WHY DOES PATIENT NOT SEE ANY BIG IMPROVEMENTS AFTER AROUND 5 MONTHS OF ALIGNERS TREATMENT?
WHY DOES PATIENT NOT SEE ANY BIG IMPROVEMENTS AFTER AROUND 5 MONTHS OF ALIGNERS TREATMENT?
TIME From DIGITAL ORTHODONTICS - Solo Edition by Dr. Bak Nguyen
If a patient does not see significant improvement after 5 months of aligners, it is clearly because he or she is not wearing their aligners as they should. Even in severe cases, changing aligners every 2 weeks, after 5 months, you should be at aligner #10 or so. That is not done, but it is surely a world of difference between there and where you've started.
As proof, just remove aligner #10 or so, from your mouth. Hold it in your hand and compare it with aligner #1 that you wore when you started. It is not done, but the difference is noticeable. Hold one in your right hand and the other in your left hand.
It is impossible not to appreciate the progress, even non-believer will rally at this point! Now, you will still need to define and refine your expectations. If your treatment time was 24 months, it is normal that after 5 months, you still have a long way to go!
That said, most patients will be changing their aligners every week on average. After 5 months, that's should put you around aligner #20 or so. It is impossible for you to not see a difference!
Now, for those who are still at aligners #2 or 3 after 5 months, it is normal that you do not see much of a difference. But it was not a standard to keep your aligners for as long, especially at the beginning of treatment. Keep your hope up, regroup with your attending and you can redeploy from there, moving forward to a new set every 2 weeks, even, every week, if your case allows and the results are there!
As a rule of thumb, within 5 months, you are not done, but you should see much changes since the beginning. The problem might be an expectation problem more than a treatment problem.