Orthodontics

Equipment, price, maintenance

It’s never too late to realign your teeth… Yes, it is possible to realign your teeth at any age. The treatment options are numerous, faster than in the past and, above all, much more comfortable and discreet. We can offer you a range of treatments that are very discreet or completely invisible.

Children and teenagers, what about ortho?

Orthodontics for Adults at CHD

The orthodontist carries out a full analysis to draw up a treatment plan, estimate the duration of the realignment and provide a quote. We are breaking new ground in adult orthodontics: the cost of the estimate no longer depends on the length of treatment. If the treatment takes longer than expected, the price remains the same. It’s up to us to be efficient!

BOOK an appointment

Discover the aligners on video

Our role is to provide you with a list of treatment options, explaining their advantages and disadvantages, so that you can make an informed choice.

Once the treatment has been approved, the device is fitted:

Transparent gutters(Invisalign)
White coloured rings(ceramic rings),
Rings placed not on the outside of your teeth but on the inside(Incognito or Win Lingual Systems)

This session is accompanied by recommendations for cleaning the teeth as part of the orthodontic treatment.

At each appointment, a new mouthpiece is fitted or the appliance is activated until the teeth are perfectly aligned.

At the end of the treatment and before proudly showing off your smile at Paleo, it is essential to maintain the results obtained by applying a “retainer”.
This can be done in 2 ways:

Or a light wire permanently bonded to the inside of the front teeth.
A gutter that maintains alignment and can be worn at night.

These 2 types of support are obviously part of the treatment and are therefore already included in the initial estimate.

Please note that orthodontic treatment is a long-term personal and financial investment, which means that we leave nothing to chance to achieve the best possible results. What’s more, you will always be seen by the orthodontist, not an assistant.

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smiles

Rates

Tooth alignment

The price of our orthodontic treatments includes all the steps involved in aligning your teeth, but that’s not all!

More specifically, it includes:

Photographic and radiological examinations
Case study and digital planning
Fitting the appliance
All the various follow-up appointments throughout the treatment
Retainers (fixed retainer or removable retainer), i.e. the retention element that enables the superb result obtained to be maintained for life.

We also offer you the option of paying for your treatment over 24 months, even if the treatment takes less time. See conditions at reception.

Invisalign aligners

	Rate 2 arches (top & bottom)	Rate for 1 arch* (if treatment possible) (if treatment possible)
Complex cases	8500.- _{355/month over 24 months}	6000.- _{250/month over 24 months}
Average case	6000.- _{250/month over 24 months}	4500.- _{188/month over 24 months}
Simple case	4500.- _{187.5/month over 24 months}	3500.- _{146/month over 24 months}

Classic braces

	Rate 2 arches (top & bottom)	Rate for 1 arch* (if treatment possible) (if treatment possible)
Complex cases	9000.- _{375/month over 24 months}	5000.- _{209/month over 24 months}
Average case	6000.- _{250/month over 24 months}	4000.- _{167/month over 24 months}
Simple case	4500.- _{187.5/month over 24 months}	3000.- _{125/month over 24 months}

Lingual braces

	Rate 2 arches (top & bottom)	Rate for 1 arch* (if treatment possible) (if treatment possible)
Complex cases	11000.- _{459/month over 24 months}	6000.- _{250/month over 24 months}
Average case	9000.- _{375/month over 24 months}	5000.- _{209/month over 24 months}
Simple case	7000.- _{292/month over 24 months}	4000.- _{167/month over 24 months}

Replace support wire

Flat rate of 750.00
per arcade

* In certain clinical situations, it is impossible to treat a single arch, in particular to coordinate the upper and lower teeth so that they fit together correctly, or to achieve a stable, functional result over time. The orthodontic specialist will be happy to offer you a range of solutions to suit your needs and budget.

Children and teenagers: what types of treatment are available?

Once the treatment has been validated

The appliance is placed :

Transparent aligners (Invisalign)
Tooth coloured braces (ceramic brackets),
Braces placed not on the outside of your teeth but on the inside(Incognito or Win Lingual Systems)

This session is accompanied by recommendations for cleaning the teeth as part of the orthodontic treatment.

At each appointment, a new aligner is fitted or the brace is activated until the teeth are perfectly aligned.

At the end of treatment

and before you proudly show off your smile at Paleo, it’s vital to maintain the results you’ve achieved by applying “a retainer”.
This can be done in 2 ways:

A thin wire permanently bonded to the inside of the front teeth.
A removable retainer that maintains alignment and can be worn at night.

