Wanna know why I wanted to straighten my teeth? Well, it is because of social media. You see, my lower teeth were uneven, but it didn’t bother me too much. Because people could only see them when I talked, while I can’t see myself when I talk. But things changed when Instagram Live, IGTV and oh yes, endless Zoom calls started.

Suddenly, I was confronted by how “disorganised” my lower teeth looked. One time, someone even commented that perhaps I should get my teeth straightened. I know, I know. I should let what others think bothers me, but it did.

Anyway, I must say that I went into the whole thing not knowing what to expect. So hopefully, by sharing my experience here, it’s helpful for you if you’ve ever thought about teeth straightening with clear aligners! Feel free to drop me a comment here or DM me on Instagram if you have any additional Q’s – more than happy to help!

HOW CLEARSMILE CLEAR ALIGNER WORKS:

Clearsmile aligners are small, clear plastic aligners that are made to perfectly fit your teeth.

When you head in for your first appointment, your dentist will take a scan of your teeth, then send it into Clearsmile.

Once they get the scan, they then use their technology to create a series of “trays” or aligners that you will change every 1 or 2 weeks (depending on your treatment). Each tray gets you closer and closer to your perfect new smile!

Clearsmile sends you a 3D simulation of your treatment and shows how they will move in real-time each week so you can see the progress, which was pretty cool to watch.

The weird thing though, was that they were planning to move my top teeth more than my lower teeth, which I wasn’t too sure about. Thankfully, my dentist, Dr Justin at Pure NZ Dental agreed and assured me that we do not need to complete the entire program (to push down my top teeth) once my lower teeth are straightened.

That is why it is so important to do this with an experienced dentist that they not only look at achieving straight teeth, they can also evaluate how it would affect your bite, your jaw and how your smile and face would

HOW MY TREATMENT PROGRESSES:

Before treatment

Your dentist will add these teeth-coloured studs on your teeth, which would work like a grip for the aligners to move the teeth gradually. They take a while to get used to but it’s not painful or anything.

About 6 months in. With aligners on. It looked fairly straight with the aligner on.

How it really looked like when people look at me. I supposed it wasn’t that obvious. I’m also wearing the upper teeth aligners in this photo.

I was wearing my last aligner (in the first treatment set) here. My teeth was supposed to be straight by now, according to the treatment schedule. And it does look straight with the aligner on. But one of my teeth was still very visibly out of place. So Dr Justin re-scanned my teeth to get more sets of aligners done by Clearsmile.

My teeth after almost 2 years . After many months of delay (because of COVID) and after a couple of readjustments in the treatment plan, the stud-attachments on the teeth are finally off.

FREQUENTLY ASKED CLEAR ALIGNER QUESTIONS:

1. Do the aligners hurt?

Every time when you start a new aligner, there is a bit of discomfort because you are moving your teeth in directions that it’s not used to. In the first couple of months, my front lower teeth were very sensitive and could not bite, because when your teeth move, your nerves are affected too. However, after the initial getting-used-to period, the rest of the treatment was pretty easy-breezy.

2. How long do you wear your clear aligners for?

With Clearsmile, you want to aim to wear your aligners for 22 hours a day. That means you have 2 hours in the day to take them out and eat. I know upfront this sounds like a lot, but honestly, it’s totally do-able and becomes second nature. In the simplest terms, the more you wear your retainers (the longer the periods of time), the quicker your teeth will move into your new beautiful smile. For me, that was a huge incentive to keep my retainers in as often as possible.

If you have dinner plans with friends, you can easily just take out your aligners for dinner, then pop them back in when you’re done! I carried around a small case shown below in my bag that I used when I was going to eat. It’s really convenient.

3. How long does the treatment take?

Depending on the nature of your teeth, your Clearsmile treatment can last anywhere from a few months, to 2 years. My treatment was supposed to take 9 month (which felt like forever when I first heard it!). it ended up getting extended due to one tooth not moving the way Clearsmile predicted it to move. My treatment took about two years!

Also, after your treatment, you are required to wear a retainer for 22 hours/day for at least a month. Then, you could wear it only at night. This is because our teeth are moving all the time, and if you don’t wear your retainer, your teeth might go back to the position that it was used to.

4. Is there anything else I need to know?

To accommodate the movement and to make “space”, your dentist may need to extract your teeth or in my case, shave parts of your teeth off. So do speak to your dentist beforehand to see if this is necessary for your treatment. I think it might be quite a shock to find out that you need to lose a teeth half-way through the treatment!

5. Are there any cons?

The only downside for me has been that I clench and grind my teeth at night when I sleep more than I did before. I think it’s because I can feel the aligners because when I had a mouth guard, I found myself clenching more then, too. The only other con is having to take it out and put it every time I snack – which is pretty much throughout the day for me!

5. Where did you get yours done?

I went to Pure NZ Dental for my Clearsmile treatment and Dr Justin is my dentist. In fact, he’s my family’s dentist. My kids go to him too. He’s the nicest and he answered every single one of my questions with politeness and grace. I always feel completely comfortable there.

6. Would I recommend Clearsmile clear aligners to others?

There were some hiccups during the treatment, hence it being dragged to 2 years. But I like how my teeth looks now, so I would definitely recommend it to anybody. I’m no longer fixated on how my teeth look whenever I talk. And yes, it does give me my confidence back!

If this is something you’ve always wanted to do, I’d say just go for it! Schedule a consultation with your dentist now and and get all of the info you need.

My book is out. Get your copy here!