Smile Direct Closure, patients left hanging mid way through their braces, potentially permanent damage to patients teeth and bone, it was always on the horizons according to board certified specialist Dr Guilherme Xavier, lead orthodontist at Dulwich Dental Office.

The dental community have been shouting from the rooftops about better regulation of unlicensed pseudo-offices that purport to straighten your teeth at half the cost. As the old saying goes, if its too good to be true then it normally is, this was a disaster waiting to happen.

Whilst there is no doubt smile direct would have delivered their promise to some patients of straight teeth at half the price, they are normally the ones with excellent gum health and mild mis-alignment of their teeth. However even these patients are now left in a precarious position of having paid for their smile, no recourse for recovery of their payment and an uncertain future of who to see to takeover their orthodontic case.

It’s not surprising to the thousands of dentists who rallied the general dental council for better regulation to no avail, as Smile Direct Club had a myriad of measures to be immune from any disciplinary action. The end result, as always when the fad of cheap and cheerful is exposed, is an array of patients who will have gum disease, relapse of their result to date, with the worst case scenario being loss of one or more teeth.

There will also be very little chance of any medico-legal action against Smile Direct Club, no doubt their initial paperwork that all patients sign have a whole host of disclaimers.

What can patient who have been affected by their closure do, the first thing is not to panic, specialist orthodontists will need to do an initial assessment. Following this assessment a new treatment plan will have to be made, that may involve starting from scratch or possibly incorporation the old movements into a new treatment plan.

Aligners may still be suitable but in some cases fixed conventional train track braces may be more suitable. The best advice is to consult a board certified specialist orthodontist. Dr Xavier is currently offering bona-fida consultations at Dulwich Dental Office, Dental Care Centre and Camden High Street Dental, all clinics in London.