Clear Aligners
Clear aligners let you straighten your teeth without brackets, wires, or the look of traditional braces. They are clear plastic trays worn over your teeth, so treatment is far less noticeable than metal orthodontics. At Washington Square Dental, we use SureSmile® aligners, built from advanced 3D imaging so your treatment plan is mapped to the actual shape of your teeth rather than a generic template. That digital planning means we can show you where your teeth are headed before you commit to a single tray. Because the trays are removable, they also fit around your regular Beaverton routine instead of requiring you to change it. The result is a nearly invisible path to a straighter smile with fewer adjustments and less time in the chair.
Clear aligners are a series of custom, removable trays that gradually shift your teeth into position, no metal brackets or wires involved. At Washington Square Dental, we use the SureSmile system, which relies on precision digital scanning to map your teeth and produce a set of aligners built specifically for your bite. Each tray moves your teeth incrementally toward their final position, and once one set has done its job, you move on to the next in the series. You typically wear each tray for about one to two weeks before switching, so progress happens in small, predictable steps rather than one dramatic shift. You can remove them to eat, brush, and floss normally, which is not something traditional braces allow. That also means there is nothing to work around at mealtimes and nothing extra to navigate when you brush and floss each night. Most people who interact with you day to day in Tigard will not even notice you’re wearing them.
Treatment starts with a consultation at our Tigard office, where we look at your teeth, your bite, and what you want to change. We use 3D imaging to capture a detailed picture of your teeth and bite, then design a treatment plan around that scan. Before you wear your first tray, you’ll see a digital preview of your projected results, so you know exactly what to expect before treatment even begins. From there, we send off for your custom set of aligners, each one mapped to a specific stage of your movement plan. As you move through each set of aligners, we check in regularly to confirm your teeth are tracking the plan, and we adjust course if anything needs fine-tuning along the way. Most Tigard patients complete treatment in six to eighteen months, depending on how much correction their case needs. Once your teeth reach their final position, we’ll talk with you about a retainer to help hold those results in place.
Clear aligners work well for teens and adults in Tigard with mild to moderate alignment issues: crowded teeth, gaps, overbites, underbites, and crossbites. Because the trays are custom-made for each stage of treatment, they can handle a wider range of cases than people often assume. The main requirement on your end is consistency: aligners need twenty to twenty-two hours a day to stay on schedule, which means wearing them through most of your day and only removing them to eat and clean your teeth. Skipping days or leaving them out too long can slow your progress or throw off the fit of your next tray. Good oral hygiene matters too, since plaque and food particles trapped against your teeth for hours at a time can lead to problems the aligners themselves did not cause. Some more complex bite issues respond better to traditional braces or other orthodontic treatment, which is why an in-person evaluation with our Washington Square Dental team matters more than guessing from a mirror at home. At your consultation, we will evaluate your case and tell you plainly whether clear aligners are the right fit or whether another treatment would serve you better.
A beautifully aligned smile is closer than you think. Whether you’ve been putting off orthodontic treatment for years or are just starting to explore your options in Tigard, Washington Square Dental is here to guide you with care and expertise. Contact us today to schedule your clear aligner consultation and discover what’s possible for your smile.
