Braces or Clear Aligners: Which Will Work for Your Case?
For adults weighing up fixed braces against clear aligners: what reviews report on each tooth movement, the movements aligners find harder, how much each depends on you, treatment time, visibility, combined approaches and what the practice's fee list shows. The core point, from a 2025 review of 15 trials: case complexity and patient compliance should guide the choice.
5.0 from 550+ Google reviews
Open 8am to 8pm, seven days
Free parking at the door
CQC & GDC registered
No referral needed
Clinically reviewed by Dr Ibraheem Ijaz, dentist · GDC 301711
Medical disclaimer: This page is for general information only. It does not replace an examination or treatment by a dentist.
Dr Ibraheem Ijaz, principal dentist, reviewed this page. He is a General Dental Practitioner, with BDS, BSc (Hons), MSc (Leeds), PG Dip Implant Dentistry and PG Cert Restorative and Aesthetic Dentistry.
What decides whether braces or clear aligners will work?
Case complexity and patient compliance should guide the choice of appliance, a 2025 review of 15 trials concludes.
The 2025 review concluded that both appliances effectively achieve treatment goals, though differences between studies and short follow-up limited the strength of its conclusions. A 2020 review of 11 studies (887 patients, mean age 28, searched to April 2019) found differently: moderate-quality evidence linking aligners to a worse score for the finished bite and more unacceptable results, each from 3 studies, with risk of bias, inconsistency and imprecision limiting the evidence.
A 2019 review pooling 2 of its 8 studies found no significant difference in that score, with high heterogeneity, though fewer aligner cases reached a passing grade in both. Other orthodontic comparisons are listed with the options in this section.
What can braces and aligners each achieve, movement by movement?
Aligners can be very effective if the only aim is aligning mildly irregular teeth, the British Orthodontic Society (BOS) says, but their scope is limited.
Reviews that compared aligners with fixed braces report differences by type of tooth movement, with many results mixed. How each appliance works is covered on our pages about fixed braces and clear aligner therapy.
| Movement or measure | What the comparative reviews reported |
|---|---|
| Torque (tilting a tooth's root inside the bone) | 2019 review: aligners might not be as effective as braces. 2026 front-tooth review: 1 study favoured braces, 1 found no significant difference. |
| Rotation (turning a tooth on its long axis) | 2026 front-tooth review: braces appear to offer better control, a conclusion it bases on limited evidence from few studies. |
| Extrusion (bringing a tooth further out of its socket) | 2026 front-tooth review: inconsistent; 3 studies favoured aligners and 2 favoured braces. |
| Intrusion (pushing a tooth further into the bone) | 2026 front-tooth review: 1 study favoured each. |
| Tipping (tilting the crown) | 2026 front-tooth review: 1 study favoured each, 2 found no significant difference. |
| Moving the crown towards the lip or tongue | 2026 front-tooth review: 2 studies favoured braces, 2 favoured aligners, 2 found no significant difference. |
| The bite: how upper and lower teeth meet | 2019 review: aligners might not be as effective as braces. |
| Widening the dental arch | 2019 review: aligners might not be as effective as braces. Of its 2 arch-width studies, one found braces gave more upper-arch widening across the canines and premolars, though not the molars; the other found aligners tended to widen the lower arch at the canines, where braces did not. |
The 2019 review covered 8 studies, 2 of them randomised trials, with 706 people; the studies were published from 2005 to 2018 and every aligner group used one aligner system. Among its stated limits, studies from recent years reported better aligner results than earlier ones. The 2026 front-tooth review covered 12 studies in adults, 2 of them randomised trials; table counts are numbers of studies.
Which tooth movements do aligners find difficult?
Studies of aligners on their own point to extrusion, rotation of rounded teeth and front-tooth torque as harder movements, though the evidence is limited.
A 2015 systematic review covering 11 studies (480 patients aged 13 to 72, all treated with one aligner system) judged their quality not sufficient to draw evidence-based conclusions. Within those limits, it concluded aligners were not effective in controlling front-tooth extrusion, or rotations, especially of rounded teeth, but found front-tooth intrusion comparable to that reported for straight-wire fixed braces. Its extrusion and intrusion results each rest on one 2009 study: extrusion was the least accurate movement, achieving 30% of the planned amount where an average of 0.56 mm was attempted, measured without a refinement phase.
A 2026 narrative review by one author, without formal quality grading, places extrusion, front-tooth intrusion and torque, and canine and premolar rotation in its lowest predictability tier, under half the planned movement achieved (its own table gives 35-65% for front-tooth intrusion), with tipping and incisor rotation in a middle tier. It reports that most aligner cases need at least one further aligner series (a refinement), which it says should be expected as part of treatment rather than seen as failure.
Neither review measured braces alongside aligners. In the 2026 front-tooth review, which did compare the two, 3 extrusion studies favoured aligners and 2 favoured braces. Our page on how teeth move during treatment explains the biology.
How much does each approach depend on you?
An archived 2014 BOS page says aligners need wearing day and night, full time, except at meal times.
A 2021 study followed 2,644 adults, treated for front and premolar tooth problems without extractions, who completed aligner treatment successfully with one aligner company, mainly in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Told to wear every aligner for at least 22 hours a day, 45.5% reported doing so for all of them, and 17.7% reported falling short on over 75% of their aligners. The figures were self-reported, and the authors say they should not be generalised to other populations or other orthodontic treatments.
