my smile direct club experience so far

Happy weekend, friends! I’ve been promising this post for a few weeks now and on this exciting Friday night here at our house, am just now finding the time to sit down and write it. Most of you have probably heard me talk about Smile Direct Club since I started using the program back in June. Prior to this, I did a ton of research trying to find a way to straighten my teeth and even went to two different dentists to see about using Invisalign. The cost was going to be over $5,000 and I just didn’t ever feel good about it- my teeth aren’t awful, they’ve just shifted some after I stopped wearing retainers post-braces and have progressively gotten worse. I knew I wanted a fix, especially since my teeth started bothering me, but couldn’t bring myself to spend the money on Invisalign. That’s when Zach suggested Smile Direct Club because he’d heard several friends say they did it and it worked. I immediately started researching and booked an appointment at our local Smile Shop. The rest is history- I’ll tell you all about it below!

How it Works:
The premise of this company is this: they offer invisible aligners to help straighten your teeth while under the remote supervision of a state licensed dental professional. You can either do at-home impressions or visit a Smile Shop to have a scan, and several weeks later receive your aligners in the mail. You follow your customized treatment plan and wear the aligners for the prescribed time (usually around 6 months). With intermittent photo check-ins, you’re essentially getting the outcome of a straight smile without the hassle of an orthodontist’s office or the really high price tag. Once you finish your aligner treatment, you’re sent retainers to keep your new smile in place.

Total Cost & Duration:
It costs around $2,000 total for everything, which is about 1/3 the cost of competitors. How long the process will take is dependent upon how much adjusting your teeth need- for me it’s 5 months total.

My Thoughts So Far:
I am going to be completely honest with this and start from the beginning. My Smile Shop visit was super easy, quick, and the girls who helped me were amazing. I have only positive things to say about the customer service I’ve received. I also received my aligners much quicker than anticipated, which was a nice surprise as I was eager to get started with the process. I also know that they work, because my teeth have moved noticeably despite the fact that I haven’t been the best about wearing my aligners (full discloser here: I’ve only worn them about half the time). The reason I haven’t worn them as often as I should (you’re supposed to only take them out to eat/drink) is because they are tight and do cause some discomfort. Normally, I would pop them in right before bed and endure the most discomfort while sleeping, then wake up to slightly sore teeth but it goes away after a day or two when putting in a new week’s aligner. My issue is that Boone still wakes up all throughout the night, so I’m waking up every few hours as well and will pull out my aligners in my “half sleep”, without even realizing it. This makes it hard to get used to a new aligner each week. If you’re not a new mom who is actually sleeping through the night, this would not be an issue for you! I’d suggest starting each new aligner at night, as I said, since you’ll be sleeping through the most painful part.
Here is my before and current teeth photo- you can already see a difference from June to today!

Overall, I would recommend Smile Direct Club to anyone wanting to straighten minor crookedness within their smile. I’ve had a positive experience and am already feeling more confident with my smile after just 3 months of the program and it’s flown by. If you’re interested in SDC or have any questions, please leave a comment and I’m happy to respond! And you can click HERE to receive 50% off an at-home impression kit or a free scan in SmileShop markets using code: “BrittanyFullwood”.

Hope you all have an amazing weekend!
xo, Britt