A high percentage of health reports show that a smile is a significant factor in a person’s appearance. Naturally then, beautifully aligned teeth are crucial to making your smile the best it can be. Deciding to straighten your teeth can still be a difficult decision though. When aligning your teeth, you can choose either braces or Invisalign. Which is the best for you? Personal preference and priorities will determine this decision.

It’s always best to do your research, and ask your local dentist any questions you might have, but our team here at Gisborne Family Dental can also help. Both braces and Invisalign are great at straightening teeth but in their own unique ways. 

In this article, we will look at the advantages and disadvantages of Invisalign vs. braces, which can help you make your decision.

Difference Between Braces vs. Invisalign

Braces are small pieces of metal attached to the outside of the teeth with a wire running through them, but today, there are now different brace options, including ceramic and lingual braces. In this case, rubber bands and metal wires are attached to a bracket to work on your teeth to correct your orthodontic problems, and they are less visible than traditional braces. Check out our page to find out more about getting braces at Gisborne Family Dental. 

Invisalign uses plastic aligners that are customized by getting each patient to scan their mouth. Invisalign isn’t as painful as braces but it can leave someone’s teeth sore through the force exerted by the aligner on the teeth. The customized removable aligners are made to move the teeth in steps, with each new iteration of the aligner being slightly more straight, until the position is fully corrected. It is a treatment that straightens the teeth without using metal braces. Find out more about using Invisalign at Gisborne Family Dental. 

Advantages of Invisalign That Might Make It The Preferred Choice for You

Fixing Dental Problems

Misaligned teeth can cause more problems than just making you self-conscious about your smile. If your teeth aren’t aligned, you will likely have other dental problems. Crowded or gapped teeth can increase the risk of developing gum disease because your gum doesn’t correctly fit around your teeth. Invisalign treatment can help reduce gum inflammation, tooth sensitivity, bad breath, and chipping of teeth. 

More Comfortable

Removable aligners are more comfortable than metal braces. Traditional metal braces have sharp edges that can cut your lips and cheeks and can cause sores that are difficult to heal.

Easier to Clean and Maintain

Traditional braces are not as easy to maintain as Invisalign. When you are eating out or eating with your family, Invisalign can be removed, which maintains an extra level of hygiene over braces, which can get filled with food and other debris. On top of this, with Invisalign, you can easily clean them by brushing them with toothpaste and lukewarm water before reinstalling them in your mouth. Another braces disadvantage is that the wire can sometimes pop out or a bracket can fall off and you’ll need to go to the dentist to get it glued back on or replaced.  

Fewer Dentist Visits

Invisalign gives you the freedom to enjoy activities and go to work while ensuring the repositioning and alignment of your teeth, unlike metal braces that require a dental office visit for tightening rubber bands or wires.

When you start your Invisalign treatment, you will be given several aligner trays for multiple phases, whose use is then meant to be staggered over time, as your teeth move. This reduces the number of dental visits needed over your treatment period. 

Shorter Treatment Period

Most treatments with braces take between 16 and 18 months, or even as much as two years. This is a long time to wait just to straighten your teeth, especially if you want immediate results. A removable aligner like Invisalign allows for a pre-planned path, vs braces which are a bit more imprecise. 

Invisalign treatment usually takes about a year, and because of the way it is designed, most people won’t even notice you are wearing them. But if you don’t wear your aligners as much as you’re supposed to, your treatment will take longer and may end up taking the same amount of time as braces.

Disadvantages of Invisalign

Invisalign Causes Pain

Invisalign may cause pain because, well, straightening teeth hurts. There’s no way around it. Just remember this pain and discomfort is temporary and it mostly happens within the first week of using your next set of removable aligners. However in regards to invisalign vs braces, this Invisalign disadvantage is also true for braces. You should contact your dentist if your Invisalign tray continues to cause pain after the first week of use. 

Invisalign Requires Discipline To Stay On Track

One of the disadvantages of Invisalign is that it takes discipline to stay on track because you must personally put on your removable aligners for at least 22 hours per day even when you are experiencing pain during the early days of treatment. You should really only remove them when you are about to eat or brush your teeth. 

A lack of this discipline will make your treatment last longer and may even make it less effective. So in Invisalign treatment, your full cooperation is essential to ensure you achieve your desired results.

Removable aligners can also stain easily, so it’s imperative to brush your teeth and avoid drinks like coffee. We here at Gisborne Dental Family also recommend that you clean your aligners thoroughly and often. 

It’s Easy To Lose Your Aligners

A disadvantage of your Invisalign aligners is that it can be easy to lose them, so you need to pay extra attention in keeping an eye on them. Due to their bespoke nature it takes time and unfortunately money to replace them. An advantage of braces is that you can’t lose them because, well, they’re glued to your teeth. 

Advantages of Braces

Prevention of Bone Erosion

Crooked or misaligned teeth can lead to bone loss. This mostly happens when bacteria begin to eat away at bones. An advantage of braces is that they move periodontal ligaments by stretching the connective tissues and nerves. The bones will then strengthen themselves once they settle into their new spot over time.

Braces Aid Digestion

Many people don’t know that teeth and chewing play an important role in digestion. This is because before food can enter your stomach, it must first be broken down by your teeth, and there are even enzymes in your saliva to help the food break down further. It isn’t easy to chew into small enough bits if your teeth are misaligned and as a result, it may take your stomach a longer time to digest, or may make it harder to digest. Once you can chew properly with the help of braces, your food will be more easily digested.

Braces Help Improve Your Overall Oral Health

Another advantage of braces is that they also help improve oral health. Your teeth may overlap when they are misaligned and crowded, which can lead to extra buildup of plaque and bacteria. However, with braces, your teeth will become properly aligned so that your mouth can be cleaned better. Something to note however is that braces cover a significant part of your teeth, so cleaning between the gaps is very important.

Disadvantages of Braces

Treatment Takes Longer For Adults

One of the most significant disadvantages of braces is that it requires a longer time for adults than for a child. It takes at least 16-18 months and often more. This is because adult bones have stopped growing and are no longer as pliable as a child’s. 

Braces Cause and Reveal Discoloration

While braces are good at straightening your teeth, they can leave discoloration behind after being removed. Your teeth develop plaque (discoloration) through eating and drinking. This plaque contains bacteria and when it builds up on your teeth, it leads to yellowish or brownish discoloration. One of the best ways to remove this plaque is to brush everyday but this can be more difficult if you are wearing braces. Regular checkups at Gisborne Dental Family are important to avoid this discoloration, and there are special cleaning tools and brushes for braces that can help keep your teeth clean. 

Braces Could Reveal Other Dental Issues

Braces can help prevent future problems, but they can also lead to discovering existing dental issues. If your dentist notices any previous bone loss, getting braces may exacerbate the problem.

Why You Should Choose Gisborne Family Dental for your Invisalign or Braces

There are many advantages of using Invisalign and braces to straighten your teeth. You can straighten your teeth at a comfortable pace while cleaning your teeth, drinking, and eating normally. When looking at the various disadvantages of Invisalign vs braces it is important to remember that these disadvantages are really only minor, and thousands of people undergo successful treatment every year. 

Contact us if you want to achieve the smile you want and find out if Invisalign or braces are the right treatment for you. At Gisborne Family Dental, we offer both Invisalign and braces as a method of treatment, and we have created many healthy and beautiful smiles and can help you find your smile too. 

Contact us today on (03) 8595 1888, or book an appointment now.