The online orthodontics scam: “I went to get an appliance and now I have dizziness, headaches and vomiting”

Several patients tell their cases when they go to these clinics that lack control and follow-up The companies and clinics that offer these dental alignment products flood social networks, they even advertise on television They have also found dental whitening products that are corrosive “A Within a few weeks of putting on the mouth aligner that was sent to me online, I began with disabling dizziness, headaches and vomiting. I have tried to contact the clinic, but nobody attends me, and I have already paid”, says Sonia (not her real name), a of the patients who have been victims of the scam of dental clinics that are advertised on the Internet and that provide easy financing and visible results in a very short time. “The problem is that these products in many cases bring with them serious consequences for the oral health of those who acquire them without professional supervision,” warns Antonio Montero Martínez, president of the Official College of Dentists and Stomatologists of the First Region. patients “These remote orthodontic treatments generate risks of irreversible damage to patients,” says Montero, who says that they have been denouncing for years the lack of legislation in this type of treatment that is somewhat out of the control of the health authorities. “These treatments are creating a real public health problem. This started on the Internet, but now the clinics have been installed in the cities and they are even allowed to advertise on television. There is no control by a professional. They send something over the Internet that is completely prohibited because a custom-made sanitary product has to be placed by a professional, and there are still more, some have a mobile application in which you take a picture of yourself and it tells you how the treatment is going. a totally crazy thing”, comments Montero. Sonia went to the clinic once and was only attended by an assistant who, without any x-rays, sent her a study and without having signed the contract, she received these aligners at her home. Once the issue of the contract was resolved, she began to use it and that was when everything got complicated. She got tired of calling the clinic telling her problems, nobody received her and they didn’t tell her anything. They send you the kit before paying But she is not the only victim. Antonio (also a fictitious name), seeing that his wife had put invisaline and the result, looked for a faster and cheaper formula for his dental crowding problem. He contacted a clinic that was advertised on the Internet and believed that it would take a matter of months to have a perfect smile. Nothing is further from reality. He was treated by a doctor who at first told him that the fangs had to be filed. To Antonio’s astonishment, she sent him an estimate again in which nothing was mentioned about filing the teeth and before she knew it she already had the kit in his house, just arrived from Germany. He took a few months to solve the payment method and started the treatment. “From the beginning the dental aligners hurt me, but I thought it was a matter of time and getting used to it. After a few weeks the pain continued and increased,” he explains. He had pain when chewing, his head, his neck, and he has trouble sleeping. “I contacted the clinic and when I went, the person who attended me the first time, without looking at my mouth, told me: ‘it’s normal, at first you start to clench your teeth a lot, you can go to the physio who usually solves these problems or you can also stick Botox in the joint so there is no wear,'” he says. He even told her that he could buy the Ali Express some hooks to put on and take off the aligners. Montero assures that from COEM they continue to investigate all these clinics. “We have sent a detective who has a periodontal problem that prevents him from putting on the aligners and, even so, they have sent them to him, something that is completely contraindicated for him. There is no control and there is not always a specialist behind him. There is to be very careful, these clinics only want to profit and have no health vocation”, points out the president of the dental association. Maria (she is not her real name), tells the story of her mother. Her dentist told her that she needed implants, but first she had to make room to proceed with it. Since it seemed expensive to her, he went to a clinic that offered quick and cheap treatment. She was offered the aligners, assuring her that they were used to put the implants later, and she accepted the treatment. Luckily, before they were sent to her, she went to get another opinion and the attending dentist showed her disapproval. “My mother did not need to align her teeth, but rather orthodontics that allows implantology. The aligners only fulfill, in principle, an aesthetic function. All these patients have written to COEM that is investigating the cases. They sell you something that is unreal” And there are not only scams in dental aligners. They have also found teeth whitening products that are corrosive and can be very dangerous to health. “Legislation must be changed so that all these types of treatments have tighter control.” For example, trips to Turkey to get braces in a week are, although it is hard to believe, the order of the day. They are very complex treatments that require a lot of control and are very long and cannot be done in a week of travel at all. They carve unnecessary teeth that are irreversible, they put caps on them that later cause problems, but when it comes to claiming they are already in Spain, and who and who are you asking for responsibilities now?” It is essential that health advertising has control stricter, they point out from COEM. “It is not acceptable that they announce that they give you a cruise if you get a dental treatment, or that they offer you a free Mc Menu if your parents take you to the dentist. Luckily, the companies that did this advertising have gone bankrupt, but others are emerging. Sanitation and health is something serious, not a merely aesthetic thing. Above all, it must be clear that even if they offer cheap prices, discounts or gifts, behind there are no specialists and in the long run it will surely be more expensive”, concludes Montero. 50 risks that patients face due to remote orthodonticsThe Spanish Association of Orthodontists (AESOR) has published a technical report on the “Risks associated with remote orthodontic treatment of dental malocclusions” which constitutes the definitive document to put an end to these activities. AESOR identifies up to 50 risks to the health of patients, with potential implications for teeth and areas adjacent to the mouth. Some of the most significant are listed: Orthodontic risks: such as development of open bite, increased overbite, occlusal instability, recurrence of the original problem, lack of coordination of dental arches, excessive or lack of tooth protrusion Risks for the temporomandibular joint (TMJ): pain in the joint , dysfunction, dental clenching. Risks for teeth (wear, sensitivity, pulpitis and loss of sensitivity, root shortening – root resorption –); gums (gingivitis, gum recession, worsening of periodontal disease, leading to possible tooth loss) or mucous membranes (ulcerations). Other general risks related to the handling of orthodontic material by the patient, without any type of indication or instruction (accidental aspiration, allergies, etc.), with the omission of diagnosis that favors the dynamics of these treatments that leads to not taking into account consideration certain situations (existence of supernumerary teeth, dental ankylosis or dental cysts) or with the appearance of other types of injuries that are generated in adjacent areas.