Review: I Got Active Aligners to Straighten My Teeth & Here’s What You Need to Know

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A short while ago, we brought you the news about clear aligners blowing up on the South African dental scene. The easy method for adults who want straight teeth and to achieve the perfect bite, clear aligners mean that patients no longer have to settle for braces as their only solution for teeth realignment. Comfortable, removable, and nearly invisible, it’s easy to see why the market for clear aligners is progressively expanding in South Africa and abroad.

But, while big-name players in the game are charging the earth for the treatment, one company is making it easier than ever before for South Africans to access treatment with clear aligners. With a lab based in South Africa, Active Aligners offers South Africans seeking orthodontic treatment with clear aligners a more affordable, locally-made option that they can smile about.

If you’ve been tempted by clear aligners in the past but were unsure exactly what the treatment involved, the results you could expect, or how much it was going to cost you, then read on. I visited Active Aligners provider and go-to dentist to Capetonians in the know, Dr. Marc Sher, at Enamel Clinic to start my Active Aligners journey, and here’s how it went…

5-Star Treatment at Enamel Clinic

The holy grail of dentistry, Enamel Clinic, isn’t your average dentist’s office. The unique practice is home to dental experts specialising in dentistry care across the spectrum — from specialist hygienists to general dentists, aesthetic dentists, periodontists, and more. At Enamel, knowledge, skill and experience are the credentials that set the team apart from the rest. Not all dentistry is equal – when you visit Enamel, your dentistry will be bespoke!

Visiting this chic clinic in Green Point is a special experience every time. The reception at Enamel feels more like a spa reception than a dentist’s office and the man himself, Dr. Sher, matches the mood, with a calming presence that is a true tonic for tense patients like myself. With his positive outlook on treatment and his caring nature, it’s clear that Dr. Sher cares deeply about helping his patients improve their smiles and their dental health.

If you’re the type of person who dreads going to the dentist, then a visit to Dr. Sher and Enamel will definitely turn that around. With the calming atmosphere at the Enamel offices and Dr. Sher’s incredible attitude to treatment (and equally incredible results), it’s no surprise there’s a long waiting list to book a consultation. Dr. Marc Sher is a General Dentist and a partner at Enamel Clinic. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Dental Science – B.Ch.D (UWC 2007), has achieved accreditation for Myobrace, and is a Key Opinion Leader for Active Aligners South Africa. Book a consultation with Dr Sher at Enamel Clinic now!

Dr Sher Enamel Clinics — Dr Marc Sher, Enamel Clinic.

Why Active Aligners?

If you’re still unsure of whether you should go down the clear aligners route, then consider this: you only have one set of teeth, and people are living longer these days. What you do to your teeth and how you look after them have become more important than ever, so why not invest in your dental health while you’re still relatively young?

Clear aligners aren’t just for teenagers or young adults, people of all ages are opting for the treatment in their late 20s, 30s, and even 40s as a way to improve their smile and ensure their teeth are as healthy as possible as they age. While back in the day, aligning teeth was all about aesthetics, now Dr. Sher, and countless other dentists, are focusing on a new approach that recognises that aligning teeth is part of a much bigger treatment approach to help patients in the overall oral health.

In my opinion, clear aligners, like Active Aligners, are also a more ‘natural’ and gentle way to straighten teeth than other options currently available. I had treatment with veneers and crowns to straighten my top front teeth in my early 20s, which is quite an invasive treatment. But, if I had known about clear aligners back then, I would never have gone down that route. As for the old-school train track-style braces, while still the best solution for some more complex cases, they’re not exactly my idea of a good time.

Clear aligners involve wearing a 3D-printed retainer, made from thermoplastic material, to achieve your desired results. The nearly invisible aligner trays are customised to fit your teeth snuggly using advanced digital orthodontic software and hardware and can be worn throughout the day while going unnoticed by the people around you. While clear aligners are indeed revolutionary, the treatment works on basic orthodontic principles to slowly shift the position of your teeth over time, just like traditional metal braces. The aligners work to correct crooked teeth, gaps, or rotation in a planned fashion that is relatively pain-free.

Active Aligners are, in part, so advanced thanks to the sheer number of patients that have been treated using the product and technology over the years. This enables the software to use a finely tuned algorithm to treat varying cases effectively and often in a shorter amount of time than traditional braces.

Starting my Smile Club and Active Aligners journey

I started my Active Aligners journey with a quick consultation at Dr. Sher’s office where he examined my teeth to check if I was a candidate for the treatment. After I was given the go-ahead, it was time for my 3D scan. I was a bit concerned about this part of the consultation, but it was super easy and comfortable. If you’re having visions of gagging on traditional mould trays, forget that noise, for this scan I only needed to tolerate a small rubber nozzle being moved around the inside of my mouth. As the dentist slowly moves the 3D intra-oral scanner around the mouth, the tool captures a series of images in order to build a detailed 3D image of your jaw and teeth on screen.

Dr Sher Active Aligner scan — The intra-oral scanner device at Dr Sher’s practice.

Seeing this 3D digital mould of my teeth was probably the coolest part of the scan process. Dr. Sher showed me how the image could be manoeuvered to view the teeth and gums from different angles. Being able to see my mouth in full colour and in such great detail really helped me to better understand Dr. Sher’s explanation of his treatment recommendations going forward.

After my treatment, Dr. Sher sent me an email with my ‘Smile Summary’ — a full digital mock-up of my suggested treatment plan, which allowed me to see the projected progressions of my teeth at each stage of treatment as well as my final results. Being able to see these digital ‘before and after’ pictures was invaluable, and it really gave me confidence in the whole process.

