What if in the future you could reduce aligner waste, save patients time and money, and improve the sustainability of your practice all at once?

Clear aligners are a significant contributor to plastic pollution in dentistry. Aligners, especially those made using the thermoforming process, are a major source of waste. The demand for clear aligners has skyrocketed in recent years, resulting in increased plastic waste. Each pair of aligners, including packaging, weighs approximately 4.3 grams. Considering that a typical treatment involves 30 to 40 aligners, and looking at treatments performed through 2020, it's estimated that approximately 1,875 tons of this material were generated. This waste often ends up as medical waste, posing an infectious risk.

Traditional aligner manufacturing methods are inefficient. Current thermoforming workflows are resource-intensive, time-consuming, and produce excessive plastic waste. In addition, producing a full set of aligners up front often results in unused aligners being discarded when refinements are needed, treatment is interrupted, or aligners are lost.

Innovative solutions, such as the use of shape memory polymers, offer promising alternatives. A single aligner made of this material could potentially replace several conventionally manufactured aligners, drastically reducing plastic waste.

We must promote sustainable practices, including the use of recycled and recyclable materials, research into biodegradable polymers, and the advancement of direct 3D printing of aligners to further minimize waste.

Dr. Lucila Cherem

CEO SmartPrintOrtho Technology

CEO ClearPrecision Aligners