When it comes to your smile, you shouldn’t have to settle. With hundreds of Invisalign dentists in Vancouver and the surrounding area, you have plenty of options to choose from. But how can you be sure that you’re not settling?
Who’s to say the best fit for you came up in your initial Google search? And how do you know you’ve accounted for everything?
With so many options to choose from, finding the Invisalign provider who is right for you can feel daunting. We get it. If you want the inside track on how to pick an Invisalign provider near you in Vancouver, we wrote this for you.
Keep reading, and you’ll get clear answers for finding the best fit for your smile straight from the pros. Get a step-by-step guide to each part of the process – from the initial search to narrowing down your list to what to ask during your consultation, we’ve got you covered.
We give away industry trade secrets that will get you ahead of the game and in pole position to own your A+ new smile.
(p.s. If you’re still trying to decide if metal braces or Invisalign is right for you and/or weighing the pros and cons between clear aligners and braces, check out our Braces vs. Invisalign post to weigh the differences yourself.)
The 2024 Guide to picking an Invisalign provider in Vancouver, BC:
- Identify your priority for Invisalign Treatment
- Find options, but don’t spend a lot of time digging
- Pay attention to their websites – they tell you a lot (We’ll show you how).
- Narrow it down to your shortlist.
- Look at their Google Reviews!
- Still have a big list? It’s time to filter down.
- Get your initial Invisalign consultation (And what questions to ask).
If you follow these steps and pay attention to the pro tips along the way, it will greatly increase your confidence going into treatment and also increase your likelihood of being fully satisfied with your choice (and your new smile!) when your treatment is complete.
1. Identify Your Priority for Invisalign Treatment
We’ve been practicing cosmetic dentistry for over 30 years, and a verified Invisalign dental office for the better part of the last 2 decades.
On the way, we’ve become the first and only practice – that we know of – in all of Vancouver that is exclusively dedicated to accelerated Invisalign treatment.
We’ve seen more than a few (thousand) sets of teeth during that time and learned firsthand the tricks for setting yourself up for success.
One of the very biggest things you can do before you even start Invisalign treatment. It might even be #1. Here it is: decide which factor matters to you most before you start your search for an Invisalign doctor.
There might not be anything more helpful you can do to feel the best about your teeth and final smile. Your priority could be any number of things.
Some common Invisalign Treatment priorities:
- The best smile possible
- Total cost of Invisalign treatment
- Length of treatment/How fast Invisalign treatment is
- The amount of discomfort
- Convenience of appointments and location
- How often are appointments/Number of appointments needed
- The amount of visibility/invisibility of treatment (we hear this especially from actresses and actors)
- How comfortable you feel with the doctor and your experience
All of these are completely reasonable priorities. With the best Invisalign dentists, you can achieve all of these objectives. But the priority that is #1 for you can make a world of difference in which doctor is the best fit.
If the amount of pain you feel is your #1 priority, you may be willing to sacrifice speed in order to feel less pain. So, an Invisalign dental clinic that takes more time but can promise less pain might be a great fit for you. At the same time, they could be a bad fit for your friend who wants to finish as fast as possible.
And if both speed and comfort are important to you, another trained doctor may be your best option for clear aligners.
Or, your top priority might be something more unique to your situation – such as TMJ pain relief.
You’ll help yourself a lot if you are clear on your top priority. A confident smile starts with getting clear about what matters to you on the way to your new smile.
Pro Tip: Invisalign aligners cost might surprise you
A lot of people start their search with Price as their top 1 or 2 factors. Sadly, many never learn that aligners fit budgets of many sizes. It can be far more affordable than you might think.
Don’t end up settling for inferior alternatives, more pain, longer treatments, and far riskier options (like DIY Invisalign or even traditional braces). Many times, the price for all this extra hardship is hardly different from what you could pay for aligners and a custom treatment plan.
Price matters, and for some, it is absolutely critical. But Invisalign and its advanced clear aligner system may be far more accessible to you than you imagine.
In Canada, the price difference between traditional braces and Invisalign is now very comparable. And we’ll work with you on payment options, too.
For example, we often work directly with insurance companies on your behalf to make sure you’re getting the very most orthodontic coverage possible. We also offer flexible payment plans and give you a free sneak peek of your new smile during your first visit.
We believe everyone deserves a great smile that lasts. Before you sacrifice on your smile in the name of price, read our post about Invisalign cost and reach out to us for a free consultation to see how Invisalign works for you. We’ll give you honest and direct answers to all your cost questions.
