Braces or aligners?
Braces
Aligners
billed under the same code
One allowance, once. Most dental plans pay toward braces once in a lifetime, up to a set amount. Whatever early treatment uses is no longer there for a later phase.
X-ray, scan, impressions
Visit 1 · records day
The orthodontist maps how the teeth sit and how the jaws meet. This is where crowding, gaps and bite are measured, and where you hear the plan and the full fee.
Brackets on, or tray one in
Visit 2 · getting started
An hour or two. Braces feel odd for a few days; the first aligner feels tight. Both mean it's working. Sometimes a tooth or two is taken out first to make room; that's its own small visit.
A short visit every 4 to 8 weeks
Months 1–18 · the rhythm
Wires tightened or the next trays handed over. Each visit is usually inside the fee you already agreed. The month-by-month drift is slow to feel and obvious in photos.
Braces off · last tray out
The good day
The brackets come off, or the last tray retires. Ten minutes, and a very good mirror moment. Same-day molds are taken for what comes next, because the teeth still remember where they were.
Retainers, honestly
After · for keeps
Nights in a retainer keep the result. This is the part marketing pages skip: treatment ends, retention doesn't. Replacements every few years are a normal, small cost.
that's the whole road: 12 to 24 months plus retainers
Ready when you are
Six quick steps. The first asks who it is for, then you tap the smiles that look like yours.
Your orthodontist gets the picture before you even call.
Braces & aligners
Braces & aligners
For a child's first check, a teen's full set, or the smile you put off for twenty years: one page, your local prices.
Pick one to see what patients paid.