AT WHAT AGE CAN I START WITH ALIGNERS?
AT WHAT AGE CAN I START WITH ALIGNERS?
DEFINITION From DIGITAL ORTHODONTICS - Solo Edition by Dr. Bak Nguyen
Usually, you want to start aligning your teeth once all the adult teeth have erupted. Usually, that's between 11 and 13 years old. There is no upper limit of age to align your teeth using digital orthodontics. Patients as young as 80 years old have successfully corrected their crowding and gained a new smile.
The reason why we are only starting to realign teeth once the adult teeth are present is that digital orthodontics is about moving teeth, not bones. When you hear that you have to catch a malocclusion at a young age, we are talking about bones alignment. That's orthopedic, the movement of bones. That is addressed from the age of 6 and above with orthopedic appliances, appliances influencing and guiding the growth of the bones of your face.
Once puberty is reached and most of the adult teeth are already in the mouth, it is now a matter of managing the space inside the mouth to fit in and align the smile, unless the case required jaw surgery, which is, once more, an orthopedic issue.
So, short answer, you can start aligning your teeth with aligners once your adult teeth are in. There is no such thing that you are too old to align your teeth using this technology, for as long as you are healthy and, of course, you have the see to do so.