Home > Services > Invisalign & Clear Aligners > Clear Aligners
Straightening your teeth should not mean putting your life on hold or hiding your smile behind metal brackets. We use clear, custom-fabricated aligners to gradually shift your teeth into their ideal positions with exceptional precision and comfort.
Clear aligner therapy straightens teeth discreetly using a series of removable transparent trays. Each set is worn for a week or two before progressing to the next. Because the aligners are clear and fully removable, most people will not notice them across a table, though the trays and their small attachments are visible up close. We help you with:
Both move teeth. They differ in what you have to change about your day while they do it.
Feature | Clear Aligners | Traditional Metal Braces |
|---|---|---|
Appearance | Clear plastic trays, far less noticeable than brackets but visible up close | Noticeable metal or ceramic brackets and wires |
Dietary Restrictions | None, because you remove the trays to eat | Requires avoiding hard, sticky, or chewy foods that can break brackets |
Oral Hygiene | Easy to maintain normal brushing and flossing routines | Requires specialized tools to clean around wires and brackets |
We capture a highly accurate 3D model of your teeth using an intraoral scanner, completely avoiding messy impression putty.
We map out the exact progression of your tooth movement and show you a digital preview of your future smile.
You wear your custom trays for 20 to 22 hours a day, removing them only to eat, drink, and clean your teeth.
Once your teeth have reached their planned positions, we provide custom retainers to lock in your new smile and keep your teeth from shifting back.
When Dr. Mohammad Hammoud plans a clear aligner case, he relies on fully digital workflows to ensure maximum precision. Moving teeth requires more than just pushing them into a straight line. We scan on our own intraoral scanner and plan the case here in Dearborn rather than mailing your records out, and we check how your upper and lower arches meet before we move anything, so the finished bite works as well as it looks.
Treatment time ranges from a few months for minor corrections to over a year for more complex cases. We will give you a precise timeline during your consultation based on your digital scans.
You will feel some tightness and pressure for the first day or two after switching to a new set of trays. This is completely normal and indicates that the aligners are actively working to move your teeth.
No. You should only drink plain water while wearing your trays. Hot drinks can warp the plastic, and dark liquids like coffee, tea, or soda will easily stain the clear material and increase your risk of cavities.
Call our office right away. Depending on where you are in your wear cycle, we will advise you to either move forward to the next tray or fall back to your previous one while we order a replacement.
If you are ready for a straighter, healthier smile without the hassle of metal braces, contact our Dearborn team to schedule your clear aligner consultation.
Reviewed by Dr. Mohammad Hammoud, DMD – 313 Dental, Dearborn, MI
