What’s the Deal with CandidMonitoring?

When it comes to remote oversight, no home aligner company can touch Candid. Their CandidMonitoring service simplifies the treatment process while providing customers with clinical check-ins every step of the way. In this guide, we’ll explain what exactly CandidMonitoring is, how it works, and if it’s worth the cost.

What is Candid Remote Monitoring?

Without in-person appointments throughout treatment, at-home clear aligner companies must find a way to keep an eye on your progress remotely. Using a specialized device and a mobile app, CandidMonitoring allows the Candid team to track how you are responding to treatment—delivering a more streamlined and attentive experience than their competitors.

Companies throw around fancy words when describing remote monitoring, but it’s essentially just taking a few photos of your teeth, so a dental team can ensure you’re staying on track. With Candid, you’ll be taking photos at regular intervals, which allows for consistent oversight throughout your entire treatment process.

How To Use Candid’s Remote Monitoring App

Candid has done their best to make remote monitoring as simple as possible. To get started, download the CandidApp. You’ll receive push notifications when it’s time to upload new photos of your smile (about every 14 days), so you won’t have to worry about forgetting. Candid has made the process relatively simple, but it’s best to take your photos in front of a mirror so you can better see what you’re doing.

In your aligner package, you will receive a cheek retractor as well as a ScanBox. The cheek retractor does exactly what its name implies—it gets those pesky cheeks out of the way for your photos! The ScanBox is also aptly named, as it is basically a container that holds your phone and helps you photograph your teeth at the correct angles. Once you’ve taken all the photos you need, you’ll simply upload them to your CandidApp!

These photos will be sent directly to Candid’s team for review, so they can ensure treatment is going as planned and if necessary, bring in your orthodontist to make adjustments.

How Much Attention Are You Really Getting?

Candid’s photo check-in process is both easier and more intensive than their competitors. With Candid, you’ll upload photos about every 14 days—the same as AlignerCo. Byte recommends submitting photos every 14 days as well, but only requires them if you have certain dental conditions, and SmileDirectClub only requests photos every ninety days.

Candid is also the only company who provides specialized equipment and a mobile app to help you take and upload your photos, ensuring that their team gets higher quality photos than you might take just using a mirror.

Unlike their competitors, Candid’s treatments are designed exclusively by orthodontists. However, it’s important to understand that CandidMonitoring isn’t necessarily a dialogue between you and your orthodontist.

When you submit photos through the CandidApp, they’ll go to Candid’s specially trained support team, who will determine whether you’re ready to move to the next set of aligners and ensure your treatment is on track. If not, they’ll bring in your assigned orthodontist to make any necessary adjustments.

There is no similar oversight when you are beginning a new set of aligners. So if you just switched to a new aligner and things feel a little off, you’ll need to handle that all with the Candid care team.

Even though orthodontists are in charge of your treatment, you won’t receive any face time or direct communication from them, it will all be done through customer care. There is no place within the app for you to express concerns or ask questions directly to your orthodontist, the app is simply a place to submit photos.

If you’re comparing Candid to an in-office treatment like Invisalign, you’re going to get significantly less attention with Candid, since there is no opportunity to speak face-to-face with your orthodontist.

It all comes down to your preferences. If you have had the same dentist for 20 years, CandidMonitoring might not feel as attentive as you’d like, since you never speak directly with your orthodontist. But when comparing the remote monitoring of at-home clear aligner brands, Candid provides the most intensive care.

Is Candid’s Remote Monitoring Worth the Price?

We think that Candid’s treatment is worth their $1,895 price, and their remote monitoring system is certainly a part of that. Having the highest level of expertise and consistent oversight with specialized equipment means CandidMonitoring is a worthwhile cost.

However, competitors like AlignerCo have much lower price tags and a similar frequency of check-ins. So while Candid is absolutely worth their sticker price, that doesn’t mean there aren’t quality options at a lower cost elsewhere.

What Are Customers Saying About CandidMonitoring?

Candid, like many of its competitors, solicits reviews from their customers early in the process. This can make their reviews challenging to navigate, since many are from people who have either just started treatment, or perhaps have only just received their complimentary scan. It’s hard to get a complete picture when a large portion of the feedback is from folks who don’t have a complete picture yet themselves.

However, certain throughlines in these reviews tell a story. Customers often speak to the simplicity of being able to complete all of their treatment at home and speak highly of Candid’s customer care team.

Yet amidst a great deal of praise for CandidMonitoring’s simplicity, there is some slight disappointment that the app does not allow for two-way communication. You submit your photos, but you have no real way to express a concern or attach a custom message to the photos.

Of course, Candid does have an entire care team that can address any question or concern you may have, and they are consistently praised in the reviews. You’ll just need to contact them outside of the app. Their team acts as a point of contact between you and your assigned orthodontist.

Your photos are meant to be uploaded when your orthodontist imagines you are ready to move on to the next set of aligners, but there is no way to upload photos when you have your new aligners in. Adjusting to new aligners can sometimes be uncomfortable at first, and without the ability to express that directly to their orthodontist, some patients felt a little out to sea at the beginning of treatment.

However, no teeth straightening treatment allows you to ring your orthodontist directly, morning, noon, or night—so it’s not as though any competitor has a solution. But the remote monitoring system could stand to offer a way to share how new aligners look and feel, so customers can see if their discomfort is normal or if they need an adjustment.

How Does Candid’s Remote Monitoring Compare to Other Brands?

Candid is ahead of the pack in terms of streamlining the remote monitoring experience, but they are far from the only company asking for regular photo updates of your progress.

Just as each company has their own unique draw, each company offers a way to monitor your smile remotely. Since at-home clear aligners don’t allow for face-to-face care, sending photos is the only way for your dental team to check your progress throughout treatment. The main differences from company to company come down to convenience and oversight.

Candid simplified the remote monitoring process with their CandidApp, which sends you push notifications when they’d like you to send new photos. Candid has also made this process more convenient by including more equipment to help take your photos. While all companies include a cheek retractor, Candid goes the extra mile with their ScanBox, which holds your phone to ensure you’re capturing your smile at all the right angles.

Here’s an overview of these various brands’ approaches to remote monitoring:

Final Thoughts

Remember that any at-home teeth aligner company you choose will have some form of remote monitoring. That being said, Candid’s remote monitoring is leading the industry in convenience and expertise.

The CandidApp sends your photos directly to their support team so that nothing gets lost in the shuffle. Teeth can occasionally be stubborn or unpredictable, so this oversight can help your overall treatment time—since Candid can catch any hiccups early on.

CandidMonitoring extends the attentiveness and expertise of Candid’s treatment even further, placing their remote monitoring ahead of any competitor in the industry. If oversight, convenience, and expertise are at the top of your wish list for at-home clear aligner care, then Candid may be just the right fit for you.