Over the past few decades, children, teens, and adults have turned to Invisalign to achieve healthy teeth and attractive smiles. Often, patients visit our office and ask if they can only get Invisalign on their top teeth. These patients believe that their bottom teeth are straight or they aren’t very visible so they don’t need Invisalign on them.
Using Invisalign on just the top or just the bottom teeth is referred to as single arch treatment. Single arch treatment can be an option in very rare cases. Typically, we do not recommend single arch treatment and encourage patients to wear Invisalign aligners on their top and bottom teeth.
The main reason why we do not support single arch treatment is because it can disrupt your bite and leave your mouth in worse condition that it was in before Invisalign. If you have an underbite and only straighten the bottom teeth, your teeth may look better but your bite will be thrown off.
Since our bites become deeper over time, there may not be enough room between the front of your bottom teeth and back of your top teeth to make single arch treatment a viable treatment. Obtaining a healthy bite involves shifting both the top and bottom arches. Therefore, for optimal Invisalign results, Invisalign on both the top and bottom teeth is almost always recommended.
Contact Costa Family & Cosmetic Dentistry
If you are wondering whether single arch treatment would work in your particular case, don’t hesitate to call us at 703-439-1214 today.