Invisalign Causing Too Much Space

Dear Pati,

With Invisalign, you can sometimes get spaces that open up between the teeth.  This happens most often when we need to 'walk' the teeth past each other. Most often, the teeth are then brought back together and spaces closed.  Being only into your 2nd tray, I would not worry, what you are seeing is most likely transient and will correct itself as you go through the remaining aligners.

Hope that helps! 

This is very much likely a transitional position necessary to allow other movements in your Invisalign treatment plan.  This is sometimes referred to as "round tripping".  In order to put your mind at ease talk to your dentist who is treating you and he can check your clincheck to verify this is part of the original plan.  This is one of the wonders of a computer generated plan like Invisalign gives.  The data base and program allows the computer to figure out tooth movements in the most efficient way to allow a predictable and  excellent end result in the least amount of time.  These are the set up in your aligners.  Good luck!

There are several examples as to why you would see some space open with Invisalign aligners. For examplme, if  your doctor needs to remove some enamel from between teeth to eliminate crowding (as may be the case for you, it's hard to say without actually seeing your bite), they will ask Invisalign to "round trip" the teeth by moving them forward first to derotate the crowding, giving the doctors access to shave the correct area of the tooth so not the distort the proper anatomy. Once the shaving has been performed, the spaces will then be closed.

I wouldn't be too concerned about this at this point in time.  Ask your doctor about this and look at the clincheck if you want.  Even if you end up with spaces when treatment is done, they can be closed by adding a few extra trays to tighten up the spaces. 

Blaine McLauglin DDS

With all Invisalign cases there is something called a Clincheck, which is a 3D computerized representation of how the teeth are to move and rotate for every step.  Your teeth are most likely moving according to plan, especially this early in treatment.  It is very simple to check the Clincheck to verify that the movements are on track.