Smile Direct Club - Any Experience?
 

My teeth have always been a little jacked up, as a kid we didn't have much money and they never were fixed. I have an overbite and a few crooked teeth up front, enough that I've never been comfortable with a big toothy smile. More of a smirk which annoys my wife for pictures.:cool: I've never pursued braces because of the inconvenience factor, I hate dentists (crooks), and I'm cheap. But I'm intrigued by Smile Direct Club. For $1850 they take a 3D scan of your teeth, then send you a series of Invisalign style liners that you install over a set period of time. So basically what you get with Invisalign at the dentist but for about half the price. Has anyone used them, or know of someone who does?

My wife is about 1/2 way through with them.

We had to drive to West Palm for her to get 3d mapped then a few weeks later a box arrived.

I have jacked teeth too, we were too poor for braces when I was growing up, as an adult it bothers me sometimes, but, like you, not interested in spending 5K to fix it.

I did invisilign for $5000 and the whole time I was thinking I can take a mold of my teeth and send them to Costa Rica to calculate and fabricate a set of aligners. I don’t think it’s that hard so I say go for it.

I’m looking at this also for my 8 year old son. His front teeth are ozark terrible.

We are seeing an orthodontist but haven’t committed to anything yet.

Definitely not a dentist here but I do know that invisilign is not for everone, IOW some case are not good candidates for it. Some people need real braces.

Been doing some research and Denis is correct. The real problem with Smile Direct is that they apparently tell everyone that they can fix your teeth, sell you the liners, then don’t guarantee the results. The internet is also full of complaints about late delivery, partial delivery, incorrect liners part of the way through treatment, and less than favorable results. Sounds to me like they grew too fast and are more sales than results driven. So all told I may pass.

Couple of things. 1st; not all dentist are crooks. Mine isn’t. I moved from one city to another. I kept my dentist. I take the entire day off from work and drive back to my old town when I have my checkups and stuff. When he retires I will cry. I was up front with my new boss that I will need an “all day” dentist day occasionally.

I went with braces as an older human. I had one really bad tooth, and a weird overbite. Oh, and vampire canines. Did it suck? Yea. Painful adjustments. Inconvenient. I was the only patient at the time that drove myself to a visit. I was always surrounded by children in the office. The ortho found great pleasure in hanging some child themed bib around my neck. Haha.

Saved my teeth. Made them easier to clean and take care off.

My coworker is using some tooth mold thing. He said it really isn’t working. And his teeth were no that off to begin with.

it's definitely not going to do anything for your overbite. It might straighten out your teeth in front so they all are hanging way out there together.


IMO Smile Direct is kind of like you wanted to build a deck on your house, so you do some measurements and send the measurements and a picture of your house to someone on the internet. They send back a truck with some wood and deck screws on it, and a "mission accomplished" bumper sticker.

hahha..i'm your greatest fan!!

There is s lot more to dentistry and certainly orthodontics than to send in for a 'kit'.

Come on.

My dentist is not a crook. The last one was terrible and I'm paying for it now, but not a crook. In fact, less expensive. Back to the point—you get what you pay for.

I should have included in my post that my teeth were not extremely crooked since I had braces as a child but didn't wear the retainer. I would expect braces would be needed for anything more than just aligning them.

I had a great dentist but he retired. He was preceded by multiple crooks and has been followed by several. Sounds like my wife liked her new one today so we might have a winner. Sorry but when I decline “urgent” work because I don’t believe them, change dentists, and then the urgent work NEVER crops up again? Crooks. This has happened several times over the years. Sorry but the non-critical non-medical nature of most dentists seems to attract a certain type.

In my last City, I finally went to the dentist after an 8 year hiatus. It seemed like non stop work for a year. "Need to fix this, then that" and I was getting fed up thinking it was BS work but right when I thought anything else and I'm not coming back, they said things look good and the following 10 years were just routine check ups.

Guess it was my own fault for the hiatus, but at the time it sure felt like I was paying for a new Audi for the Doc😁

For anyone in the Los Angeles area, I have a fantastic dentist who charges 1/2 or less than equivalent dentists in west LA or BH. My buddy who is a cabinet builder found him somehow a few years back on some kind of barter forum(?) when said friend needed $10k worth of implants. He grew up on UES in Manhattan and both of us are used to a high level of quality in dentistry throughout life, if that means anything.

I have pretty minimal dental coverage that only covers crowns on front 8 teeth, so I’m paying cash for two crowns at the moment. One was elective to correct a cosmetic issue and the other is necessary, (broken molar). Price for both out-the-door is $750. :eek:

The exact same crowns, (porcelain over metal), from the same lab, would be over $1k each from a comparable dentist in my part of town. The only catch is that you have to drive to Pomona it I schedule my appointments for late morning and it is a fast drive on the 10 east. He works fast, (he has to at those prices), but he is an amazing dentist.

Here is his info:
https://www.google.com/search?q=david+choi+dds&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari#istate=lrl:iv&rlimm=1095980756523 3434256

That's a great deal—$750 for a crown. I just had 2 done at the tune of $1200 ea. However, I'm happy whereas the dentist before...well, let's just say I'm likely to have to redo that one. That's a ton of money now.

I forgot to mention, my wife had braces as a kid, her teeth were mostly straight, they did move though. The amount she needed them moved back is nothing major compared to my mouth.

I wouldn't consider them for my teeth, if I ever cross that bridge I will just go to a normal orthodontist.

Thanks very much for the referral Dennis! I think I'll give him a call tomorrow!

You should just see an orthodontist for Invisalign. Do it nice or do it twice.

This is from a periodontist (me) who fixes the ravages of this DIY crap when it goes south.

No, it was $750 for both. Porcelain over metal. One was a re-do of a lousy crown I got years ago from a lesser dentist for a lot more $$.

Obviously, this smoking price would mean exactly nothing if the quality of the work was sub-par. It is exactly what you paid top dollar for. Dr. Choi is a graduate of USC Dental and I would not be surprised if he graduated in the top of his class. He is a young guy, he explained that his father started his practice out there in Pomona a long time ago and because people are poor, his prices were low. The RE for the office was cheap as well. He just kept it going when he got out of school and works fast, (but not too fast), in a very busy office. I feel like this deal won't last forever. but there it is.

Now here is some valuable advice from an actual pro. My dad, who went through life w dentures due to some youthful stupidity, once gave me advice about fake teeth. We were watching TV and some celebrity or politician was on w the typical horrible, obvious fake teeth that were too white and large.

He said that if I ever need cosmetic dentistry, to only go to a periodontist. He told me of how when he was young and could not afford good dentistry, he had lousy dentures and that he never smiled in photos, his mouth was always closed. His dentures were so good and natural looking that no one could tell and I actually went for years at a time completely forgetting that he had them. Of course, everyone wants nice looking teeth but the key is that they are natural looking. The moment they look fake, they are horrible, IMO.