These 2 types of retainers are obviously part of the treatment and are therefore already included in the initial estimate.

Fair & transparent prices

We strive to maintain unbeatable value for money: reasonable prices, which have not changed since 2016, for quality of care that has earned us numerous awards:

Advice

The session ends with tailor-made advice from the hygienist on the best oral and dental practices to follow during orthodontic treatment.

EVERYTHING you ever wanted to know about Invisalign and clear aligners in one video:

Next appointment

The good news? You don’t have to come as often as with traditional orthodontic treatment: your appointments can now be spaced 4 to 6 weeks apart.

Today, over 53% of our orthodontic patients are adults. The development of faster, more effective technologies and virtually invisible orthodontic appliances means they can make up their minds and realign their teeth once and for all.
Dr Phillippides, Orthodontist, CHD Clinic, Geneva.

Find out more about orthodontics for adults

What is orthodontics?

Orthodontics is the speciality of dentistry dedicated to correcting the position of the jaws and teeth, maintaining their balance, and correcting the occlusion, i.e. the interlocking of the upper and lower teeth.
It’s not just a question of making teeth straight, as we often tend to think, and orthodontics therefore has both a functional and an aesthetic role to play.

In terms of function, orthodontics has a direct impact on chewing, phonation, breathing, swallowing and growth. In purely aesthetic terms, any teeth can be aligned at any age.

Orthodontics is therefore a speciality that covers all generations, since it makes it possible to guide the bone growth of the jaws during childhood, to coordinate the growth between jaws and teeth before adolescence, and then to align the teeth at any age.

Orthodontics is not limited to ‘braces’ for teenagers, as a growing number of patients are now adults. Adults are often looking for a quick, effective and invisible way of aligning their teeth, which is what contemporary orthodontics makes possible.

This speciality is usually reserved for specialists certified in Dentofacial Orthodontics, but dentists without any additional qualifications sometimes try to work with this status. So be careful.

Why orthodontics?

Orthodontics has evolved enormously over the last 15 years to meet different patient needs. In particular, it allows :

In children
– Guide the growth of the jaws when they are not growing properly
– Prevent permanent teeth from overlapping when milk teeth are already misaligned
– Create space for permanent teeth to grow in the right position
– To pull down teeth that have not erupted, or have an eruption anomaly
– To allow the tongue to position itself correctly so that it can learn to swallow and speak properly
– To ensure the proper development of the oral cavity and its functions, in particular by preventing sleep apnoea, infantile swallowing, openbite, etc.
– Balancing the muscles of mastication, and therefore facial symmetry
– Help position and support the lips correctly
– Reduce the risk of cavities by aligning the teeth, making them easier to clean
– Create a beautiful smile!

In adults and older people
– To align overlapping teeth
– Close the gaps between teeth
– counteract the effects of loosening of the teeth
– Stop the wear of certain teeth by aligning them with each other
– straighten certain teeth so that a dental implant can later be placed
– Stop gum damage when teeth overlap too much
– Make it easier to clean teeth and indirectly reduce the risk of cavities
– Reduce the intensity of teeth grinding and clenching (known as bruxism) by distributing and harmonising contact between the upper and lower teeth
– Create a beautiful smile!

What are the different types of braces?

There are 4 main types of braces.

Interceptive braces

In children, the aim of this type of appliance is to intercept the pathology and prevent the development of more serious dental or skeletal problems, particularly with growth and the arrival of permanent teeth. These appliances are worn during childhood, as they help to guide or even redirect bone growth.

What are the different types of dental appliances?

There are typically four categories of dental appliances.

Interceptive orthodontics
For children, the purpose of this type of orthodontics is to intercept dental issues and prevent the development of more severe dental or skeletal problems, especially as they grow and permanent teeth emerge. These appliances are worn during childhood as they help guide or even redirect bone growth.

Above all, they make it possible to avoid having to wear braces for too long during adolescence, by creating a dental balance and ideal conditions for permanent teeth. These braces are extremely useful for their functional aspect, as they are the best way of avoiding long and costly future treatments: the very principle of prevention! They are often removable, and are only worn for a short period of time, up to 6 months.

Aligners (Invisalign)

The best-known type of braces today!

In the form of transparent aligners that are virtually invisible to the naked eye, they enable orthodontic treatment to be carried out as quickly and effectively as conventional braces.

The difference is that they are invisible and removable, making them particularly practical and comfortable for adult patients.
All patients can have them, but it is important to understand that patient compliance must be perfect, as they have to be worn 22 hours a day. This is one of the reasons why these aligners are sometimes not recommended for teenagers if they are not 100% motivated.

