How to Upright a Stubborn Molar in Invisalign Cases

When it comes to creating an ideal Invisalign treatment plan, there’s a lot you may potentially need to consider. One such process you may need to try is straightening a molar to help make it more upright, and this can be a ltitle tricky if you’re new to orthodontics. Luckily, we’ve briefly outlined how to use ortho and clear aligners like Invisalign as follows to upright a stubborn molar.
How to Upright a Stubborn Molar in Invisalign Cases
If you’ve got an Invisalign case that requires molar uprighting, knowing how to approach this topic can be hugely important. These include the following points.
– Remove any 8s or wisdom teeth that are in the way before uprighting – trying to upright a molar with another tooth behind it likely won’t work well.
– Use attachments (buccal, lingual, and/or palatal) – the more handles you’ve got, the easier the case will often be. Without attachments, uprighting may not work.
– Don’t try Invisalign for a tooth with a crown – it’s often just not going to work unless you can cut the crown off.
– Check the crown to root ratio – if the roots are short, there’s a good chance the tooth may fall out during the clear aligner treatment plan. A minimum of a 1:1 ratio is important (ideally more). Get periodontist support with a prognosis in writing to help.
– Considering recontouring or spacer technique – if the neighboring tooth is too close and the height of contour doesn’t suit your case, you may want to consider recountouring or using the spacer technique as part of the treatment plan.
– Check occlusion – if needed, doing occlusal equilibration may be important to help prepare the tooth for an ortho clear aligner treatment plan.
– Make sure there’s full coverage of the tooth – if the tray doesn’t have full coverage, you may need to give Invisalign a call to address the issue and get a revision.
– Take a CBCT – make sure that everything’s looking healthy on a CBCT scan before you start.
Of course, always choose your patients carefully and put them on a virtual accountability loop to ensure they’re actually wearing their clear aligners as outlined in the treatment plan. As part of the Invisalign service, this is called “Invisalign Virtual Care,” and it’s free to use. Without this, they won’t see improvement.