How long does an Invisalign treatment take?

Eight months and sixteen months do not contradict each other. They are the two ends of the same scale, and they describe different sets of teeth with different treatment plans. Anyone who promises you a shorter period up front does not yet know what needs to happen in your mouth.

The duration is not a rate that a provider picks. Nor is it a package you get to choose from. It follows from what needs to happen in your mouth. Two people who both say they have "slightly crooked teeth" can easily be six months apart.

Four things carry the most weight.

To begin with, the number of teeth that need to move. Straightening only your front teeth is something else than taking on your whole upper and lower jaw.

Then the distance, and above all the direction. This surprises most people. A tooth that sits rotated and has to turn back a quarter takes more steps than a tooth that shifts sideways a little. Rotating and tipping are simply slower than sliding.

Next, your bite. If only the position of your teeth changes, you are done sooner than when the way your jaws meet has to change as well.

And space. Teeth need room to move into. If that room is not there, it has to be created first, and those are extra steps.

What does not count, then, is how crooked it looks in the mirror. A set of teeth that looks messy can be a short trajectory. The other way round, teeth that look reasonable can take longer, because more has to happen below the surface. On the page about treatment with Invisalign you can read how such a plan is built up.

Your treatment plan is cut into small movements. Every movement gets its own aligner, and every aligner moves your teeth a small step. Together they form the route from the teeth you have today to the end result.

How many steps that takes says more about your duration than any average. More steps, more weeks.

How often you switch is something you agree with your practitioner. That differs per set of teeth and sometimes even per phase within your own treatment. So do not work it out yourself with a number you read somewhere.

There is one point where you have influence, and that is wearing time. Your teeth only move during the moments the aligner is actually around them. The norm is about 22 hours a day. If you structurally fall short of that, your teeth fall behind the plan and your end date simply shifts along with it.

Unfortunately it does not work the other way round. Switching early, pressing harder or wearing them extra long speeds up nothing. Teeth move through light, constant pressure over time, and you cannot make up that time by trying harder. What you can do is not give the days away.

That happens. Good to know beforehand, because teeth do not always stick to the schedule. If one of them lags behind the rest, extra aligners are needed to pull it back in line.

That is not a setback and certainly not a mistake. It is exactly why you are seen along the way. At every check-up we look at whether your teeth are still on plan, and if not, we adjust while the difference is still small.

If you notice in between that an aligner no longer fits properly or that something does not feel right, do not wait until your next appointment but contact the practice.

Not entirely. After the last aligner, retention begins. Your teeth need to settle into their new position and the tissue around them needs time to follow. That phase runs on for a longer period and is not a matter of a few weeks. The months above cover the period with aligners. What comes after does not count towards it.

So include that period when you think about "how long does it take". Not because it is hard, because in daily life you barely notice it. But because your treatment is only really finished when the result stays put. Short answers to questions like these can also be found in the frequently asked questions.

Only once someone has looked at your teeth. During the first appointment your teeth are scanned, so no biting into impression paste, and based on that scan a treatment plan is made. From that follows how many steps are needed, and with it how long it is going to take, roughly.

We can name a range beforehand, an end date we cannot. Anyone who promises you a precise number of months before the scan is guessing. An honest indication belongs to your teeth, not to somebody else's average.

Unsatisfying, if you want to know right now what you are getting into. But it is meant exactly the other way round. Better a realistic number that matches your plan than a nice number you have to adjust later.

Come and meet us, no strings attached. We look at your teeth, discuss what would have to move and you get an indication that belongs to your plan. Including the honest part, so what could make it longer. Get in touch and we will schedule an appointment.