While there’s nothing wrong with traditional braces, many people feel self-conscious having metal in their mouth.
That’s especially true since clear aligners have grown extremely popular and largely replaced the use of metal braces. Still, you might wonder if this new technology can straighten teeth as efficiently and reliably as the traditional method did. And if so, which brand of clear teeth aligners should you entrust with something as important as your smile?
In this article, we review Smiles.ai, an oral care startup whose team of licensed dental specialists offers comprehensive tooth care including everything from custom clear aligners to root canals and other advanced oral procedures. We’ll dive into a full breakdown of their services and see how they compare to other popular online dental care platforms like Toothsi and Orthosquare in terms of price, quality, customer service, and more.
If you’re considering getting your teeth straightened and don’t know if Smiles.ai is legit enough to try, the short answer is yes, it is. But there are a lot of other factors to consider when choosing the right dentist for you. Let’s dive into this comprehensive review of Smiles.ai.
Why it’s smart to invest in your dental hygiene and smile
Oral diseases affect close to 3.5 billion people worldwide, and yet, many of us often neglect our dental health. Perhaps we only consider the mouth as a tiny hole to funnel food into, but in reality, it’s linked to your overall health and wellbeing in more ways than you can imagine.
Here are a few reasons why you might consider taking proactive steps to invest in better oral health.
1. Your oral health is a window to your overall health. Poor oral health can cause cavities and gum disease, yes, but it has also been linked to more significant problems like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.
In addition, disorders like bulimia, schizophrenia, and HIV, which you might think to have no relation to your oral cavity, can show apparent mouth symptoms that your dentist can detect. So, the mouth is more connected to the rest of the body than you think.
After all, your mouth is a gateway for most infectious bacteria, so it’s essential to keep it clean and germ-free. If you want to learn more about your own oral health, check out Bristle health, a startup offering an at-home oral microbiome test that can reveal a lot about your overall health by analyzing your saliva.
2. Your oral health impacts your mental health. There is a two-way relationship between your oral and mental health.
First, some mental health disorders cause you to have poor oral health. For example, people with bipolar disorder are seen to have severely abraded teeth because they clench and grind in manic phases. And people with depression are more likely to have gum disease and cavities because they’re less motivated to practice self-care and hygiene habits.
The opposite is also true. Poor oral health can take a toll on your mental health. For example, halitosis, a condition where your mouth smells, is commonly linked to a mental health condition called social phobia.
Another example of this would be people with crooked teeth, who feel less attractive and less confident and avoid interaction with others.
3. Most oral health conditions are preventable and can be avoided if we pay attention to our health and regularly invest in it.
Our fear of visiting the dentist often makes us delay treatment and put off dental visits. However, now, new technology allows you to get a dental checkup right from the comfort of your home! And, Smiles.ai offers you your first at-home digital check-up for free.
Another reason many people avoid the proper dental care they need is the limitations of dental technology itself. For example, one might avoid getting braces in fear of the associated physical pain, and sadly, there’s no way around it for most patients. Another example is the requirement that you must invest a loooong time and repeated in-person visits to slowly move your teeth. These limitations of the technology have made the market for teeth straightening and orthodonture much smaller than it could be.
Now, thanks to relatively new dental technology like clear aligners, you can have a painless tooth-aligning experience without any of the unflattering, difficult-to-clean metal. As a bonus, this treatment is typically more convenient (i.e., fewer in-person visits and no dietary restrictions). Modern dental practices like Smiles.ai offer you cutting-edge treatment options that make your experience a lot more pleasant than most traditional dentists.
Speaking of, let’s review Smiles.ai, a company that provides these invisible braces and more, and find out how effective their treatments really are.
What is smiles.ai?
Smiles.ai is a dental health-tech chain founded in 2019. The company raised $23 million on its mission to take dental health care to the next level by integrating innovative technology, including artificial intelligence, to offer patients more convenient, effective, and pain-free treatment options. Smiles.ai has a team of dentists with over 500 years of collective experience. Their in-house specialists are properly licensed to help you with a wide range of dental work needs. The company is committed to providing the best possible care by leveraging three core pillars: technology, transparency, and teamwork.
What makes Smiles.ai unique?
Smiles.ai offers innovative technology that makes traditional dental care treatments quicker, more convenient, and painless. One of their best aspects is affordable, transparent pricing, so you know upfront what you can expect to invest. They take oral health seriously and work hard to build a strong doctor-patient relationship. All in all, Smiles.ai is building a modern dental practice that leverages technology to make your care more seamless and pleasant.
Given how widespread dental anxiety is, Smiles.ai wants to help you feel more comfortable by eliminating the most frustrating parts of visiting the dentist. They realized that there are few things patients hate more than visiting a dental office, so they reimagined a better experience from the ground up.
The company’s platform is dead simple to use, not just for young, tech-savvy generations, but for older folks as well. As an example, you can log in to Smiles.ai by simply entering your phone number.
