Home clear aligners are incredibly convenient, so it’s no surprise they’ve garnered a lot of popularity in recent years. After all, who doesn’t want to straighten their smile with easy-to-use aligners that don’t require regular doctor’s visits?
If you’ve done any research into the UK’s clear aligner scene, you’ve probably seen Straight Teeth Direct and wondered whether or not this is the provider for you. With all the aligners on the market, it’s hard to sift through all the choices.
In this guide, we’ll cover everything there is to know about Straight Teeth Direct. We’ll explain how their treatment works, how long treatment takes, how customers review them, and more. By the end, you’ll be an expert on Straight Teeth Direct treatment, particularly when it comes to whether or not this is the right treatment for you.
How Does Straight Teeth Direct Work?
Straight Teeth Direct’s treatment is pretty straightforward. You’ll kickstart treatment with either an in-person scan in their central London retail space or with an at-home impression kit.
Based on your scans or molds, the Straight Teeth Direct team will craft a treatment plan just for you, and send you a preview of what your smile could look like post-treatment. If you approve the plan, they’ll make your aligners and ship them right to your doorstep! From there you could have your new smile between 6-9 months.
What Sets Straight Teeth Direct Apart?
Straight Teeth Direct began as a more traditional orthodontic practice in 2009. Though they’ve since shifted to offering at-home clear aligner treatment, we find that their boutique beginnings have influenced their customer service and their all-around attentive care.
Straight teeth Direct provides a quality service at an affordable price. Though they aren’t the most affordable clear aligner in the UK, they are the second most affordable clear aligner, and we think they offer a fair value. Their treatment is streamlined and simple thanks to their convenient app, they offer robust guarantees on your smile, and their customer reviews are glowing.
We hate to spoil the surprise; but Straight Teeth Direct is our favorite clear aligner provider in the UK!
Product Quality
You’re going to be spending quite a bit of time with your clear aligners (22+ hours a day!), so it stands to reason you’d want to know what they’re made of. Let’s take a closer look at Straight Teeth Direct’s aligners.
Materials
Oftentimes clear aligner providers outsource their manufacturing to a trusted dental supplier. Straight Teeth Direct, however, produces their aligners in the house—giving them full control over the quality of their aligners. They produce the aligners right here in the UK, so shipping delays won’t be likely to derail your treatment.
Straight Teeth Direct (like all clear aligner providers) makes their aligners from BPA-free plastic. And judging by their third-party reviews, their aligners are durable and high quality.
Appearance
Typically there’s two ways to cut an aligner: straight across, or scalloped to match the gumline. The straight cut exerts more force, but the scalloped cut is less noticeable since it doesn’t overlap with the gums.
Straight Teeth Direct takes a different approach to the shape of your aligners. Instead of opting for one cut over another, they manufacture their aligners to have a fusion of the two. Their aligners go above the gumline (so they can be more powerful), but are rounded for a more comfortable fit. Straight Teeth Direct’s aligners are a ‘best of both worlds’ scenario.
Straight Teeth Direct’s aligners are made from clear, shiny plastic. This may seem a little counter intuitive, but crystal clear aligners aren’t necessarily the lowest profile. In fact, some providers like Invisalign and Smile Direct Club actually opt to make their aligners from slightly frosted plastic, which better mimics the naturally porous surface of your teeth.
That said, many people love that their aligners give their smile an added gleam. Appearance is subjective, so focus on choosing the aligner that works for you!
Treatment Oversight
Traditional in-office options like braces and Invisalign can last as long as 18-24 months; not to mention they require in-person appointments every 4-8 weeks. Accommodating a dozen or so appointments into a busy schedule is no small feat.
In stark contrast, Straight Teeth Direct’s treatments wrap up between 6-9 months. To help their team keep an eye on your treatment, you’ll upload progress photos of your teeth to the Straight Teeth Direct app once a month. It’s a simple, streamlined process; and the best part is you can complete it all from the comfort of your own home.
If you want to reach out to Straight Teeth Direct outside of the photo check-ins, you’ll need to contact customer support. The great part is once you’re a patient, you’ll be able to communicate with their team through the app too! It’s all centralized, so you can focus on treatment, instead of keeping a million portal usernames and passwords straight.
Prior to becoming a customer, you won’t use the app to communicate. If you go to their website to look for contact information like an email address or phone number, you won’t find it; Straight Teeth Direct doesn’t use those channels. Instead, they offer a contact form on their site, and you can reach out through social media, too.
