Align introduces one-week aligner wear

Align Technology, Inc. has announced that one-week aligner wear is now recommended for all Invisalign Full, Teen and Assist products, instead of two-week aligner wear for each stage of Invisalign treatment.

Continued Invisalign product innovation including "G-Series" features, SmartTrack aligner material and clinically proven treatment predictability, allow the company to confidently recommend one-week wear. Only the Invisalign system combines SmartTrack material with SmartForce features and SmartStage technology to provide more predictable tooth movement than ever before. Align's recommendation is also based on clinical analysis¹ of more than 200 in-progress Invisalign cases, the experiences of numerous Invisalign providers, as well as the unanimous endorsement of its North American Clinical Advisory Board for the use of one-week aligner wear.

"Patients want shorter treatment times and doctors want more efficient treatment," said Raphael Pascaud, Align Technology CMO. "Significant improvements in Invisalign product predictability over the last few years, especially resulting from our proprietary SmartTrack aligner material and the positive experiences shared by Invisalign providers who prescribe one-week aligner wear give us confidence that most patients using Invisalign Teen or Full products will benefit from weekly aligner changes and shorter overall treatment times."

"The gold standard for any orthodontist is for treatment to be both effective and efficient," said Dr Robert Fry, an Elite Top 1% Invisalign provider in Kansas. "Over the years, Invisalign aligners have proven to be effective and predictable for almost every type of case. Now, the emphasis should be on making it more efficient for doctors and their patients. I believe weekly aligner changes can reduce treatment time and increase efficiency and profitability in the practice with no change in predictability of treatment outcomes, and many of my peers agree." Dr Fry is a member of Align's North American Clinical Advisory Board, an organisation of highly experienced practising orthodontists and educators who unanimously recommend weekly aligner changes for most patients.

"The improvements in the control of tooth movement, especially with SmartTrack material that provides gentle constant force, led me to change aligners weekly," said Dr Tarek El-Bialy, professor of orthodontics and bioengineering at University of Alberta, and an Elite Invisalign Provider practising in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. "I have been changing aligners weekly with a broad range of patients, and even in complex and challenging cases have achieved the same clinical outcomes as when changing aligners every two weeks. This has greatly benefited my patients."

One-Week Aligner Wear

At the treating doctor's discretion, Align Technology now recommends changing from two-week aligner wear to one-week aligner wear for Invisalign treatments with Invisalign Full, Invisalign Teen and Invisalign Assist products, thereby reducing treatment time by up to 50% (in comparison to two-week aligner changes based on progress data). Align's clinical analysis¹ of more than 200 Invisalign patients using weekly aligner changes with no changes to the default staging protocol found the same level of predictability as with two-week aligner wear. Monitoring of tooth movements such as rotations, extrusions and significant root movements is recommended and depending on the patient's physiologic response to treatment, doctors may want to consider longer aligner wear times. No new features or changes in treatment planning are necessary for doctors to prescribe one-week aligner wear.

1. Data on file at Align Technology.