Columbus Invisalign Dentist talks about the differences between Invisalign and metal braces.

Orthodontics is the term used for straightening teeth to a more ideal position to look  and function better.  Invisalign uses a series of clear plastic trays to accomplish this movement, while traditional braces uses metal wires to achieve the movement.

Both Invisalign and metal braces can be used to straighten your teeth.  The majority of patients choose Invisalign over metal braces because they don’t want the “metal-mouth” look.

• Dr. Bill Thompson has be using Invisalign(sometimes referred to as clear braces) to straighten teeth since 2002.
• Invisalign may be used to straighten crooked or crowded teeth, closing unsightly gaps, correcting deep bite, correcting bites out of alignment, and even some TMJ issues.
• Dr. Thompson has used Invisalign for all kinds of cases (simple to extreme). 
• Patients love Invisalign.  No one can see that they are wearing braces, and the trays are comfortable and easy to use. 
• Visit our Invisalign page for tons more Invisalign information

Dr. Bill Thompson is one of the most experienced Invisalign dentists in Columbus, Ohio. (***see below) Want to know how going to an experienced Invisalign dentist benefits you?

*** There are currently only 2 Invisalign Premier Providers in Columbus.  Dr. Bill Thompson and a Dr. in Grove City.  In order to become a Premier Provider you must have at least 24 new Invisalign patients start treatment every 6 months.  The average Invisalign dentist in Columbus has less than 10 new Invisalign patients each year.  Our experience makes your experience, better.

Did you know that only 50% of adults are satisfied with the appearance of their Smile?  Cosmetic Dentistry can help people improve their smile boosting self image and making people more confident in everyday situations. 

In a survey conducted by the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, 74% of adult Americans who responded believed an unattractive smile could hurt a person’s chances for career success.

Cosmetic dentistry is the Art and Science of designing and creating a natural looking beautiful smile that fits your personality, facial features, and appearance goals.  It can be as simple or Extreme as you want it to be.   

The benefits of cosmetic dentistry go beyond just having a beautiful smile.  Typically when a person makes the investment to improve their smile they begin to take better care of their teeth.  They want to keep that great smile they worked so hard for, healthy and beautiful.

It’s also interesting to note that when a person decides to improve their smile, other great things happen in their life too.  Dr. T has had several patients that do Invisalign, or Veneers, or dental implants and 12 months later they are engaged, have stopped smoking or lost weight because they want to take better care of themselves, or have finally been motivated to get out of a unhealthy job situation and take the next step in their careers.

Maintaining an appealing smile is a major part of a person’s desire to stay fit, healthy and attractive.

What does Cosmetic Dentistry help fix?

• Yellow or discolored teeth
• Crooked or irregularly shaped teeth
• Spaces or gaps between teeth
• Boomers wanting a more youthful appearance
• A teenager left with a broken tooth after and accident
• Missing teeth
• People recovering from auto accidents or other head trauma

There are a variety of cosmetic dental procedures.

• Bleaching or Whitening – Whether you choose to do this at home or in a dentist office, bleaching is an effective method of whitening stained, discolored teeth
• Veneers  are about as thick as a contact lens custom made porcelain that is shaped, fitted, and adhered to the tooth.  Veneers can be used to fix gaps between teeth, and teeth that are crooked, chipped, discolored and worn teeth.  Veneers are sometimes referred to as “instant orthodontics”
• Invisalignis a clear, comfortable, removable way to straighten teeth using custom made plastic “aligners” .  Invisalign is the non-metal alternative to braces
• Bonding and tooth-colored fillings use a tooth colored resin that can be color matched to your adjacent teeth. 
• All Porcelain Crowns are strong a beautiful and fix teeth that are broken, cracked, or damaged
• Dental Implants are a natural looking and functioning way to replace 1 or many missing teeth

Experienced Columbus Ohio Invisalign Dentist

Align Technology just introduced an Invisalign proficiency program to insure that the dentists that say they “do Invisalign” have the proper and on going training to do it right.