This is a slightly different approach, but it works! Judging by their customers’ reviews (more on this a little later), Straight Teeth Direct does a good job responding to customer questions. And they don’t just respond; they provide quick and courteous assistance with all your treatment needs.
Bang For Your Buck
Many people are drawn to at-home clear aligner treatments because of the sheer affordability. These treatments set you back way less than traditional options like braces and Invisalign, but how much can you expect to spend from start to finish?
Startup Costs
You can get your Straight Teeth Direct treatment started in two ways: an at-home impression kit or an in-person scan. Both of these options cost £89. Straight Teeth Direct only has one retail location in London; so if you aren’t close by, an impression kit is your only option. That’s not a make-or-break issue, but other companies offer multiple locations.
If their central London location is convenient for you, then you can schedule an appointment to have a dental professional use a special imaging device to take thousands of photos of your teeth—all in a matter of minutes. Those photos build a comprehensive image of your teeth, so that Straight Teeth Direct can craft a treatment plan just for you.
If central London is out of the way for you (or you just prefer a DIY approach), you can opt for the at-home impression kit. Your impression kit comes with everything you need to take accurate moulds of your teeth. Then you can just ship them back to Straight Teeth Direct thanks to a prepaid shipping label. Keep an eye out for sales, too—we’ve seen the impression kit marked down as low as £42.
Aligner Kit
Straight Teeth Direct’s sticker price is just £1350. Though that isn’t the most affordable option on the market, it is the second-most affordable choice. And considering everything you get for that money—your treatment plan, all your aligners, an app to keep your treatment on track, opportunities to chat with the dental care team, a set of retainers, and your satisfaction guarantee—it’s a great value.
Potential Add-Ons
Straight Teeth Direct’s treatment package offers a great value, but they don’t pack it full of extras. The nice thing is, if you decide you want to enhance your treatment you can opt in for their whitening kit. This kit is £269, which may give you some initial sticker shock, but we think it’s a fair value. Their formula is enamel safe, and they include a desensitizing serum in the kit to ensure your teeth don’t feel too sensitive after use.
Financing
Don’t have the cash on hand to pay everything up front? That’s fine! Straight Teeth Direct offers two in-house financing options: one with three installments of £500 and another that requires £399 down and 8 monthly payments of £150. Alternatively, if you have a good credit score, you can subscribe to an external credit financing plan with lower monthly payments.
Post-Treatment Costs
The best way to preserve your post treatment smile is with aftercare retainers. With Straight Teeth Direct, your first set is free. These retainers are durable, but they don’t last forever. You’ll need to replace your retainers about every 6 months.
You have two different ways to go about replacing your Straight Teeth Direct retainers. For £139 a year you can opt into their Maintainer Plan, which delivers a fresh set of retainers to your doorstep every 6 months. If you want to buy extra retainers to have on-hand while enrolled in the Maintainer Plan, you’ll pay just £89 per set.
If you opt-out of the Maintainer Plan, each retainer set will cost you £150, but if you buy in bulk the price per set goes down. For example, if you buy 4 sets of retainers, you’ll pay £425 (or £106.25/set).
Customer Experience
It’s a given you want to find a high-quality, low-cost product; but it’s also important to find a provider that looks after you. Let’s take a look at what you can expect when you choose Straight Teeth Direct for your treatment.
Reviews
Online shopping is really convenient, but the savvy online shopper checks reviews before hitting that “Order Now” button. But Straight Teeth Direct has thousands of reviews (over 700 on Trustpilot alone). Odds are, you don’t want to read through them all.
We’ve done the work for you, sifting through reviews so you can get a better picture of what real people like and dislike about Straight Teeth Direct. We prefer to look at third-party review sites to get an unedited picture. And even on those external review sites, Straight Teeth Direct gets a fantastic score across the board.
Here are some of the things customers like about Straight Teeth Direct:
Top Loves
- The app makes it easy to get advice directly from the clinical team
- Customer service gives quick, friendly replies
- Process is easy to complete
- Treatment is affordable
And now, for the top dislike:
Top Complaints
- Getting refinements can be a tricky process
That complaint is a bit concerning, but judging by the responses from Straight Teeth Direct (side note: it’s a very good sign that they respond to their negative reviews), most of the complaints are from disgruntled customers who did not adhere to the prescribed wear schedule or they didn’t check in through the app. And any negative reviews are far overshadowed by their positive ones.
