Five ways to eliminate refinements
It’s important to make sure your patients get the most out of their clear aligner treatment. Not only will this help them achieve the beautiful smiles they’re looking for, but it can also save time and money in your practice by eliminating or reducing refinements. By taking the right steps during clear aligner treatment, you can ensure that all prescribed movements are fully expressed in the mouth and that unwanted tooth movement is avoided. This means fewer appointments needed for table side adjustments and refinements.
1. As a general dentist, it’s important to understand the difficulty of your patients’ cases and predetermine how often you’ll need to see them in the beginning. Determining this can be tricky, but with a few tips and tricks you can ensure that your patient is getting the best care possible.
Here are some key points for evaluating case difficulty:
• Understand what proper tooth movement looks like
• Know when to switch trays accurately
• Show your patient what proper tooth movement looks like
• Tapering off visits once you’re confident in their understanding
By following these steps, you can make sure that each of your patients gets the personalized treatment they deserve.
- It is important to check your patient’s teeth for any friction or collision during their appointment. Friction and collision between the teeth are one of the main reasons why teeth don’t move as expected during orthodontic treatment (apart from noncompliance). To help reduce the need for refinements later on, make sure you have a lightning strip table side ready in case you find that there is some level of friction present. This will enable you to quickly and effectively make room for tooth movement if needed.
- Eliminate using a calendar for retainer tray switching.
Every person’s mouth is different, so your patient may necessarily be switching their retainers every 1-2 weeks, it could be up to a month depending on their lifestyle and how many hours a day they wear their trays. The plastic that retainers are made of are only prescribed to move an individual tooth so much in X amount of time, this can result in a compound effect of backlogged movement. Again, this is where education is important. The patient needs to have the knowledge to know when it’s okay to transition to the next set of trays, and when the trays need to be worn longer.
- As a general dentist, you know that clear aligner systems are an increasingly popular choice for orthodontic treatment. However, it’s important to ensure that the system you choose is able to last longer than one month. If not, it could lead to backlogged movement and stained trays due to regular wear and tear from daily activities such as drinking coffee or wine. To avoid this problem, have a conversation with your patient before starting treatment so you can understand how many hours per day they will be wearing their trays and how long each tray should stay in place. By taking these steps, you can make sure that your patients get the best results possible!
5. It is essential for General Dentists to educate their patients on how to eliminate refinements when using clear aligner systems. To ensure success and the desired outcome, it is important to stress to patients that they must wear the trays until they are passive. This means that the trays are no longer moving teeth, and it is safe to move onto the next set. Educating patients during their initial appointments is key to achieving optimal results and avoiding any refinements. Patients must be aware of what to look for in order to ensure success. With the proper education, Dentists can help their patients reach the prescribed outcome every time.
If you’re looking to add Clearly® to your practice, now is the time! This revolutionary technology can help you provide better care for patients and ensure that their treatments are as accurate as possible. Plus, it will save you valuable time in treatment planning and make sure every visit goes smoothly.
Don’t wait any longer – reach out to us today at and let’s get started on making your practice even more efficient. With Clearly® by your side, there’s no limit to what you can accomplish!