2. Your Initial Search: How to find great options
If you’re reading this, you’ve probably already started gathering a list of Vancouver Invisalign dentists. Our recommendation at this stage: search enough to find several promising options but don’t spend a lot of time digging.
Head over to Google or your favorite search engine and do a few simple searches to get a variety of results. This is one of many places where determining your #1 priority ahead of time can pay off. Start with some general searches, but also try a few searches that incorporate your top priority somehow.
Care most about speed? You might try invisalign fast or accelerated invisalign. Or maybe quality and ratings is your top priority, so search best invisalign vancouver (that’s going to trigger mostly results with reviews or rankings for you).
If price is #1, go with invisalign cost, what does invisalign cost, or even invisalign free consultation to narrow down to places who offer some kind of free consultation.
Usually, Invisalign dentists rank higher in searches for the factors they prioritize most highly in their practice. This isn’t a hard and fast rule, but it is a useful way to start building your list of options. You can whittle it down from there, and skip any sites that really don’t feel like a match for you.
Pro Tip: A trick to save you time
One way to save yourself a lot of time in your searching is to add vancouver to the end of your searches on Google. It will help push the results from the Vancouver area for Invisalign Dentists up in the rankings – and remove many results from other places in Canada or elsewhere.
For most people in this area, using Vancouver as your city is the best choice because you’ll get the largest amount of results. The sites that Google deems have the highest reputation are more likely to display on page 1 or 2 of your search results.
If location is the factor that you really, really care about, maybe for you searching by the name of your specific area makes sense – Kitsilano, East Vancouver, even Invisalign near Richmond.
If you care most about the quality of dentist, though, watch out. Isolating your search down this far may have the opposite effect of what you’re looking for.
You can always filter out options that are too far away in the next step, so it’s not too critical that you get it super narrowed in for your initial search.
3. Review the Dental Office Websites
Now that you’ve got your initial list of options, here are a few key things to look for on the website.
Now that you’ve got your initial list of options, here are a few key things to look for on the website of the Invisalign providers nearby that you find.
Pay attention to the messaging – The website is your first glimpse of what it might be like to be a patient at this practice. What kind of impression do you get? Do they talk about the things that matter to you? Does it make you feel more at ease or more uncertain?
Look for answers to your main questions – While a good website design or a bad website design can tell you something about the practice, it’s not the whole story. And while how the text makes you feel matters too, what the text is actually talking about matters a lot.
Invisalign specialists tell you what they care about by what they talk about on their website. If they value helping their patients finish treatment quickly, they’ll tell you. If they care about reducing the discomfort and hassle you experience, they’ll tell you. Pay attention to what they’re saying to you on the website (and what they aren’t saying). It can tell you a lot.
Look for reviews – It’s true, dentists are only going to typically put great reviews on their website. (We’re going to give you a secret for finding the bad reviews a little later.) But these reviews can still tell you something about what it’s actually like to be a patient here. They’re still useful. And if you can’t find any reviews, that’s meaningful, too.
Is the consultation free? – If it is, they’re going to tell you so somewhere on their website. Whether you want to use this as a criteria for ruling options out or not is totally up to you, but either way, it’s good to know before you show up for a consult. Also try to find out if the give you a sneak peek of your new smile for free, too.
Some orthodontic practices charge up to $500 for your initial consultation, physical impressions, and records.
4. Pick Your Shortlist
Now it’s time to narrow down your big list to one or a few options you actually want to move forward with. We call it picking your shortlist.
Here is a simple rule of thumb for who makes your initial shortlist: You should feel comfortable and optimistic about everyone on your shortlist. You may not have all your answers from every doctor still on your list, but you should be able to find 1-2 things that you really like that keep them on the list for you.
Our recommendation: if there’s one option that stands out to you after all your searching – trust that. If they clearly have the most of what you’re looking for, skip the next few steps and start by moving forward with just them. You can always come back to them if you need.
5. Look at Invisalign Clear Aligners Reviews
If you’re still here, do this next: go find the Google reviews for every expert still on your list. They should be easy to find by searching the name of each practice in Google.
Remember earlier when we told you there’s a trick for finding all the reviews – even the bad ones?
Well, here it is: orthodontic practices don’t get to pick who fills out a Google Review, and they can’t delete them if they don’t like what it says either. Doctors can certainly incentivize patients to go fill out a Google Review, but that’s about as far as their control goes.
Anyone who wants to leave a review can, and that can be very valuable to you as you try to narrow down your list.
