teeth are more likely to drift back to their old positions. You should wear a retainer continuously for a little while after completing treatment, but then you can switch to just wearing it at night to keep your teeth in their new positions.

Dr. Marzban is an experienced Invisalign dentist who also has extensive training in cosmetic and neuromuscular dentistry. She can help you achieve the results you desire by complementing Invisalign with other cosmetic dentistry procedures. In addition, she can help you understand when neuromuscular dentistry problems might make Invisalign a poor choice for you.

Please contact Dr. Pamela Marzban or call 703-323-8200 today to schedule your Invisalign consultation. Dr. Marzban serves patients in Burke, Fairfax, Fairfax Station, West Springfield, and throughout Northern Virginia.