At Markham Orthodontics, we consider providing our patients with the straight, gorgeous smiles of their dreams our number one priority.

We offer several types of orthodontic treatment to achieve this goal. Our most popular treatment by far is Invisalign®. This program provides patients with a system of clear acrylic aligners worn in succession to gently move their teeth into alignment.

The popularity of the system stems from the lack of metal brackets and wires, allowing adults to undergo orthodontic treatment while maintaining their professional appearance.

To find out more about Invisalign®, and how you can benefit from the program, contact our Sacramento dental office today and schedule a consultation with Dr. David Markham.

About the Invisalign® Program

Invisalign® provides patients with a revolution in orthodontic treatment, replacing the metal brackets and wires of traditional braces with clear acrylic aligners that gently move teeth into place.

With Invisalign® patients no longer need to visit their orthodontist once a month to have wires tightened.

While traditional braces place restrictions on the foods patients can eat, disallowing favorites like caramel, popcorn, and even apples for fear of pulling a wire or bracket loose, Invisalign® patients can remove their aligners, allowing them to eat whatever they want, whenever they want.

Removable aligners also make cleaning teeth much easier. Invisalign® requires no bands and patients need not worry about wires pulling loose and cutting up the inside of their mouth.

The average Invisalign® treatment lasts just 12 to 18 months, as opposed to the two-year duration necessary for most patients wearing traditional braces. For most of our patients, however, the virtual invisibility of the Invisalign® aligners is the biggest advantage of the treatment.

Now, our adult patients can discreetly undergo orthodontic treatment, and nobody has to know about it except the orthodontist.

Who Benefits Most from Invisalign®?

The advent of Invisalign® treatment means that adults can now undergo orthodontic treatment without adversely affecting their professional appearance.

Dr. Markham offers Invisalign® to many of our adult patients, including some who wore traditional braces as teens and have since seen their teeth fall back out of alignment. Invisalign® aligners help fix several orthodontic maladies, such as overbites, underbites, and crooked or rotated teeth.

The program works wonders for patients with spaces between their teeth, even if other teeth have shifted and moved into those spaces. Adults suffering from malocclusion have found that Invisalign® aligners help line their jaws up correctly, providing a beautiful, healthy smile.

While Invisalign® products work wonders for adult patients, however, they can also dramatically reshape your teenager’s smile.

In fact, the company has developed a treatment program specifically for teenagers, called Invisalign® Teen. The program offers all of the same benefits as the adult plan, with a few unique additions aimed at helping teens stay on track with their treatment plans.

The aligners in the Invisalign® Teen program have a blue dot at one end that fades as your teen wears the aligner. If the blue dot remains when the child finishes with an aligner, parents will know that their teen has not stayed compliant with his plan.

The makers of Invisalign® Teen also realize that teenagers have busy lives and tend to forget things, so they include six bonus aligners with the program for free.

So if Heather accidentally throws her aligner away in the cafeteria at lunch, or Jeff loses his at wrestling practice, you can call our office, and we will order a replacement at no charge.

Getting Started with Invisalign

To begin the Invisalign® process, you will have a one-on-one consultation with Dr. Markham. The doctor will review your medical and dental history, and perform a complete oral examination, making sure no other procedures need completing before treatment begins. The doctor will then schedule you for a second appointment, which is when the excitement really begins.

At the second appointment, we will take 3D digital images of your mouth, which the doctor will feed into the Invisalign® proprietary software.

The software will scan the images and produce a treatment plan customized for your mouth. The treatment plan will include the number of aligners you will wear and the length of your treatment.

Patients usually wear 20-30 sets of aligners over a period of 12-18 months. The doctor will forward your treatment plan to an Invisalign® laboratory, where certified technicians will fabricate all of your retainers.

When your aligners arrive in our office, typically in two weeks, we will have you return for one more appointment. Here you will receive your first few sets of aligners, along with instructions for their use and care.

You will wear each set of aligners for two weeks, keeping them in place for 20-22 hours a day to maintain compliance with your treatment plan. You can remove your aligners for eating and cleaning your teeth, but they should remain in place at all other times.

Once you have received your first aligners, you will only return to the office every six weeks for a quick checkup and your next few sets of aligners.

When you have successfully completed your treatment, Dr. Markham will provide you with a retainer to keep your teeth in place.

Contact Us for a Consultation

To learn more about Invisalign® products and how they will benefit you, call our Sacramento orthodontic office today and schedule a consultation with Dr. Markham.