The Invisalign Story
As a kid I had braces to fix an overbite problem. The braces worked well for moving my jaw, but did little to close gaps on my top teeth or align my bottom teeth. Today my brother, a dentist in the Charlotte area, started a treatment to fix those problems with Invisalign.
Invisalign uses a series of clear retainers to push and twist teeth in the right direction. There are no braces, just clear retainers. The retainers must be worn 20-22 hours per day.
The series of retainers are custom-made for each patient and designed using CAD software, computer vision, and 3D visualization techniques. The software-based approach enables Invisalign to deliver very precise outcomes to patients.
Invisalign can be implemented by dentists and does not require orthodontic oversight. This makes for a much more affordable and competitive teeth alignment market. Since its founding in 1997, Invisalign has treated over 1.5 million patients and is now a publicly traded company.
Invisalign was founded by 2 Stanford MBA students who had no previous experience in the dental or orthodontic fields. One of the founders came up with the idea by realizing that the retainers they were using post braces were capable of moving teeth back into position. It is a great example of founders noticing something in their daily life and acting upon that idea.
From Wikipedia, it appears that at some point one of the two founders broke away from the original company and started a competitive company in Pakistan. There was a lawsuit and the splinter company has since stopped its operations.
The Invisalign story resonates with me due to the disruption it introduced to an established market through the use of software, computer vision, and 3D visualization technologies.
Have you used Invisalign? What do you think about it?
From the conversation
Comments preserved from the original post.
Kristel Kate
Great story, I’m glad invisalign came to my life and definitely, it change a lot on me. Compared to my wired braces, I prefer using it because its comfortable to used and I’m not enduring the pain anymore.