Clear Aligners

What Are Clear Aligners?

Clear aligners move teeth without brackets or wires. A series of custom-made transparent trays is worn in sequence, each one shifting the teeth a fraction further, until they reach the planned position.

They are not noticeable at conversational distance and they are taken out to eat. The trade-off is that they only work while they are in the mouth — wearing them 20 to 22 hours a day is not a recommendation, it is the condition under which the treatment works at all.

Each tray is made for one stage of the plan, not adjusted by hand at an appointment. That is why the sequence and the wear time matter more here than in any other treatment we offer.

How Does Treatment Work?

1. Examination and records. Tooth and gum health are checked and the bite is assessed with X-rays. Decay or gum problems are treated first.
2. Digital impression. A 3D record of the teeth is taken with an intraoral scanner. Because no impression tray is used, it is markedly easier for patients with a gag reflex.
3. Digital planning. The path the teeth will take from their starting position to the target position is planned on screen. A simulation of the outcome is prepared at this stage and reviewed with you.
4. Manufacture. Once the plan is approved, the full series of aligners covering the whole treatment is produced.
5. Attachments. Small tooth-coloured composite bumps are bonded to certain teeth so the aligner can push that tooth in the right direction. They are removed at the end of treatment.
6. Wear and reviews. The aligners are changed in sequence; reviews are generally every 6–8 weeks.

The simulation is worth studying carefully. It shows what the plan is designed to achieve — and, just as usefully, where the limits of aligner treatment lie for your particular case.

How Many Hours a Day?

Twenty to twenty-two hours. In practice that means the aligners are out only for meals and for cleaning your teeth.

This is the single largest factor in whether treatment finishes on time and reaches the planned result. Teeth move because they are under continuous light pressure; take that pressure away for several hours a day and they drift back between wears, so each stage takes longer than planned and the series stops tracking.

If a tray becomes difficult to seat, that is usually the first sign that wear time has slipped. Tell us rather than forcing it or skipping ahead — going back a stage for a week costs less than restarting.

How Often Are Aligners Changed?

Typically every 7 to 14 days, according to the plan. Newer protocols often use shorter intervals with attachments doing more of the work.

Changing early does not speed treatment up; it means the previous movement had not completed, and the next tray then does not fit properly. Changing late is safer but stretches the timeline. Following the interval you were given is the whole discipline of the treatment.

How Long Does Treatment Take?

For mild crowding or spacing, six to nine months is common. Moderate cases usually run twelve to eighteen months. More complex cases take longer, and some are better treated with fixed braces.

The estimate is given after the digital plan, not at the first phone call — because the number of stages is what determines the duration, and that number comes out of the planning.

Attachments, elastics and any interproximal reduction planned as part of treatment all affect the timeline, and they are set out before you start rather than introduced along the way.

Clear Aligners and Travelling for Treatment

This is the one treatment on this site that does not fit a health-tourism visit, and we would rather say so plainly than sell it as one.

Aligner treatment runs for months and needs reviews every six to eight weeks: attachments are placed and adjusted, tracking is checked, and the plan is corrected if the teeth are not following it. That cannot be compressed into a week, and a series posted out without those reviews is not a treatment plan — it is a set of trays.

If you live abroad and are considering aligners, the honest options are: have the treatment where you live; or have the planning, scan and simulation done here and continue with a dentist at home who agrees in advance to take over the reviews. We are happy to provide the records and the plan for that.

What does fit a visit well is the aesthetic work that often follows alignment — veneers, bonding or whitening once the teeth are in position. Patients who align first need far less tooth removed afterwards.

Aligners or Braces?

Both move teeth. They differ in what they demand of you and in how much they can achieve.

Braces are not the old-fashioned option; they are the more capable one. Where the movement required is large, where teeth are severely rotated, or where a patient knows they will not keep to 22 hours a day, fixed braces give a better result more reliably.

Aligners are the better choice for mild to moderate crowding and spacing in an adult who will actually wear them. For the fixed option see braces.

Who Are Aligners Suitable For?

Most adults with mild to moderate crowding, spacing, mild rotations or relapse after previous orthodontic treatment. Adolescents whose permanent teeth have erupted can be treated too, where cooperation is realistic.