Fixed braces stay in place, NHS guidance explains, and it stresses keeping the teeth and braces clean. BOS's general advice is to expect regular appointments, usually every four to ten weeks, and it advises against starting treatment if you know you will not be able to keep them. The 2025 review names compliance, beside case complexity, as one guide, while BOS and NHS guidance describes each appliance's demands separately, without ranking them.
To ask about orthodontic treatment, book online or call 0114 288 2121.
Which is faster, braces or aligners?
In general, no brace is predictably quicker, BOS's adult guide says, and reviews comparing aligners with fixed braces differ on treatment time.
A 2019 review of 8 studies found aligner treatment shorter in patients without extractions, pooling three retrospective studies. Of its seven non-extraction studies, four found aligners significantly shorter, and three, including the only randomised trial among them, showed no significant difference. Its one extraction trial, in Class I adults, found treatment took longer with aligners.
A 2020 review comparing aligners with braces, its evidence limited by risk of bias, inconsistency and imprecision, found no significant difference in treatment duration.
How do braces and aligners compare on appearance?
In a 2019 survey, adults rated clear aligners and lingual braces, fitted behind the teeth, the most attractive of nine appliances shown in photographs.
The 199 adults, a convenience sample at a Saudi shopping mall, most often ranked lingual braces first (39.2%), then aligners (34.2%), with metal braces at about 16% and ceramic braces at 6.5%. The photographs showed one model with a near-ideal smile, so the authors say they may not show how appliances look on patients, and results may differ in other cultures.
BOS describes ceramic brackets as less conspicuous than metal and often favoured by adults, and an archived 2014 BOS page says aligners suit adults whose lifestyle or work makes more visible fixed braces difficult. BOS lists drawbacks too: ceramic brackets can stain from food over time, break more easily than metal ones, may slow treatment, may wear the teeth they meet when you bite and are slightly more likely to damage the tooth surface when removed.
Lingual braces can make the tongue sore and affect speech. If a bracket breaks, the teeth it bites against show wear, or you have tongue soreness or speech changes, tell the team treating you.
Can braces and aligners be combined?
Yes, in general: an archived 2014 BOS page says some aligner cases may need extra techniques, fixed appliances among them, to reach an ideal result.
That BOS page gives severe crowding, treatment needing extractions, complex movements, and problems arising from jaw size or position as examples. A 2015 systematic review of aligner studies, which judged its included studies' quality not sufficient for evidence-based conclusions, adds that aligner treatment requires auxiliaries, such as attachments bonded to the teeth, elastics between the jaws and slimming the sides of teeth, to make tooth movement more predictable.
In a 2026 study of 40 adults, analysing 40 canines and premolars each turned by at least 15 degrees, aligners used with a small lingual appliance behind those teeth achieved 88.3% of the planned rotation on average, against 55.7% for aligners with attachments alone. The study was retrospective and used one aligner system.
What does the practice's fee list say about braces and aligners?
The practice's current fee list gives clear aligners from £1,495 per arch.
The fee list does not say whether the £1,495 per arch line covers fixed metal, ceramic or lingual braces.
Who is orthodontic treatment at Deepcar Dental Care for?
Orthodontic treatment at Deepcar Dental Care is for adults only.
The treatments offered are listed on our page about orthodontics at Deepcar Dental Care.
Frequently asked questions
Can aligners fix every orthodontic problem?
Not according to BOS. In more severe cases, notably extraction treatment, BOS says aligners lack control for consistently good results and often disappoint, and are poorly suited to correcting prominent upper front teeth. A 2019 review's one extraction trial, in Class I adults, found similar finishing scores, though aligners did worse on tooth inclination and bite contacts and took longer.
Will you need a retainer after braces or aligners?
Yes, after either. After braces come off, NHS guidance says, a retainer stops the teeth moving back to where they were, and an archived BOS page says retainers are required after any aligner treatment. BOS's advice is to keep up retention in the long term. Types of orthodontic retainer and their care have their own page.
Do teeth stay straighter after braces or after aligners?
A 2024 review, searched to September 2023, found no clear difference across three studies, all at high or moderate risk of bias. In one (22 people, three years), alignment relapsed more after aligners; two others (200 people, and 54 where every aligner case finished with fixed appliances) found no significant difference. If your teeth move after treatment, show a dentist.
Is orthodontic treatment available on the NHS for adults?
Not usually. NHS guidance says braces are often free on the NHS for children under 18, and that adults usually pay for them privately. The NHS Business Services Authority says NHS orthodontic care is not usually available for adults but may be approved on a case-by-case basis if it is needed for health reasons.
Do braces or aligners shorten tooth roots more?
Aligners may be linked to less front-tooth root shortening, on low-certainty evidence. A 2026 review of six non-randomised studies (392 patients) found 0.50 mm less on average with aligners, calling it exploratory. A 2021 review pooling 9 non-randomised studies, 3 with aligners, found neither caused clinically significant upper-incisor shortening, and no significant difference except one tooth, more after braces.
Book a consultation.
Online in under a minute, or call and speak to a real person.
Reviews from patients of the practice in general are on our patient reviews page.
334 Manchester Road
Deepcar, Sheffield S36 2RH
0114 288 2121
Contact us
Opening hours
Open 8am to 8pm, seven days
Free parking at the door