Another thing that makes smiles.ai unique is the no-cost EMI options available for payment of dental treatment. This makes paying for your required treatments less taxing on your wallet, further enhancing the positive experience.
How does Smiles.ai work?
At Smiles.ai, it all starts with a free digital consultation, during which you’ll:
- Complete a simple questionnaire about your dental concerns and general oral habits
- Upload pictures of your teeth for a more thorough assessment
- List down any additional dental-related queries you have
Your initial consultation takes only a few minutes. We recommend using your smartphone instead of a laptop, so you can take pictures of your teeth more easily.
Next you should receive a call from their team within 24 hours to discuss your consultation results.
This digital assessment is very convenient because it can be done from the comfort of your home, at any time of the day or night, and it eliminates any awkwardness or embarrassment. For many patients, this allows them to be more open and honest about their condition than they might be with at an in-person clinic.
Once you talk to the doctor, you can easily book an appointment online for any treatment.
What dental conditions does Smiles.ai treat?
Smiles.ai provides a wide range of dental services, including one-time procedures like implants or root canals, as well as popular orthodontic tooth straightening treatments such as traditional braces and clear aligners.
In addition, Smiles.ai also provides services like:
- Prosthodontic bridges and crowns
- Composite bonding and restorations
- Tooth extraction
- Teeth whitening
- Dental jewelry fitting
- Complete denture fabrication
- Scaling and root planing
- Veneers
Ultimately, they are a one-stop shop for all things dental that helps you stay proactive about the health of your teeth and mouth. On the smiles.ai platform, you can:
- Schedule a free online assessment for your smile or implant surgery
- Have an at-home dental check-up
- Get regular, ongoing dental care
- Have your teeth-straightening aligners sent right to your doorstep
- Receive a quarterly package of dental-care supplies
- Avail a free digital check-up once every three months
- Get 24×7 dentist advice in-app or over WhatsApp
- Track and manage your upcoming dental appointments
One of our favorite aspects of Smiles.ai’s dental packages is that they can be customized for couples and families, as well as the advantage of other add-ons like free cleaning, polishing, and whitening.
Sounds pretty great, right? Let’s see what Smiles.ai costs to assess if a subscription to their improved dental experience is worth it.
How much does Smiles.ai cost?
Smiles.ai claims to offer treatment plans that are typically 20-50% cheaper than traditional dental clinics. They say they are able to achieve this without compromising on treatment quality because:
- All dental services and experts are available in-house, so they don’t charge an additional referral commission to get you the right specialist dentist
- Smiles.ai sources its materials from authentic manufacturers to get high-quality products while also controlling costs by avoiding a middle-man fee
Source: Smiles.ai
Let’s discuss an example to give you an overview of Smiles.ai pricing.
Depending on your unique dental needs, Smiles.ai offers package options that differ from mouth to mouth. The cost of treatments depends on the range of services needed, and thus they can offer you a price for ongoing care only after a thorough assessment of your oral health is complete.
When it comes to clear aligners, Smiles.ai has tried to simplify the payment plan by dividing patients into two broad categories: slightly misaligned teeth vs severe misalignment. Patients with slightly misaligned teeth – defined as requiring <20 aligners – only pay INR 65,000 for the treatment, which lasts approximately 6 months. And for patients with severely misaligned teeth – i.e. requiring >20 retainers – it costs INR 72,000 for approximately 12 months of treatment.
EMI options are available in both these cases, and depending on your particular case, the EMI amount would range from INR 4170 to INR 4920 per month, which can make getting your teeth straightened super easy on your bank account.
The great news here is that Smiles.ai frequently offers discounts on their clear aligners and other treatments as well, so if you’re lucky, you can benefit from these slashed prices.
Source: Smiles.ai
If you’re not sure how many aligners you would need, booking a free online smile assessment will yield your answer. All this talk about clear aligners begs the question – are they the right choice for you? Below we’ll compare invisible braces vs clear aligners if you’re not sure which is for you.
Regular braces vs clear aligners: Which is the better option?
We will let you in on a little secret; clear aligners are not for everyone.
Let’s touch upon how they compare to traditional aligners, their effectiveness, and their benefits, and let’s discuss who should not use clear aligners.
Clear aligners are seen to be just as effective as traditional braces in almost all cases, the keyword here is “almost”.
Barring the few exceptions where clear aligners should not be used, they work very similarly to traditional braces. They apply minor forces on the teeth as compared to metal braces which make the treatment more comfortable and painless but get the same results.
In addition, these clear aligners are removable, which makes them easy to clean to maintain proper oral hygiene, and eliminates the need for any dietary restrictions.
For example, people who have metal braces are not supposed to eat sticky or hard foods, because they are at risk of displacing a metal bracket. But, because one can remove their clear aligners during meals, all types of foods can be consumed without hesitation.
These aligners are stylish as compared to the unflattering metal, and they also save your oral tissues from blisters that the metal wires often cause.
You can take a look at the table below to get a clear picture of why clear aligners are a more suitable option for most people who need braces.
