Clear Aligners in Encino, CA
Straightening your teeth no longer means committing to years of metal brackets and wires. With clear aligners at Finer Smiles Dental in Encino, Dr. Nairy Sekayan can guide your teeth into place using a series of smooth, virtually invisible trays that you can remove to eat, brush, and floss.
Most of our aligner patients are adults who assumed the window for orthodontics had closed for them, and teens who want their teeth straightened without changing how they look in photos for the next two years. Both are excellent candidates.
What Are Clear Aligners?
Clear aligners are custom-made plastic trays worn over your teeth. Each tray is shaped slightly differently from the last, and wearing them in sequence applies gentle, controlled pressure that moves your teeth a small amount at a time.
The treatment is planned digitally from the beginning. We take a scan of your teeth, map out the exact path each tooth needs to travel, and only then are your aligners manufactured. That means you can see a preview of your projected result before you ever start.
Unlike braces, aligners come out. You take them out to eat, so nothing is off the menu. You take them out to brush and floss normally, which makes it far easier to keep your gums healthy during treatment. And you take them out for the occasional presentation, wedding photo, or job interview.
Why We Use 3M Clarity Aligners
There are dozens of aligner systems on the market, and they are not equivalent. We chose Clarity Aligners because the system is designed and manufactured by a company with a long track record in dental materials, and because the trays hold their shape and their clarity well through the full wear period.
Just as importantly, Clarity is a doctor-directed system. Every stage of your treatment is planned and supervised by Dr. Sekayan in our Encino office. That is a meaningful difference from the mail-order aligner companies that ship trays to your door based on an impression you take yourself, with no dentist examining your teeth, your bite, or your gum health along the way.
We have seen what happens when tooth movement is planned without a clinical exam. Teeth get moved into an unstable bite, existing gum disease goes undiagnosed and accelerates, and patients end up needing more treatment than they started with. Aligners are a genuinely excellent tool, but they are still orthodontics, and orthodontics needs a dentist.
Clear Aligners for Adults
If you had braces as a teenager and your teeth have shifted back, or if you never had orthodontic treatment at all, you are in the majority of our aligner patients.
Adults often come to us for reasons that go beyond appearance. Crowded teeth are harder to clean and tend to accumulate plaque in the spots a toothbrush cannot reach, which raises your risk of decay and gum disease. Gaps can let food pack into the gum tissue. A bite that does not meet evenly can wear enamel down unevenly or contribute to jaw soreness.
Aligners address the alignment problem while being realistic about adult life. There is no visible hardware in meetings, no dietary restrictions, and no emergency appointments for a broken bracket.
Clear Aligners for Teens
Teenagers are strong aligner candidates, with one honest caveat: aligners only work when they are worn. A tray sitting in a backpack is not moving anything.
For a motivated teen, the tradeoff is usually worth it. They can keep playing wind instruments and contact sports, they can eat normally, and they can brush and floss properly, which matters a great deal during the years when oral hygiene habits tend to slip. And for many teens, the appearance factor is not vanity but genuine relief.
We are straightforward with families during the consultation about whether aligners or traditional braces are the better fit for a particular teenager. Sometimes the answer is braces, and we will say so.
Already Had Braces? Treating Relapse
One of the most common reasons adults call us about aligners is that they had braces years ago, stopped wearing their retainer, and watched their front teeth gradually crowd back together.
This is extremely common and nothing to be embarrassed about. Teeth shift throughout life whether or not you were ever treated. The good news is that relapse cases are often shorter and more straightforward than starting from scratch, because the teeth have been through the movement before.
If you are in this position, bring in your old records if you have them, and we will take a look at what it would take to get you back to where you were.
What to Expect
Consultation and exam. Dr. Sekayan examines your teeth, gums, and bite, and takes any x-rays needed. Aligners cannot be planned responsibly around active decay or untreated gum disease, so anything like that gets addressed first.
Digital scan and treatment plan. We take a digital scan rather than a tray of impression material. From that scan we build your treatment plan and review the projected outcome with you.