That’s great news for patients but maybe not so great news for the dentists that only do a few Invisalign cases per year.  It’s also great news for us here at Grandview Dental Care, in Columbus, because we do a lot of Invisalign.  We have been doing over 50 cases per year since 2007 to the benefit of 100s of Invisalign patients in central Ohio.

So, what’s with the controversy of Invisalign not straightening teeth? Well, a lot of dentists when they first tried Invisalign, do 1 or 2 cases and the results were just OK, not excellent.  Ok is not good enough to the multitude of dentists that are perfectionists.  So they get disillusioned with Invisalign and it’s ability to straighten teeth without the use of metal brackets and wires.  They stop doing it and say Invisalign doesn’t work.

Experience with Invisalign and continuing education are the two key requirements for a dentist to make Invisalign work effectively.  Education in new Invisalign techniques and procedures as well as choosing the right patient which will actually have success with Invisalign.

Dr. Thompson actually met with a Columbus Orthodontist recently to review some Invisalign cases.  The Orthodontist was showing Dr. Thompson some Invisalign cases that had mediocre results and Dr. Thompson just said “None of my Invisalign cases have ever had those poor outcomes.  I’ve learned techniques and methods so that result doesn’t happen to my patients.”  The orthodontist then admitted that Dr. Thompson had much more experience with Invisalign and was almost embarrassed by that fact considering all an orthodontist does…. is straighten teeth.

What about the myth that Invisalign isn’t permanent? If any dentist or orthodontist ever tells you that metal braces permanently straighten teeth, see somebody else.  It just isn’t true.  “Retention for Life” is what the current best practice is.  You have to wear retainers after your teeth are straight for so many hours per day/week, no matter what method you used to straighten them.  The overwhelming majority of our Invisalign Express(short treatment) cases are from people that had traditional metal braces in their teen years, didn’t wear their retainers, and now their teeth are shifting again.

So, if you are thinking about straightening your teeth without metal braces, consider Invisalign.  Just make sure you go to an experienced Invisalign Dentist.  If you live in Columbus,Ohio – make an appointment with us for a Free Smile Consultation.

We’ve been posting to our Blog since August of 2008.  It’s a quick way for anyone on the staff to publish an update to our website.  For example, we’ve had to close our office because of bad weather in the past, a quick post to our blog and our patients with appointments would know we were closed. 

The best way to understand what a blog is, is to view some of the articles.  We invite you to choose some of the keywords or topics in the left hand margin to explore our blog.  You can also type in a search topic in the “search box” at the top right.

We want our patient community to be involved with our blog! 

We welcome your comments to our posts as well as suggestions for blog post ideas.  For example our Halloween Candy Alternatives or Helping your children brush posts are just waiting for patient input!  You can share your input to our Blog in 3 ways

• Login as a guest user (user name and password is “guest”, pretty tricky eh?
• Create your own Login
• Send us and email with the comment you would like to post 

We are always looking for good Blog content and Link Sharing

Do you have a Blog or know someone that has a blog on a related topic? 

Do you like to write articles on health, diet, fitness, interesting things about Columbus, or some other topic you think is relevant?  Send Becky an email or give her a call at 614-486-7378.  Perhaps you could be our next guest blogger.

If you are a small business or have a blog we would like to link share.  You link to our site, we’ll link to yours in a blog post or other relevant area of the website.  Contact Becky to discuss.

So what have we been up to this year?  Check out these Blog posts for staff pictures and other interesting blog posts.

• Pictures from our Community Tailgate on 10/4/2008
• A “formal” picture of the staff from our trip in February 2008
• Meet Baby Ava Capuano (ok she’s almost 6 months old now)
• How we help our patients be as comfortable as possible
• Dr. Thompson provides Invisalign Teen.  Is it right for your teen?
• The Staff celebrates Dr. T’s 30 years in dentistry

Invisalign Teen was designed to meet the specific needs of the non-adult comprehensive treatment market….. yes I got this material from an Invisalign Teen press release.

Dr. Thompson has treated teenage patients with traditonal Invisalign in the past as long as the teen

• had all their adult teeth
• had top teeth in front of their bottom teeth(in the dental world known as a class 1 occlusion)
• and understood and was responsible enough to wear the Invisalign aligners at all times.

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