Orthodontic clear aligner treatment

Orthodontic treatment with clear aligners is a quickly growing sector of orthodontic treatment. Both the increase in awareness of esthetics and the increase in orthodontic treatment demand from adults has fueled the demand for a more esthetic orthodontic treatment technique. The public demand for fast and esthetic treatment has been addressed by other dental sectors with approaches such as “instant orthodontics” in which crowns or veneers are used to mask malalignment or with products that claim to use “new techniques” to simply align anterior teeth without addressing other aspects of the occlusion that may need treatment to maintain a healthy dentition. Obviously, these types of approaches raise ethical concerns and the need to educate the public as to the shortfalls of these types of approaches. Fixed appliances have become smaller and more esthetically acceptable with the development of ceramic brackets, but they are still more noticeable than clear aligners. Dozens of companies worldwide now offer some type of clear aligner orthodontic product. While research has been done in the area of clear aligners, much of the early research was focused on trying to discredit the use of aligners as an option for orthodontic treatment except for minor crowding or spacing cases. Even so, there was some research that was done to further improve and progress the clear aligner technique. This is still a rapidly developing area and as a result, much of the literature consists of case reports.