All told, Straight Teeth Direct gets a fantastic, enthusiastic “thumbs up!” from their customers, if their online reviews are any indication.
Comfort
One major positive to clear aligner treatment is that you won’t have to deal with uncomfortable braces brackets scratching up your mouth. The smooth plastic from clear aligners are just naturally more comfortable. However, there’s always going to be some issues of discomfort when you’re moving teeth around; that just comes with the territory—even traditional treatments like braces and Invisalign come with their fair share of aches and pains.
Typically the soreness will be most pronounced when you switch to a new set of aligners, since these will be a snugger fit than the last. Changing to a new set of aligners at night can be a helpful way to sleep through most of the initial discomfort, so you may want to consider organizing your wear schedule around that. Many of Straight Teeth Direct’s third party reviews mention how “pain-free” the experience was, which is certainly an encouraging sign.
Guarantees
Remember that Maintainer Plan we introduced you to earlier? Not only does it mail you a new set of retainers every six months, it also makes you eligible for up to three additional sets of aligners if your teeth ever stray out of place again after treatment. This can give you some peace of mind moving forward, since your smile is protected in the long term.
Refinement Policy
In a perfect world, you’ll reach the end of your treatment without any issues, and your teeth will eternally remain in place thanks to your retainers. However, it’s not unheard of for a customer to reach the end of treatment and feel that their teeth aren’t quite as straight as they’d like.
Thankfully, Straight Teeth Direct offers a fantastic satisfaction guarantee. If you reach the end of your treatment and you’re not satisfied, contact support. As long as you’ve checked in through the app (basically proving that you wore your aligners as prescribed), then they’ll send you new aligners to get you the straighter smile you were promised.
Some competitors charge extra for refinements (extra aligners), so it’s always a positive to see a provider with a generous guarantee like this.
Straight Teeth Direct Alternatives
Straight Teeth Direct has plenty going for them (they’re our #1 ranked at-home clear aligner provider in the UK for a reason!), but that doesn’t mean they’re the right fit for everyone. Here are some alternatives to consider if you’re not sold on Straight Teeth Direct.
Straight My Teeth
If you’re looking for the most affordable at-home clear aligner treatment, look no further than Straight Teeth Direct. With their all-day aligner treatment at just £999, and their nighttime only treatment at £1149, Straight My Teeth has the lowest prices in the industry. We rank them as the #2 provider in the UK!
PlusDent
PlusDent organizes their treatment into three tiers based on the severity of your condition: light, medium, or complex. Each tier offers a wide array of financing options, so you’re sure to find a budget friendly option that works for you. PlusDent doesn’t offer an impression kit; you can only begin treatment by visiting their clinics for a scan. These appointments are convenient and quick, but this does limit who can choose PlusDent; due to location.
Should You Use Straight Teeth Direct?
Sure, Straight Teeth Direct is our favorite; but are they the right fit for you?
✔ When to use Straight Teeth Direct:
If you have a mild or moderate case of misalignment, then you’re likely a perfect candidate for Straight Teeth Direct. In fact, of all the clear aligners in the UK, Straight Teeth Direct gets our #1 recommendation. From their streamlined app to their satisfaction guarantees and everything in between, Straight Teeth Direct is a great service at a fair value. If you opted for them, your smile would be in great hands.
✖ When NOT to use Straight Teeth Direct:
If your condition is on the severe side, then you likely won’t be a good candidate for at-home treatment—Straight Teeth Direct or otherwise. But if you’re not sold on Straight Teeth Direct, another option worth considering is Straight My Teeth. They offer the most affordable prices in the industry, and run regular sales to bring those prices even lower.
Final Verdict
Straight Teeth Direct is an all-around great option for teeth alignment in the UK. They’re our favorite provider, and we think you’d be in good hands if you chose them for your clear aligner treatment. Ultimately, though, you need to make the decision that’s right for your smile. For more information on the best options in the UK, check out our guide to the 5 Best Online Clear Aligners below.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does clear aligner treatment even work?
Clear aligner treatment works, no question. But it only works when you wear your aligners as prescribed. If you fail to wear them like you should, your teeth won’t shift into straighter positions; they might even become more crooked than they were in the beginning. Likewise, your treatment results will only last provided you wear your retainers as prescribed.
