What Are the Pros and Cons of Invisalign Aligners vs Braces?

Hello. I’m Dr Mike Anderson from Allstar Orthodontics here in Brisbane.

A good friend of mine Maddie from high school came in a few weeks ago to start her orthodontics treatment with us. She said to me… “Hey Mike, I hear about braces. I hear about Invisalign. Can you maybe just share with me what are the pros and cons for each of them?”

We get this question all the time. So I thought I’ll make this quick video, sharing with you what I shared with her.

First off, both clear aligners and braces are very effective for straightening teeth. And it’s great that we have a choice now.

Let’s start with braces.

The advantages of braces are that they’re always on your teeth, so they’re always working and you don’t have to remember to put them in.

The disadvantages are that you do have to be a bit careful when you’re eating, so try and avoid hard food, like nuts or hard lollies and those sorts of things. It does take a little bit more time to floss your teeth and to brush them effectively.

Moving onto Clear Aligners.

With clear aligners, you don’t need any changes to your diet and it is a little bit easier when you’re brushing and flossing because you just simply take them off. But on the other hand, you’ve got to be very diligent with wearing them and be disciplined to have that good compliance with wearing them, because they’ll only work and straighten your teeth when they’re actually on your teeth.

The other benefit with clear aligners is that because they’re clear, they’re more discreet. So appearance-wise, it can be even less obvious to see that someone’s got something on their teeth when they’re wearing clear aligners. Although tooth coloured braces are now available, so this is also a good option if you want the appearance of your braces to be discreet.

In summary, both braces and clear aligner systems are very effective in straightening your teeth. It really depends on personal preference and your lifestyle.

So I hope you’ve found this short video useful, and have provided some useful information around the different ways to straighten teeth.

If you or your child are looking for an orthodontist to help you realign your smile, and you are based in Brisbane, we would love to look after you.

Simply call us on 07 3666 0096 or send us a DM on Instagram and Facebook. And we’ll be in touch to help you organise an orthodontic consultation. See you in the next video.