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Smile! Your braces aren't showing New system straightens adult teeth invisibly Tuesday, November 21, 2000 By Mackenzie Carpenter, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Judi Moore has a bright, white smile, but with a slightly crooked lower tooth that has always bugged her. She never felt willing, though, to go through the hassle of getting metal braces to correct it.
Yet, last week, there she was at her workplace, sporting her new mouth gear, which, in about a year's time, will produce a straight left lateral incisor.
Except you couldn't see a thing.
Moore, 24, of Cranberry, is one of the first people in this region to go "wireless," as it were: wearing snap-on clear plastic "aligners" that fit over teeth like an invisible glove. The "Invisalign" system is a new development in orthodontics that invisibly corrects minor imperfections in adults. Over the next year, Moore will be changing her aligners every two or three weeks as her teeth gradually move into place.
The technology, which will cost her about $1,500, and in general costs between 30 to 50 percent more than regular braces, began appearing in orthodontists' offices a few months ago -- just as Align Technologies Inc., a Silicon Valley company, launched a $40 million ad campaign touting its invention on the Discovery Channel and CNN and ESPN.
"We've been deluged with phone calls," says Dr. Morton Wintner, who is listed on Invisalign's Web site as one of about a half dozen orthodontists in the Pittsburgh area trained in the procedure.
Wintner, who has offices in Squirrel Hill, Robinson and Moon, began offering the service a month ago, with Moore, who is Wintner's administrative assistant, as his first patient.
"There's no more discomfort than with traditional braces," Wintner said.
And, he added, it has the potential to attract huge numbers of people with minor imperfections who would be too embarrassed to wear metal braces.
The Invisalign method has other advantages as well, Wintner notes. Users can eat anything they want and can floss to their heart's content -- because the aligners can be removed for meals and brushing.
Under the procedure, orthodontists take an impression of a patient's teeth using flexible material similar to that used to make the molded "bleach trays" for tooth-whitening. Measurements include other dental records and X-rays and a detailed plan for how the orthodontist would like the teeth to move. The impressions are then sent to the company for computer imaging via a 3-D system.
Then, via e-mail, the company sends the orthodontist an animated graphic demonstrating how the teeth will move with the aligners in place. The orthodontist can make corrections, if necessary, until a final plan is agreed upon.
Once the clear plastic aligners arrive at the orthodontist's office, the patient is fitted, then returns every two to three weeks for new aligners that, millimeter by millimeter, moves the teeth into place.
"I think it's a good idea, and [has] a lot of merit for those who don't like braces or don't want them to show." said Dr. H.I. Shnorhokian, clinic director for the Department of Orthodontics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine. Shnorhokian has been trained in the Invisalign system and has a patient in private practice who is wearing the aligners.
"She loves it," he said. "But it's limited. It's not for everyone, only for adults, and not for severe cases.... The young kids have primary teeth still to lose, and a 3-D imaging system can't project that."
Indeed, the company is careful to note in its ads that it's not meant for children or adolescents whose teeth haven't all grown in --"erupted," in orthodontic parlance.
But some worry about the potential for abuse at a time when the aging baby boomer public is clamoring for straighter, whiter teeth.
"It's like anything that is brand new, and I'm really a firm supporter of the company," said Dr. Michel Van Bergen, a San Francisco-based orthodontist. "But my biggest concern is that patients don't expect miracles. It's for about 5 percent of my patients, but for the company, even that 5 percent represents a huge market."
Still, he noted, some dentists -- not orthodontists -- may decide to use the system "and there is a risk that they might not get the bite right and the patient will get straight teeth that don't fit together."
"There's no plan to market this to dentists," says Align's spokeswoman, Gail Moore. "This is strictly for orthodontists." She also said that Van Bergen's 5 percent figure is "nothing that could be pinned down anywhere."
Some leading orthodontic experts seem satisfied that the company is not overhyping the technology.
"It's only being offered by orthodontists who are taking the course that's sponsored and recommended by the company," said Dr. Michael Rennert, president of the American Association of Orthodontists. "The company has assured me for this time and the immediate future that this will be limited to orthodontists."
More than 50 percent of all orthodontists nationally have been trained in the Invasalign system, which usually involves a daylong workshop, and other Pittsburgh area orthodontists are catching on. A call to the Squirrel Hill offices of Drs. Sean Sherman and Jeffrey Chetlin was timely: a representative of Align Technologies Inc. was on site at that moment, pitching the procedure.
Sherman had heard about the Invisalign system during a presentation in Pittsburgh earlier this year, but when he told his partner about it, "I wasn't too sure at first," noted Chetlin. "Then the television commercials starting coming out and people started calling, so I went to a meeting in Washington, D.C, and learned how the technique works."
"It's only for mild cases, but we have more adult patients than ever" with mildly crooked teeth who want a bright, straight set of chops, he said.
"There's no question, this is going to be big."
For more information, or call 1(888) 822-5446.
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