Should my Dentist Be Cutting off a Whole Piece of Aligner Covering a Tooth to Make It Fit?

Question

During my initial exam the dentist never looked inside my mouth-he only had me smile.He told me 2 get a cleaning b4 the trays arrived so I found a regular dentist.I learned that I had 2 cavities&a cracked tooth.He fixed these 4 me but when my trays arrived the top 1 didnt fit where the cracked tooth was.I told him&he looked at it&decided it would fit eventually.I tried the next tray but it put immense pressure on my back tooth.Now he wants 2 cut off the piece covering the tooth.Is this normal?

Scott LeSueur, DDS · Answer

The problem here is that the restored teeth no longer fit the aligner as the impressions were taken before the restorations were done.  The best treatment is to do a mid course correction due to tooth changes.  If your dentist has a good repore with Invisalign, he should be able to get this done for no cost.  This will require new impressions and new pictures but then the trays will fit correctly and there will be no guessing.  One must be exact to get the best results with Invisalign.  Make the change now rather then wait til later if trays don't fit now.   Best of Luck!

Christian Yaste, DDS · Answer

I am assuming you had "invisilign aligners or some other similar process involving clear trays to straighten your teeth.  Unfortunately if the arch changes from the time you had the initial impressions done because of new dental work, it is not uncommon for the tray not to fit properly.  Your first dentist is not likely to want to redo the entire case as there is a significant fee associated with all of the aligners and one builds on the next.  If the tooth was a back tooth and not that involved with the outcome of the case it might be ok to cut that one out, but as far as I know it is not recommended by invisilign.  I would ask your dentist if they think the case will still have the same outcome with that tooth not involved in the case.

J. Willis Baker, DDS · Answer

If you had multiple dental issues fixed after the impressions for the aligners were made then you are never going to get a good fit unless you make a correction impression during treatment. It is normal for pressure to be exerted on the teeth during ortho and it does not feel good. There is a difference if the tray is pushing on a restored tooth it was not made to fit over!

Should my Dentist Be Cutting off a Whole Piece of Aligner Covering a Tooth to Make It Fit?

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Should my Dentist Be Cutting off a Whole Piece of Aligner Covering a Tooth to Make It Fit?

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