What are ATTACHMENTS?

Hi! Today I thought I would talk about these little things called, "Attachments." Maybe not the most exciting blog topic of the year but it is a question that potential Invisalign patients have on their mind! So what are Attachments? And why do we have to use them? Basically, there are 3 main components of the Invisalign system:

1) the aligners (the clear trays)
2) IPR (Interproximal reduction, or "polishing" in between the teeth to make space)
3) ATTACHMENTS

Attachments are small "tooth-colored fillings" that are placed on the outer surface of certain teeth. My patients like to call them, "knobs", "blobs", "thingys", or "thingamajigs." They are made of the same material that we use for tooth-colored composites. The purpose of attachments are many. Sometimes the aligner alone cannot effectively move a particular tooth in the way we want. Attachments may be used for:

1) rotating teeth
2) pulling a tooth down
3) pushing a tooth up or sideways
4) helping to keep the aligner in place
5) pushing teeth back

As you can see the role of attachments can be really important! So although it would be great to just wear the aligners and get straight teeth, in many cases at least a couple of attachments are necessary. Coupled with the aligner, the attachment helps to create forces to push/pull/rotate a tooth. These little knobs are more helpful than they look! And they are still wayyy better than wearing a mouth full of brackets!

Attachments usually stay on for the duration of the Invisalign treatment. They vary in shape and size. Most of my patients say that after a short while they get used to them and don't really notice them at all. Also, once you place the aligner over the teeth, it is even less visible.

One similarity with brackets that I have noticed: you have to really brush well around the attachments during your treatment. Just like brackets, the attachments can be receptacles for plaque and all that icky stuff. If it doesn't come off, then eventually you may see those little white spots or decalcified areas that can become permanent after the brackets or attachments are removed. But that is what is so great with Invisalign. You can remove the aligners so it is so much easier to clean around the attachments! No wire to try to get under and wrestle using that darned floss threader!

I just read through this post and actually counted 6 exclamation points. I never thought I could get that excited over attachments!

I must be a true Invisalign geek.

Your invisalign gal :)