Invisible Aligners Done Remotely: Is This A New Trend To Stay?

There is a significant shift in the way that customers are accessing orthodontic products and services, with many consumers purchasing products such as invisible aligners directly through online, ‘at-home’ providers. The shift away from the more traditional ‘in-office’ model to the innovative ‘at-home’ model offers several potential advantages to consumers, and for this reason the trend is likely to gain momentum.

In this article, we will: i) briefly review what remote orthodontics is, and why this new model can benefit consumers; ii) and provide some introductory guidance on how to choose invisible aligners without having to physically go to a dentist or oral hygienist’s office.

The trend towards remote orthodontics

Remote orthodontics, also referred to as ‘tele-orthodontics’, broadly includes the provision of orthodontic assessment, guidance, or treatment via remote means of communication, typically through online video calls, emails, and photographs.

This ‘direct-to-consumer’ model offers several potential advantages to consumers, making this option increasingly popular among consumers seeking efficient and cost-effective access to orthodontic services and products.

Some of the most important consumer benefits of remote orthodontics include:

• improved monitoring of patients during treatment,
• improved treatment outcomes,
• reduced need for physical appointments,
• increased convenience,
• better communication.

The remote model enables dentists and oral hygienists to monitor their patient’s progress more consistently, and in real-time. This kind of remote orthodontic monitoring allows for timeous and effective assessment and intervention, and thus reduces the need for in-office appointments while increasing the probability of successful treatment outcomes.

The efficient, accessible, and user-friendly nature of remote orthodontics also gives consumers the advantage of greater convenience, as well as more effective communication when interacting with dentists and oral hygiene professionals.

For these reasons, a growing number of consumers are turning to remote, at-home orthodontic care, in order to obtain more cost-effective and efficient orthodontic services and products, such as braces and aligners.

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Invisible aligners done remotely

Invisible aligners provide a clear example of the kinds of orthodontic products and services that consumers are accessing remotely. These devices are a clear, removable, tailored brace mainly worn by teenagers and young adults to improve overbites, as well as crowded and misaligned teeth.

The fact that invisible aligners can be inserted and removed by consumers on their own makes these products highly amenable to the remote orthodontics model. While consumers must sustain a high degree of diligence and discipline in removing, reinserting, and cleaning the aligners, remote monitoring enables orthodontic professionals to assist them during the 18 to 24 months that aligners are typically worn for.

Like most orthodontic products and services, invisible aligners are a costly investment, so it is crucial for consumers to be sufficiently informed before making purchasing decisions. Given the growth in remote orthodontics, consumers can be intimidated by the number of companies and the variety of products and services to be found in the at-home orthodontic market. Responding to this practical consumer challenge, companies like Smile Prep have emerged to help consumers to choose invisible aligners that meet their cosmetic dentistry needs efficiently and cost-effectively.

Guidance on purchasing invisible aligners from home

Smile Prep is an online company that offers guidance to mainly young adult consumers on the subject of remote orthodontics.

The company produces practical guidelines on remote cosmetic dentistry, how this new model differs from the more traditional in-office model, as well as creating guidelines on maximizing the potential benefits and minimizing the costs and the potential drawbacks associated with remote dentistry.

Smile Prep also provides detailed and comprehensive consumer reviews, enabling prospective consumers to gain an accurate and reliable view of the many different options on the market.

The consumer reviews in particular make Smile Prep a potentially invaluable tool for consumers in the remote orthodontic market and are crucial for empowering them to make well-informed decisions. Smile Prep is unique in its focus on providing consumers with the most objective, accurate, and reliable reviews possible. Some of the main differences between Smile Prep and its competitors are that:

• Smile Prep’s customer review system is highly transparent in the way that reviews are collected and verified,
• Smile Prep’s customer reviews cover the full treatment process until its conclusion, rather than being limited to the initial phase as is the case with many customer review sites.

The company has developed a sophisticated and transparent system for the collection and verification of remote dentistry customer reviews. This system has two principal channels for collecting reviews.

1. i) The Honest Smiles Program is a particularly innovative and rigorous effort by Smile Prep to assist customers to accurately document their treatment from beginning to end, including the use of photographs and three videos.
2. ii) The Standard Customer Review is Smile Prep’s second channel for collecting and verifying unbiased customer reviews. This channel collates and checks reviews from customers who are at least three months into their remote orthodontic treatments, and requires that customers submit before and after photographs and proof of purchase.

Final Thought

Sites like Smile Prep provide a valuable starting point for anyone considering remote orthodontics and serve as helpful tools that consumers can use to empower themselves in their search for cost-effective, convenient orthodontic services and products.