It’s a good way to surface any red flags that may exist, and also give you perspective on what it’s actually like to be a patient at each place. It can be another factor you use to help create separation between your top options left on the table. It’s a simple step that can help you avoid any surprises.
6. Still Have a Big List? Time to Filter
By now, you might have just 1 Invisalign specialist left. Even if it is 2-3, depending on how you feel, maybe move forward with scheduling consults with each. If it’s more than a small handful, though, it’s time to get more selective. with your selection process. Here’s how to do it:
- Make a simple list or spreadsheet (or download our template) of the 5 or so factors that matter most to you. Remember your priority, and give this special focus.
- Narrow down to the 1, 2, or 3 best overall – depending on how close the results are.
- With your new top 1, 2, or 3 in hand, move forward with reaching out or scheduling a consultation.
For many people, they start with a consult at their top option and go from there. It’s really up to you and how much time you want to invest in your search.
Here’s what to ask to know if they’re the Invisalign technicians for you.
7. Get Your Initial Invisalign Aligners Consultation
By now, hopefully, you’re feeling pretty good about the doctor you’re seeing for your consultation and treatment plan.
We wouldn’t blame you if you went in pretty ready to move forward already. But take it from us, the consultation is a very key piece of information in your decision-making process.
Below are five questions about Invisalign you can ask to be confident you’ve found the expert who is right for you:
How long does Invisalign Treatment take?
There’s a wide range of timelines that doctors might give and it’s good for you to have a clear expectation of how long your treatment is going to take. Treatment times vary depending on case complexity and other factors about your case.
Also, only a doctor who has actually seen your teeth will be able to give you a specific answer to this question. And unlike braces, a specific answer is possible when it comes to treatment times for clear aligners.
We give all potential patients a free detailed sneak peek of their smiles both before and after their crowded teeth have been moved into their ideal position.
How Much Does Invisalign Treatment Cost? And What About Insurance Coverage?
It ought to be simple to figure out what Invisalign treatment costs for you.
With Invisalign clear aligners at Dr. Peter Brawn, you don’t need to settle for that terrible runaround. Choose a doctor who gives you a clear, specific price for your treatment up front with no hidden fees like we do.
And make sure you’re getting the maximum amount of insurance coverage your policy allows. We’ll help you with that, too.
How Often Are Appointments After The First Fitting?
This might be the most underrated factor when it comes to great treatment: many people assume all dentist’s instructions are identical when it comes to in office appointment visits – but that’s far from the case.
If you choose well, you can save yourself from hours of appointments. After your first fitting at Dr. Peter Brawn, it’s very common for patients to not have another appointment for several months, sometimes longer. You can get perfectly straight teeth with half the visits.
How many days do you normally wear a set of aligners?
There are two big reasons that fewer days in a set of Invisalign aligners benefits you. It’s an absolute must-ask question during your consultation. Get the full breakdown here. It basically comes down to this: 1) The more days you wear a set of aligners, the longer your treatment will take 2)
The more days you wear a set of aligners, the dirtier and more discolored they’ll get. Some people report their Invisalign clear aligners end up staining and getting gross – that’s all completely avoidable with the right specialist and a custom treatment plan that fits your specific case.
What kind of results will you deliver for me?
It’s a complete and total myth that it’s impossible to know what your final smile will look like before you start treatment. That’s why we believe everyone should ask this question of their doctor before starting any kind of orthodontic treatment.
With the technology we have today, and advancements in the effectiveness of orthodontic appliances like Align technology, it’s entirely possible to predict what your smile will look like after treatment before you even begin. Look for a doctor who will give you a clear plan and direct answer about results for your smile.
Get a free consultation at Dr. Peter Brawn today, and you’ll get an even better view of your new smile than the Invisalign smileview tool can provide.
Conclusion
If you don’t want to wait years for a smile you love, and spend hours in long orthodontist appointments, we have a solution for you: Invisalign in Half the Time.
Most of our patients finish their accelerated Invisalign treatment about 2x faster than the typical average treatment time for a case like theirs. Treatment times vary depending on the complexity of your case, but people with treatable cases at Dr. Peter Brawn regularly finish treatment in half the time it would take at another orthodontist or dentist in Vancouver.
The best part: you’ll experience less discomfort, too. People feel up to 75% less discomfort in their mouth during treatment with our approach.
It won’t cost you anything to get expert advice for your mouth and see a 3D before and after of your smile with aligners. So, start transforming your smiles today by taking the first key step with a free consultation at Dr. Peter Brawn.