The best-known and most effective aligners are called ‘Invisalign’, and they allow full dental movement on all teeth.
However, after discussion with adult patients, it is not uncommon to simply have to align some of the teeth rather than all of them, in order to create a stable and balanced compromise, so as not to have to spend a year with such an appliance, even if it is invisible and comfortable.

Traditional braces

The most widely used braces for children and teenagers.
Effective and in use since the middle of the last century, braces are the most widespread technique for aligning teeth.
The mechanism of action is as follows:
A metal wire connects brackets glued to the surface of each tooth, and gradually returns to its original shape, causing each of the teeth held by the wire to move.
These attachments can be made of metal or transparent ceramic, which makes them much less visible.

Braces on the inside of the teeth (called ‘lingual braces’)

These work by the same mechanism as the braces on the outside of the teeth, but are completely invisible because they are located on the inside of the teeth.

Their only disadvantage is that they can be somewhat irritating to the tongue and considerably narrow the space inside the mouth.

They are also slightly more complicated to clean, which means they are usually more suitable for adult patients.

How long should I keep my braces on?

The length of time braces, whether traditional braces or aligners, are worn varies, but is usually between 6 and 18 months.
The time needed to align the teeth does not depend on the appliance itself, but on two factors:

The amount and type of movement required.

– Do the teeth overlap a lot or just a little?
– Are the spaces to be closed particularly wide or limited?
– Do all the teeth need to be moved or just some?
– Should the teeth be moved in multiple directions or just one?

To give you an idea, 90% of adult orthodontic treatments with Invisalign aligners are completed within 7 months.

The cleanliness of the gums that hold the teeth.

The more plaque that accumulates on the surface of the teeth, the more inflammation there is in the gums and bone, and the longer orthodontic treatment takes.

Teeth generally find it harder to move in an inflamed periodontium (the tissues that support the teeth), which is why proper oral hygiene and a clean oral cavity are essential.

Finally, it is up to the orthodontist to discuss the aesthetic and functional objectives with the patient, so that we can agree together on how long the treatment will take.

How should I look after my braces?

Braces inevitably trap more food than usual. It is therefore essential to follow the instructions given by your hygienist:

– After each meal, brush your teeth and the gum margin with the brush recommended for your case and using the technique described by your hygienist.
– Use interdental brushes calibrated to your size in order to best remove food that could potentially get stuck between the wire and your teeth
– Use interdental sticks if necessary, when food gets lodged between 2 teeth, under the metal wire
– Use a fluoride mouthwash to strengthen the enamel, which is systematically attacked by bacteria as a result of greater food retention.
– If brushing is not possible, rinse your mouth with water and gargle to remove as much plaque as possible.

In the case of Invisalign braces, the hygienists’ recommendations are as follows:

– After each meal, regular cleaning around the attachments stuck to the surface of the teeth
– Brush the inside of the aligners with a manual brush
– Do not eat or drink anything with the aligners in your mouth, to avoid staining it
– The aligners can be soaked in a glass of water containing a cleaning tablet for braces.

How much do braces cost?

The price of braces depends on a number of factors, and is generally between CHF 2,500 and CHF 9,000. These factors include

The expected length of treatment

This depends in particular on the number of dental movements required. A 6-month treatment will therefore cost between CHF 2,500 and CHF 4,000.
On the other hand, a complex treatment to support bone growth for a year and a half in a child could cost between CHF 7,000 and 9,000.

The type of braces

Traditional braces, bonded to the outside of the teeth, are the least expensive because they are the same for all patients. In the case of aligners and braces on the inside of the teeth, customisation is required for each aligner and each brace, which means that the cost to the laboratory is higher. The cost to the orthodontist remains the same, but the estimate is still higher than for conventional braces.

Lastly, in certain cases of extreme malocclusion (extreme alignment problems), the DI may be required to cover the full cost of orthodontic treatment, but the request for this type of treatment must imperatively have been made by a specially qualified orthodontist, and not a dental practitioner practising orthodontics without an official diploma.

Where can I find an orthodontist?

It is possible to find an orthodontist with the official diploma of specialist in dentofacial orthodontics at each CHD in Geneva, Meyrin, Lausanne and Yverdon.
The speciality in orthodontics is only recognised after 4 years of 100% specialisation at certain well-defined universities. It then allows you to practise as an orthodontist, and to submit estimates to the DI in the most severe cases of malocclusion (problems with the alignment of the jawbone or teeth).