It is standard practice for all restorative dental treatment, such as fillings for cavities, to be completed before a patient starts a course of Invisalign. This is to avoid the inconvenience of having to adjust a preplanned course of treatment before it is completed. Under normal circumstances, your dentist will work with your orthodontist to ensure that this is the case.
However, it is not unheard of for fillings done during a course of Invisalign to result in the current aligner no longer fitting as it should. If your orthodontist has already fabricated several aligners for your preplanned treatment, midcourse correction may be the only option.
Midcourse Correction Could Cost You More
Since Invisalign aligners work by tightly wrapping around the contours of your teeth to force movement, even a small change in the structure of a tooth could hamper the efficiency of your aligners. In this case, midcourse correction might be necessary. In other words, the entire plan that was already in place before you began your treatment will need to be adjusted to fit with the new conditions.
If several aligners have already been fabricated, you may well need to pay additional fees to cover the cost of having to replace them.
Your Dentist Could Recontour the Tooth in Question
An easier and less costly option would be for your orthodontist and dentist to work together to reshape the tooth so that it does fit. Your orthodontist will simply advise your dentist what is required, and the dentist will then attempt to either reduce the size of the filling or remove a negligible amount of tooth structure.
To ensure that this option is successful, take your current Invisalign aligner with you when you visit your dentist. This will allow them to ascertain how much of the filling or tooth needs to be removed in order for the aligner to fit as it should. Doing this would be much cheaper than the option mentioned above, as no adjustment would be needed as far as your aligners go.
Your Tray Can be Trimmed to Fit
If the filling isn't too large and your dentist is unable to reduce it any further, your orthodontist could trim it, provided this doesn't interfere with your treatment. Any other aligners that have already been fabricated will also need trimming if the filled tooth obstructs the movements they are designed to bring about.
In future, always inform your orthodontist if you think a tooth needs a filling. Otherwise, your treatment, which is already expensive, will end up costing you more.
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