Technology & Patient Resources
What can Invisalign fix?
Clear aligners address more than most people expect — and they have genuine limitations. Here is an honest account of both.
What it treats well
Gaps Between Teeth
Gaps result from a discrepancy between tooth size and jaw size, often hereditary and worsened by missing teeth or tongue thrust. Aligners close them gradually and predictably, which improves appearance, reduces food impaction, and helps resolve the periodontal problems associated with oversized spaces. Most patients achieve closure within six to eighteen months.
Crowding & Overlapping
Crowding occurs when tooth size exceeds available jaw space, causing overlap that makes cleaning difficult and drives decay and gum disease. Aligning crowded teeth creates space and allows proper hygiene. This typically takes twelve to twenty-four months.
Bite Discrepancies
Overbite, underbite, and crossbite create asymmetrical chewing forces, leading to accelerated wear, jaw pain, and eventually tooth loss. Correcting the bite distributes force evenly. Treatment time varies with severity but usually runs twelve to twenty-four months.
General Misalignment
Rotated teeth, tilted teeth, and mixed spacing and crowding issues — treated with 3D treatment planning, with most patients seeing substantial improvement within twelve to eighteen months.
Where aligners are not the right answer
Severe skeletal discrepancies — where the jaws themselves are mismatched rather than the teeth — cannot be corrected by moving teeth alone, whatever appliance you use. Those cases need orthodontics combined with surgery.
Certain movements are also harder for aligners than for fixed braces: significant rotations of round teeth, large vertical movements, and closing extraction spaces. These can sometimes be managed with attachments and refinements, and sometimes braces are simply the better tool.
Dr. Julien Kim, our specialist orthodontist, will tell you which category your case falls into before you start rather than twelve months in.
The factor within your control
Aligners work when worn twenty to twenty-two hours a day. This is the single largest variable in whether treatment finishes on time and on plan.
Unlike braces, which work whether or not you are enthusiastic, aligners depend entirely on you putting them back in after every meal.
Have a question?
Book a consultation with Dr. Julien Kim to find out whether Invisalign suits your case. Call (905) 479-7777.