The most honest page about clear aligners you will read today
Searching for Invisalign in Fourways or Sandton? Read this first. We treat with Spark, one of the leading clear aligner systems worldwide, and everything on this page applies to any reputable aligner brand.
But the brand is the least important decision you will make. Here is the one that matters.
An aligner is a tool, not a treatment
Dr Essop puts it like this: clear aligners are a tool, exactly as brackets and wires are a tool. The tool does not plan your case, respect your biology or know when things are drifting off course. Something has to drive the tool.
That something should be a specialist orthodontist. Before any aligner is made, your case here gets what every orthodontic case gets: a full clinical and radiographic examination, records including an intraoral scan and two x-rays, and a treatment plan that Dr Essop builds himself, including his own tracing of your x-rays.
When the aligner company sends back its proposed digital plan, he does not simply approve it. He checks its tooth movements against his own treatment goals, against what he knows braces could achieve for you, and against what aligners genuinely can and cannot do. Only when the plan passes that test does your treatment start.
Moving teeth around on a screen is easy. A technician behind a desk knows nothing about your biology or your anatomical limits.
Making the plan work in a living mouth is the entire job.
When aligners are a great choice, and when they are not
The honest version, which you will struggle to find on most aligner pages.
If a provider’s answer to every mouth is aligners, that is not confidence, it is a limited menu. Ours has everything on it, which is why you can trust the recommendation.
A word on mail order aligners
Aligners by post, planned from a home impression kit, with no specialist examining you, no x-rays, and no one supervising the movement of your teeth through living bone: we would ask you to think carefully. Teeth are not furniture to be rearranged from a screenshot.
If cost is the attraction, look at our published fees and payment plans first. The gap is smaller than the adverts imply, and the difference buys you an actual doctor.
Our fees and payment plansWhat aligner treatment costs here
Interest-free payment plans are available, depending on the case. Full detail, including how medical aid fits in, lives on our fees page.
Fees and medical aid in fullStraight answers
Do you offer Invisalign?
We treat with Spark, a leading clear aligner system used by orthodontists worldwide. The planning, supervision and honest case selection described on this page matter far more than the brand name on the box, and they are identical regardless of system.
Are clear aligners as good as braces?
For the right case, yes. For complex cases, extractions and certain movements, fixed braces remain the better tool. A specialist assessment tells you which side of that line your case sits on.
How much do clear aligners cost in South Africa?
At our practice, from R35 000 for a minor case up to R75 000 to R80 000 for comprehensive treatment, with interest-free payment plans of 30% down and the balance over 12 to 20 months.
Why do aligners need a specialist if the company designs the plan?
Because the company proposes movements on a screen; it does not examine you, x-ray you or take responsibility for your biology. Dr Essop checks every proposed plan against his own diagnosis and goals before treatment begins, and adjusts course throughout.
Find out if aligners suit your case
From someone with no reason to flatter you. If aligners are right for you, Dr Essop will plan them properly. If they are not, he will tell you that too, and you will have saved yourself an expensive experiment.