Is clear aligner treatment safe?
You bet! Clear aligners are a perfectly safe way to straighten your teeth as long as you adhere to your prescribed treatment. It’s when people don’t wear their aligners like they should that they run into trouble; if you wear them for too short a time each day, your teeth don’t get the chance to heal enough between aligner switches, which hurts your teeth in the long-term. Similarly, if you don’t clean the aligners faithfully, remove them when you eat, and brush your teeth before reinserting them, you run the risk of tooth decay (or at the very least, some questionable breath).
How is Straight Teeth Direct different from Invisalign?
On the surface, Straight Teeth Direct and Invisalign seem identical to each other. After all, their aligners look very similar: clear tooth-shaped trays. And both treatment regimens will get you the smile of your dreams.
Invisalign, however, is different from Straight Teeth Direct because of one key distinction: Invisalign is an in-office treatment, and Straight Teeth Direct is administered remotely. Invisalign requires direct, in-person oversight to be successful, and in return, that lets Invisalign treat the full array of cases, from mild to extremely severe. Straight Teeth Direct can only treat mild to moderate cases because severe cases require in-person oversight.
Does Straight Teeth Direct offer any discounts?
Straight Teeth Direct doesn’t offer a ton of discounts, especially for their full aligner kit. Instead, they’ll run occasional sales for their SmileBox, whitening, or other products. But you have to be subscribed to their newsletter or watch their social media pages to catch those deals.
Is Straight Teeth Direct the fastest home aligner?
There are faster treatment options out there, but they aren’t currently available on the UK market. All of the UK aligner companies—Straight Teeth Direct included—take about 6 months to correct a smile. There will be some discrepancy from one company to the next, but all of our top picks have an average treatment speed of 6 months.
Is Straight Teeth Direct the cheapest home aligner?
Straight Teeth Direct is one of the most affordable home aligners in the UK, but it isn’t the most affordable one. If you’re looking for the cheapest one (that doesn’t also sacrifice quality), then you should look into Straight My Teeth. Their sticker price is just £999.
How do I know when to switch aligners?
Some companies leave you to remember when to switch aligners on your own. And if you integrate it into part of your routine, like always switching aligners every other Monday night, it’s pretty easy to remember. But hey, we’re all human, and you might forget.
Thankfully, Straight Teeth Direct actually gives you the go-ahead to move on to your next aligner through the app. Most people will switch every 2 weeks, but if you need more or less time in one set of aligners, the treatment team will let you know.
Can I drink coffee while using Straight Teeth Direct?
Technically you can, but you shouldn’t. For starters, hot drinks can warp your aligners, making them ineffective. Plus, dark foods and beverages can permanently stain your aligners. You should remove your aligners every time you eat or drink anything besides cool water.
Can I smoke while using Straight Teeth Direct?
It’s physically possible, but you shouldn’t. Any dentist will tell you that smoking will stain your teeth and can deteriorate your overall oral health. But when it comes to wearing your aligners, smoking with aligners on can stain them.
Is there an age requirement for Straight Teeth Direct?
At this time, Straight Teeth Direct only treats adults ages 18 and older. There are no exceptions to this policy.
Does Straight Teeth Direct offer whitening?
Yes! Straight Teeth Direct offers whitening as an add-on to their aligner treatment. You can use it in conjunction with your aligners, too. But it’ll cost extra: £269. Their whitening kits include a formula that’s enamel-safe, and they throw in a desensitizing serum to ward off sensitivity. All told, it’s a good, safe way to brighten and straighten your teeth at the same time…provided you’re willing to shell out extra cash.
What’s up with retainers?
When you finish your treatment, Straight Teeth Direct will send you trays that look a lot like your aligners. But there’s one key difference: they’re thicker than treatment aligners. Their purpose is to hold your teeth in their newly-perfected positions.
After treatment, your teeth have a natural tendency to relapse, or shift back to their original positions. Even years afterwards, teeth still shift; it’s a natural part of aging. Wearing retainers—usually full-time for a few weeks and then only at night indefinitely—prevents that from happening, preserving your investment.
How often should I replace my retainers?
Retainers are designed to be more durable than aligners, but they still don’t last forever. Straight Teeth Direct recommends that you replace your retainers every six months. That’s why their Maintainer Plan gets you two sets of retainers annually for just £139 per year.