Your smile is a long-term investment that can effect your whole body.
Trust your health to a Board Certified Orthodontist.
The growing trend of direct-to-consumer products makes a lot of sense on the surface. We’re all busy. The ability to order something quickly online and have it delivered to our doorstep is remarkable.
But have you ever ordered a pair of pants online and, despite reading reviews to ensure you’re ordering the correct size and fit, they don’t fit? It’s a bummer and you might loose some money in the return, but it isn’t a life-changing mistake.
What about one of those mattresses in a box? Spending time at a mattress store trying out different beds with a sales associate hovers is the worst and takes so much time. Ordering a bed online and having is delivered to your porch is gold, except when it doesn’t live up to all of your unfurled expectations. Now that’s undoubtably a bigger inconvenience to return and replace.
Okay, point made: direct-to-consumer is great when it works, but its a big gamble and can waste a lot of time and money to correct if it isn’t right.
Direct-to-consumer orthodontics is becoming more popular and more accessible by promising straighter teeth for less money and no doctor appointments. That statement is absolutely correct. You will probably come out of the experience with straighter teeth than you started with, and it’ll cost you less time and money. However, straighter teeth and straight teeth are not the same thing. There is a level on intricacy that simply can only be achieved under the supervision of an orthodontist. Additionally, straight teeth is only one component of orthodontics. Orthodontics is about achieving a straight smile, while laying the foundation for whole body health. Your bite relationship should be monitored and corrected as part of your orthodontic treatment. If it isn’t, this can lead to:
frequent headaches or migraines,
jaw, teeth, neck pain
sleep apnea or other breathing conditions
facial asymmetry
and more
As these direct-to-consumer products have become more accessible, we have seen an increase of patients coming to our office after failed attempts at at-home orthodontics; wasting them time and money.