I am pleasantly surprised every day when teens find CCC Smiles either through social media or our website and bring their parents in to see if I would say yes to Invisalign Teen for them. During these new patient consultations I often find the parents asking me to not offer Invisalign Teen in front of their child. When I do suggest Invisalign Teen, the teen smiles and jumps up in joy but the parents frown. Oh dear!

Parents – Why resist Invisalign Teen for your child?

Lets try to understand.

1. I believe these mixed reactions stem from the fear that their child will not wear these aligners and hence it may cost more later on. What parents often don’t realise that if the child does not wear his aligners we can alway bond braces and it does not necessarily increase the cost or treatment time significantly.

2. Its a new way of straightening teeth for teens. Its not common place yet especially with some of the established and older practitioners. The best way I can make parents understand this is that it is like any other braces or system out there. The skill and experience of the orthodontist is important in that system. However, Invisalign technology has been around nearly two decades now and treated nearly 4 million patients. Today we can safely say that Invisalign had advanced to a level that most patients can be easily treated with the system, just like any braces system. Its just another tool in our toolbox of appliances available to move teeth!

3. Mothers groups – We often follow word of mouth and recommendations from our friends and families. It is very likely that if your friends and families are unaware of Invisalign for their children, they may try to deter others.

4. Family Dentist’s opinion – Dentists are general dental practitioner who are not specialist orthodontists. What that means is they are often aware of most commonplace and routine orthodontic options but usually unaware of recent advances and its use by a specialist. If your dentist does not recommend Invisalign Teen for your child, its understandable that you would be confused when presented with such options.

Now lets talk about the advantages and my experience with Invisalign Teen!

1. Its cool to be straightening teeth without the metal look! That in it self helps with teen self-esteem issues. High school and middle school is a trying time for most children. Teasing and bullying is commonplace. We are also in the age of smartphones, snapchat and selfies. All these put social pressures on children and teen and they become highly aware of their appearance during these years.

2. Invisalign Teen can fix underbites, overbites, crooked teeth and complex cases. 95% of children and teens can be comfortable and aesthetically treated with good results and uncompromised treatment times.

3. Reduced enamel damage – Best thing I love about Invisalign Teen is that we do not have to bond an attachment on each tooth like in traditional braces. We choose only some teeth if required. Hence, the teens can brush and floss like normal

4. Diet – Yes they can eat popcorn! They can bite into an apple. Isn’t that a blessing for all the mothers out there already? They can snack as often as they like!

5. Reduced additional appointments – With less chance for breakages and changing aligners at home every fortnight, mums you can spend more time with your teen at sport and other activities than driving to us for unnecessary breakages that are part and parcel of traditional braces.

6. Sports, Arts & Culture – For certain sports, Invisalign serves as a soft mouthguard. For the teens playing instruments and singing – simply keep wearing them or remove if need be for extra comfort.

You can swim, sail, play tennis, cricket and football wearing them in. You can dance. You can jump! With joy of course!! If you are considering Invisalign Teen for your child, please watch CCC Smiles YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCWW5nVn47CvEvRW9DvY-ew to understand all about Invisalign Teen and patient’s experiences during such treatment. The videos by Jack, Georgie & Josh are very entertaining and insightful!

Dr Vandana Katyal,

Specialist Orthodontist – CCC Smiles Mosman & Sydney CBD.