Treatment is postponed or a different approach chosen where there is:

• untreated decay, gum disease or a build-up of tartar;
• advanced skeletal bite problems — these may need orthodontic treatment combined with jaw surgery assessment;
• severely rotated teeth, or cases where an impacted tooth must be brought into the arch;
• a patient who will not wear the aligners consistently — a practical rather than a medical limit, and one that directly determines success;
• children still in the mixed dentition — growth-stage treatment is planned separately.

The last point deserves more honesty than it usually gets. Aligners ask more of the patient than braces do. If the routine does not suit your life, that is worth saying at the consultation rather than discovering at month four.

Are Aligners Harmful?

Correctly planned and supervised, no. Problems arise from the way treatment is delivered rather than from the trays themselves.

• Treatment without an examination. Moving teeth over untreated decay or active gum disease damages both.
• Mail-order aligners with no clinical supervision. No X-rays, no attachments, no one checking whether the teeth are tracking — and no one responsible when they are not.
• Planning beyond what aligners can do. A case that needed braces, treated with trays, ends with a bite that looks straighter and functions worse.
• Skipping retention. Teeth relapse; this is biology, not bad luck.
• Ignoring poor tracking. Continuing through the series when the teeth have stopped following the plan wastes months.

Gum recession and root resorption are risks in any orthodontic treatment, aligners included. They are minimised by planning within the biological limits and by monitoring, which is exactly what the review appointments are for.

Do Aligners Hurt?

There is pressure rather than pain, and it is most noticeable in the first two or three days after changing to a new tray. Most patients describe it as tightness that fades as the teeth move.

Changing to a new aligner in the evening means the strongest phase passes while you sleep. A simple painkiller on the first night is enough for most people.

Aligners have no brackets or wires, so they do not cause the ulcers and cheek irritation associated with fixed braces. A rough edge on a tray can be smoothed at a review; do not file it yourself.

How Are Aligners Cleaned?

• Rinse with lukewarm water each time you take them out — never hot water, which distorts the plastic.
• Brush them gently without toothpaste; toothpaste is abrasive and clouds the surface.
• Always store them in their case, not wrapped in a napkin — that is how most lost aligners are lost.
• Brush your teeth before putting them back in; anything left on the teeth is sealed against them for hours.
• Drink only water while wearing them. Coffee, tea and anything sugary either stain the trays or sit against the enamel.

Cloudy aligners are usually a cleaning problem rather than a manufacturing one, and they are worth mentioning at your review.

If an Aligner Breaks or Is Lost

Contact us rather than improvising. Depending on where you are in the series, we may ask you to go back to the previous tray, move on to the next one early, or have a replacement made.

Going without any aligner for several days is the worst option: the teeth begin to drift and the following trays stop fitting.

Keeping your previous tray rather than discarding it means you always have something to fall back on. It costs nothing and it has saved many treatments a lost week.

Retention After Treatment

Teeth do not simply stay where they were moved to. The fibres around them retain a memory of the old position for a long time, and without retention they drift back — sometimes within months.

Retention is either a thin wire bonded behind the front teeth, a clear retainer worn at night, or both. Which one suits your case is decided at the end of treatment.

Retainers are worn indefinitely, with the frequency reducing over time. Anyone who tells you retention is temporary is describing a relapse that has not happened yet.

How Much Does Aligner Treatment Cost?

There is no single figure. The cost is set by:

• The complexity of the case and the number of aligners. The longer the treatment, the more trays are produced — the single largest factor in the price.
• One arch or both. Which of the two a quoted price covers is the first question to ask.
• The system used. Material and planning costs differ between brands.
• Preparatory treatment. Scaling, decay treatment or gum treatment, where needed.
• Retention, which should be included in the discussion rather than added at the end.

A price quoted before a digital plan exists cannot know how many stages your case needs. We give the figure once the plan is made, and we tell you at the same time whether aligners are the right tool for your case at all.

Clear Aligner Treatment in Kuşadası

Beyaz Oral and Dental Health Clinic is a five-unit practice in the Cumhuriyet district of Kuşadası. The intraoral scanner used for aligner planning is on site, and treatment is planned on those records rather than on an impression posted to a laboratory.

The first examination and treatment plan are carried out by our founding dentist, Tuğçe Arslan. Where a case needs fixed braces, or where the reviews cannot realistically be attended, we say so before treatment begins.

To find out whether aligners suit your teeth, a short examination and a scan are the starting point. Use the form on this page, write to us on WhatsApp or call directly.

The information on this page is general in nature and does not replace an examination. A treatment plan suited to you is determined after clinical and radiographic assessment.