Product Review: How to give your patients a beautiful, confident smile at any age

How Invisalign helped one patient finally get the smile he’s always wanted.

Kenneth McGillivary was in his late 50s and had nearly given up.

He had what dentists described to him as an extreme case of misaligned teeth, and every proposed solution he’s heard over the years required extraction, along with the promise of a root canal once the orthodontic treatment was complete.

That all changed when his dentist referred him to Dr. Payam Ataii, who practices in Laguna Hills, Calif. Dr. Ataii has treated cases like McGillivary’s in the past, and was the first dentist who could give McGillivary a solution that didn’t involve extractions or root canals. That solution was Invisalign.

McGillivary recently completed about 18 months of treatment and is now in the retention phase. After years of struggling to correct his smile, he couldn’t be happier with the results he’s seeing.

“I’m ecstatic. My wife is happy. I’m happy. It’s nice to be able to take a photo and see your teeth in near perfect alignment. It’s nice to bite into an apple and see a nice pattern,” he said. “It’s very pleasing at this stage in my life to see an improvement in my body rather than the other way around. It’s very gratifying.”

And getting to that new smile, that new confidence he feels today was fairly easy.  He wore the Invisalign aligners every day, and was able to clean his teeth without working around the wires that come with braces. The aligners are nearly invisible, so he felt comfortable wearing them throughout the treatment, and he loved seeing the results with each new tray.

Even after many disappointments over the years, McGillivary was confident about the results he’d get with Invisalign from the beginning. Not only did he trust Dr. Ataii’s skill and his attention to his case, but he saw for himself what to expect after each tray was finished.

“It’s an easy-to-use, very reliable product. You can see step-by-step exactly what’s happening with computer simulation,” he said. “I’ve never seen that in any other orthodontia product.”

He also saw the results when he looked in the mirror. After only a few months he began noticing differences in his smile, and knew he’d finally found the product that would give him the smile he’s always wanted. 

Finding the right doctor was key to making this happen for McGillivary. He’s seen many clinicians over the years, even one who suggested surgically removing his teeth and replacing them as part of an experimental procedure. That was 30 years ago, but after many other disappointments, he finally found a dentist who knew what to do. Even though he had an extreme case, it wasn’t hopeless, and the day he found Dr. Ataii, a day he describes as a great day, is one he’ll not soon forget. 

“When you’ve had a situation like this and you’ve tried many, many solutions and dealt with many, many practitioners and are always disappointed with their proposals, it was really, really pleasant to finally find a solution,” he said. “Who goes looking for solutions to problems they’ve had at age 55 and higher? It’s very rare to find a positive solution in that situation. I couldn’t be more pleased.”

Check out this video featuring Dr. Ataii and learn how Align Technology's iTero can help with Invisalign cases:

How to give your patients a beautiful, confident smile at any age

How Invisalign helped one patient finally get the smile he’s always wanted. Written by: Renee Knight Invisalign Date published: 06/13/2013 5 / 5 stars