Your aligners arrive. We fit your first set, confirm they are seating properly, and show you how to insert and remove them. You will wear each set for the interval Dr. Sekayan specifies, roughly 20 to 22 hours a day, removing them only to eat and clean your teeth.
Progress visits. You will check in periodically so we can confirm your teeth are tracking to plan and hand off your next sets. These visits are short.
Refinement and retention. If a few teeth need extra attention at the end, we can order refinement trays. Once you are finished, you will get a retainer — and this time, please wear it.
Clear Aligners vs. Traditional Braces
| Clear Aligners | Traditional Braces | |
|---|---|---|
| Appearance | Nearly invisible | Visible brackets and wires |
| Removable | Yes | No |
| Food restrictions | None | Several |
| Cleaning your teeth | Normal brushing and flossing | Requires threaders and extra tools |
| Depends on patient compliance | Yes, significantly | No |
| Best suited for | Mild to moderate crowding, spacing, and relapse | Complex bite and rotation corrections |
Neither option is universally better. Braces remain the more predictable choice for certain complex movements, and we would rather tell you that upfront than start you on a treatment that will not get you where you want to go.
For a longer discussion of the tradeoffs, see our post on clear aligners vs. braces.
Are You a Candidate?
Clear aligners work well for crowding, spacing and gaps, mild to moderate bite issues, and post-braces relapse.
They are less suited to severe bite discrepancies, teeth requiring significant rotation, or cases needing jaw surgery. Active gum disease or untreated decay must be resolved before any tooth movement begins.
The only way to know for certain is an exam. If aligners are not right for your case, we will tell you what is.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do 3M Clarity Aligners compare to Invisalign?
Invisalign is a clear aligner system made by Align Technology, and it is the most widely recognized brand name in the category — which is why many people use the word to mean clear aligners in general. Clarity Aligners are 3M's system and work on the same underlying principle: a sequence of custom trays that move teeth incrementally under a dentist's supervision. Finer Smiles Dental provides Clarity Aligners. In our experience, the aligner brand matters far less to your result than the quality of the treatment planning and the dentist supervising it.
How long does treatment take?
It depends entirely on how far your teeth need to move. Minor relapse cases can finish in a few months. More involved cases take longer. Dr. Sekayan will give you a realistic estimate at your consultation rather than a marketing number.
How many hours a day do I need to wear them?
Around 20 to 22 hours — essentially all the time except when eating or cleaning your teeth. This is the single biggest factor in whether treatment finishes on schedule.
Do clear aligners hurt?
You will feel pressure and tenderness for a day or two after switching to a new set. Most patients describe it as noticeable but manageable, and it fades quickly. Switching to a new tray in the evening tends to help.
Can I eat and drink with them in?
Take them out to eat. Water is fine with aligners in. Coffee, tea, wine, and anything else with color will stain the trays, and sugary drinks trap sugar against your enamel.
Will I need a retainer afterward?
Yes, and this is not optional. Teeth have a strong tendency to drift back toward their original positions. A retainer is what protects the investment you just made.
How much do clear aligners cost?
Cost varies with the complexity of your case, so we quote it after your exam rather than guessing. We will give you a clear written treatment estimate before you commit to anything, we will help you understand what your dental insurance covers, and we offer financing options including CareCredit.
Do you treat teenagers?
Yes. We will give you and your teen an honest assessment of whether aligners or braces make more sense for their specific case and their likelihood of wearing the trays consistently.
Serving Encino and the Surrounding San Fernando Valley
Our office is at 5363 Balboa Blvd., Suite 440 in Encino, and we welcome patients from across the Valley — including Tarzana, Sherman Oaks, Reseda, Van Nuys, Lake Balboa, and Woodland Hills.
You can see examples of Dr. Sekayan's work in our smile gallery, or read more about our full range of cosmetic dentistry services.
To find out whether clear aligners are right for you, call Finer Smiles Dental at (818) 788-2155 to schedule a consultation with Dr. Nairy Sekayan.
