Invisalign cases that include mandibular advancement (MA) progress differently than standard Invisalign cases without MA, which means the flow of appointments and when you should stop treating with MA. These key differences stem from the process of MA, which pushes the mandible of a growing child forward to stimulate the mandible to grow.

In this article, we will discuss how to address Invisalign cases with mandibular advancement, including when you should refine or stop an Invisalign MA case.

What to Do at Every Invisalign with MA Appointment?

Invisalign cases with MA have two goals, which is why these cases are addressed differently than regular Invisalign cases. Not only are you trying to straighten the teeth, but you are attempting to grow a jaw. At each appointment in an MA case, you should check tracking and bite. To track this progress, we recommend that you take a set of photos with and without the aligners and mark the occlusion. For an MA case, you are looking for edge-to-edge occlusion.

Tracking an MA case is especially important to make sure that things are progressing nicely. Keep in mind that patients’ jaws grow at different rates, which is why it’s important to check tracking and bite at every appointment to ensure you know how things are progressing. You don’t want to skip this crucial step and miss the window for stopping MA. If the jaw has grown, you should measure the difference to avoid anterior interferences.

At this point, it is recommended that you stop the MA portion of the treatment and focus on refining. From there, you can mostly treat this case as a regular Invisalign patient. You may also consider overcorrecting slightly with MA, allowing for slight edge-to-edge as one to two millimeters of relapse is expected.