Traditional braces vs clear aligners | Traditional braces | Clear aligners |
---|---|---|
Appearance | Noticeable and unflattering metal wires | Invisible and stylish |
Convenience | Once fitted in the mouth, they can’t be removed for months, often years | Removable and easy to wear |
Hygiene | It’s difficult to properly brush around the metal brackets and wires | Removable aligners are easy to clean and allow you to maintain your normal oral hygiene routine |
Comfort | The metal wire often pokes the cheek causing blisters and ulceration. | More comfortable because there are no sharp wires |
Duration | Treatment can take months to years | Treatment is usually completed within a year |
Dental visits | Must visit the dentist frequently, at least once every month | Approximately 3 dental visits are required during the entire treatment duration |
So, you can see how using clear aligners has numerous benefits. But, are they the right choice for you?
Who should NOT use invisible aligners?
There are certain cases where the use of invisible aligners is contraindicated, or may not produce the desired results. Some examples of people who should not use clear aligners are:
- People who cannot be trusted to responsibly wear their aligners, like people with compromised physical or mental health, or younger patients
- People who require movement of teeth into or out of the gums. This up and down movement can not yet be achieved by clear aligners
- If your teeth are rotated more than 20% out of position, it’s too severe for clear aligners to fix
- People who have dental implants, bridges, or TMJ disorders may not be the best candidates for clear aligners
- People who have microdontia (smaller teeth) or severely eroded teeth may not benefit from clear aligners
While these things are good to keep in mind, clear aligners work perfectly for most of the population and provide a ton of benefits that traditional braces lack.
If this all seems a little too complicated for you, don’t worry! The doctors at Smiles.ai will properly assess your smile and let you know the best treatment option for your individual needs.
Smiles.ai Alternatives: How does the platform compare to other online dentists?
Smiles.ai is a pretty convenient platform, but let’s see how they compare to other leading oral care startups in India.
Smiles.ai vs Toothsi vs Orthosquare: Which is best for dental care in India? | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
---|---|---|---|
Treatments available | Invisible Aligners Implants Root canals Digital consultations Veneers Teeth whitening | Invisible Aligners Other orthodontic treatments | All |
Pricing | 65,000 to 72,000 INR for clear aligners | 69,999 to 89,999 INR for clear aligners | Price not mentioned |
At-home check-ups? | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
Ease-of-use | 6/10 | 7/10 | 4/10 |
Invisible aligners offered? | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Number of in-person clinics in India | 100+ | 0, only at-home services for aligners | 100+ |
Website | Smiles.ai | toothsi | Orthosquare |
Smiles.ai vs Toothsi
Smiles.ai and Toothsi are both popular providers of clear aligners in India, but both companies are run very differently. Smiles.ai offers a variety of dental treatments such as root canals, implants, crowns, and bridges, scaling and root planing, extractions, and much more, and has numerous in-person clinics throughout India to perform these procedures.
On the other hand, Toothsi specializes in clear aligners and only provides this orthodontic treatment, so they operate remotely by conducting digital scans and delivering the aligners to your doorstep. They have no in-person clinics.
You can compare clear aligner pricing at both these top companies by looking at the images below.
Smiles.ai vs Orthosquare
Smiles.ai and Orthosquare are comparable in that both clinic chains provide all dental treatments and cater to your every dental concern, not just braces and aligners. Both companies have over a hundred clinics set up all over India.
That said, Orthosquare’s website leaves a lot of room for improvement and doesn’t include prices. Thus we found ourselves partial to the transparent pricing plan of Smiles.ai.
Smiles.ai Reviews: What are customers saying?
You can scroll through reviews of Smiles.ai on various platforms, but most customers were happy with the quality of treatment. Here are some of the things real Smiles.ai customers are saying about their experience:
The Verdict – Is dental treatment from Smiles.ai worth it?
Smiles.ai is an online dental company that has had an 86.8% increase over the last two years. In this short time, they have satisfied an impressive number of customers, delivering 22,000+ happy smiles, 6,000+ aligners, and over 5,000 implants. Thus, in our view, Smiles.ai is a very legitimate dental provider, with a notable track record of delivering quality care across a wide range of cases. The company’s medical staff are all Masters of Dental Surgery in their respective fields and have many decades of combined experience.
So, if you’re looking for quality, on-demand dental care from specialized experts across a wide range of oral disciplines, we highly recommend Smiles.ai. Even if you think it seems too pricey, we recommend you take advantage of their free online digital check-up and free smile assessments. You’ll get valuable information about your mouth without committing to ongoing treatment. In the end, they’ll offer you a personalized care plan with recommend next steps, but you’re never obligated to commit.
Overall, Smiles.ai emphasizes convenience and quality care, and by integrating its principles of transparency, technology, and teamwork, they are on a path to truly revolutionize oral health in India. If you’re in the market for straighter teeth or need dental care of any kind, they are a trustworthy service that’s both more affordable than traditional dentists and easier to access. Check them out, and let us know about your experience!