I initially went to Dr. Sher to fix a crowding issue with my bottom front teeth, but the scan revealed that the best course of treatment would be to treat both my top and bottom jaw. Dr. Sher recommended I follow a treatment plan that required me to wear 20 Active Aligners on the lower jaw and 10 Active Aligners on the upper jaw. Each set of aligners was to be worn for 2 weeks at 22 hours per day, removing them only for eating and drinking.

D-Day: The Fitting Appointment

Once I had agreed to the treatment plan, Dr. Sher placed the order for my custom-fit aligners to be printed by Active Aligners and I visited his practice to have them fitted, and furthermore, the fitting process was also beyond easy and comfortable. Dr. Sher explained that he would need to complete IPR (inter-proximal reduction) at 4 contact points before bonding resin attachments onto 4 teeth at the fitting appointment.

IPR was needed in my case to ensure there was enough space between my teeth for the teeth to move easily and effectively into their new position. The Active Aligners software measures exactly where the filing needs to happen and how much, and to allow this to happen, the IPR process involves using thin, hand-held abrasive strips to gently remove a minuscule amount of enamel from between the teeth. I was a little nervous about the IPR, as I didn’t know what to expect, but the process was so quick and not at all uncomfortable. In the end, it was pretty much a non-event. The same went for the fitting of the attachment points.

The placement of the attachments is also determined by the Active Aligner software, and these tiny little bonded pieces allow pressure to be applied to the teeth so that they move in a controlled and precise way. I was worried these would make the aligners more noticeable, but due to their invisible colour and small size, they were barely visible.

Finally, Dr. Sher handed over my box of made-to-fit Active Aligners, which contained all the trays I would need for my treatment period. Each set of trays was individually packaged, sealed, and labeled in a clear bag, and sorted in numerical order. Dr. Sher opened my first set of trays with me and had me fit them in front of him to ensure they fit snuggly and that I was able to put them in and take them out comfortably — a test-run, if you will.

How Little Brushes Make a Big Difference

He also went through the different accessories included in the box. Along with my full set of aligners, the Active Aligners box also contained a protective aligner case (to keep your aligners safe when they’re not being worn), a set of chewies (used to help seat the Active Aligners against your teeth when putting them in), a set of aligner removal tools (to help remove your aligners while you’re initially getting used to them), and cheek retractors (used to take photos for your check-ins with your doctor). The box also included an emery board (to help smooth out any rough edges on the aligner trays if necessary), an instruction guide, and lip balm.

The Active Aligner journey thus far

After 4 weeks of wearing Active Aligners, I was amazed at just how well the process was going. I was quite nervous before the treatment started. Even though the fitment appointment was such a breeze I was second-guessing whether I would struggle with wearing the aligner trays for 22 hours a day. A 2-hour window for eating seemed like nothing, and I had visions of being miserable and always rushing through my meals.

Initially, I was pedantically timing my eating sessions to keep track of how long my aligners had been out for to ensure I didn’t go over the 2-hour mark. But after a few days of what can only be described as ridiculous behaviour, I realised that I didn’t even come close to needing 2 hours to eat 3 meals a day. Of course, there are the odd exceptions when you’re not eating your meals at home. I have found that I have to be a bit more strategic when eating out at restaurants or visiting the cinema (because what is a movie without popcorn?) but day-to-day, the process of wearing Active Aligners could not be easier.

I was also very concerned about pain (I am the biggest baby when it comes to discomfort). The first day of wearing my Active Aligners was the toughest for me pain-wise. I had a fair amount of discomfort that felt a little bit like a dull pain or pressure, but Dr. Sher recommended I take a pain killer, like Panado to ease discomfort and this worked perfectly. After 2 days, the discomfort subsided and I barely felt the aligner trays in my mouth. I wore my first set of trays for 2 weeks and switched to my next set. I also experienced a small amount of discomfort the first day of wearing my second set of trays, but it’s pretty common and nothing a painkiller couldn’t help resolve.

Keeping the aligner trays clean was another learning curve. I was initially very concerned about not eating or drinking with them in. I don’t ever drink hot drinks or eat with them in as this can damage the aligner trays, but I have, on occasion, allowed myself to drink clear, cold drinks with my trays in when I am socialising with friends. You should ideally take your aligners out when eating and drinking and rinse your mouth before putting your trays back in, but sometimes it’s OK to bend the rules a little until you are able to pop to the restroom to rinse.

3D scan Active Aligner — My 3D scan as shown on the Active Aligner Smile Summary platform.

I have also invested in a small denture cleaning basin to soak my trays in an aligner cleaning solution while I brush my teeth every morning and evening. This really helped to give me peace of mind that my trays were clean before popping them back in again, especially before bedtime.

How much does it cost?

Of course, we all know that any orthodontic treatment doesn’t come cheap. If you’ve looked into getting clear aligners, then chances are you fell off the dentist’s chair when they gave you the quote. Fortunately, for South Africans, there is hope for your bank account thanks to the locally-manufactured option from Active Aligners. While many clear aligner options available in South Africa are manufactured in an overseas lab, Active Aligners are made here in the good ole Republic.

With Active Aligners, each case is measured and priced individually. The cost of treatment depends on how extensive the case is and how many trays you will need to achieve the desired results. As a gauge, an extensive case with Active Aligners can cost between R35,000 – R40,000. Comparatively, the same treatment with competitor clear aligner brands can cost as much as R100,000 (these estimates were based on comparative consultation quotes from the same patient at two different dental practices). What’s more, Active Aligners also offers patients payment plans to help make their dream of a perfect smile easier to achieve. Click here for more details on finance and payment plans.