SmileDirectClub Nighttime Aligners Review: Too Good to Be True?

For an adult with an active lifestyle, wearing aligners all day, every day can be a barrier to starting and continuing treatment. If you’ve shuddered at the idea of wearing aligners throughout daily life — at work, with friends, on dates, etc. — SmileDirectClub’s Nighttime Aligners could be an intriguing option. They only require ten hours of daily wear compared to the traditional 22.

But are they a good fit for you? To get a holistic view of this innovative treatment plan, we’ve done some research on SmileDirectClub’s Nighttime Aligners, then used it to break down the most important factors you should consider.

Are SmileDirect's Nighttime Aligners Legit?

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In a word: yes. SmileDirectClub’s Nighttime Aligners are legitimate option for adults with mild cases of crowding, spacing, and other common dental misalignments.

That said, an important trade-off to keep in mind is treatment speed. SmileDirect’s Nighttime Aligners take twice as long to straighten your teeth. So if you’re looking for the fastest possible smile transformation, they might not be the right fit for you.

Byte At-Night vs. SmileDirectClub Nighttime Aligners

If you like the idea of avoiding daytime wear, but want to explore your options, check out Byte. They offer a similar nighttime-only plan, and they say their At-Night treatment plans are just five months on average.

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Byte At-Night

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How are Nighttime Aligners Different?

Although SmileDirectClub’s Nighttime Aligner treatment schedule looks quite different from their standard one, this is the only variation. Their Nighttime Clear Aligners aren’t designed or manufactured any differently from the standard ones. In fact, they’re the very same aligners you would wear for regular, 22 hr/day treatment — you would just use each set for two weeks instead of one, extending the overall timeline.

We spoke with a SmileDirectClub customer support representative, who confirmed that their Nighttime Aligners are identical to standard ones in every way except their daily wear schedule. According to this representative, “the only difference is that Nighttime Clear Aligners allow you to safely straighten your teeth with only ten hours consecutive wear each night over ten months on average.”

So, what did we gather from this research? You’re receiving the exact same aligners that you would for SmileDirectClub’s standard treatment. They just come with different usage instructions, directing you toward a more convenient schedule. So choosing between regular and nighttime-only aligners is primarily a decision of which schedule and timeline you prefer, as the aligners themselves aren’t any different.

Quick Note: Unlike SmileDirectClub, Byte has designed a unique product specifically for nighttime wear. Their At-Night aligners are made of a thicker, grind-resistant material.

Advantages of Nighttime Aligners

If you didn’t think that at-home clear aligner treatment could get any more convenient, guess again! Nighttime-only aligners take this convenience to a whole new level. Consider a few of the advantages:

1) Nobody Has To Know

There’s no doubt that clear aligners are already much more discreet than traditional metal braces. Modern clear aligners blend in very well and are hardly noticeable unless you’re getting up close and personal. Still, they’re not completely invisible and can sometimes create a slight lisp. Looking for the most low-key treatment? Nighttime-only usage means that you won’t have to wear anything during your workday, lunch outing, social gathering, or any other daytime activity. You’ll only wear your aligners overnight, while no one else is around.

2) Worry-free Eating and Drinking

Every time you eat, you need to remove your aligners. After you’re finished, you’ll have to brush and floss before putting them back in to maintain good oral hygiene. Since you typically eat and drink several times throughout the day (excluding the intermittent fasters out there!), you’ll be removing and reapplying your aligners often. Unless you’re a frequent midnight snacker, Nighttime Aligners lets you avoid this whole routine. You can simply pop them in after dinnertime and forget about them until the next morning.

3) Easy to Incorporate Into Your Evening Routine

Forming a routine is the easiest way to stay consistent with your aligners. This consistency is essential to ensuring your treatment’s effectiveness no matter which company you choose. Otherwise, you run the risk that your aligners could stop fitting correctly, which can extend the duration of your treatment by several months and require costly modifications to your treatment plan.

Nighttime Aligners make it incredibly easy to follow a plan. Whether you’re a night owl or an early riser, it’s pretty effortless to introduce Nighttime Aligners into your bedtime routine. After brushing your teeth and flossing, simply pop in your aligners and do your typical nighttime activities. Wash your face, read a book, journal, catch up on some work, do the dishes, or climb right into bed. In the morning, you can remove your aligners and go about your day.

Drawbacks to Nighttime Aligners

At this point, nighttime-only aligners might sound too good to be true, but they’re not without flaws. Before you make your final decision, it’s important to understand the drawbacks that come with this unique treatment schedule.

1) Longer Correction Time

SmileDirectClub estimates that most Nighttime Aligner treatment plans will last roughly ten months. This is 4–6 months longer than their standard daytime option. If you’re hoping to improve your smile ASAP, whether for a specific event like a wedding or because you just can’t wait for your new, more comfortable smile, you’re likely better off going with an all-day treatment plan. It might require more discipline, but you’ll enjoy a shorter overall treatment window.

2) Treatment May Be More Uncomfortable

Since Invisalign developed the first clear aligner treatment, plans have required patients to wear them 22+ hours per day. This hasn’t changed in two decades because there’s a good reason for it. When you remove the aligners, your teeth start to shift back to their original positions. The longer you go without them each day, the more your teeth shift. Not only does this slow down treatment, but it also puts additional strain on your teeth, constantly shifting them in and out of their new position. This can cause additional discomfort and if you’re a light sleeper, it could mean some restless nights.

There’s one more thing we should add here: the extra strain on your teeth may carry a small risk of injuring your tooth roots. This is always a risk (albeit, a very small one) when undergoing any kind of orthodontic treatment, and we have to assume the good folks at SmileDirectClub took appropriate precautions to ensure the safety of nighttime aligners before bringing them to market.

Regardless, for years dentists and orthodontists have been advising their patients to keep aligners in place as much of the day as possible. It’s not just to speed up treatment, but also to support a safe and healthy adjustment process. If you’re as cautious about your teeth as we are about ours, this is something you’ll probably want to consider before signing up for a nighttime-only plan.

3) Only Suitable for Minor Misalignments

In general, at-home aligners are better-suited for milder cases of crowding and spacing. As an even less intensive treatment, nighttime-only aligners cannot effectively treat more severe cases. In fact, SmileDirectClub explains on their blog that Nighttime Aligners are not well-suited for patients with moderate-to-severe crowding, spacing, or bite misalignments. If you have a more substantial issue, there’s a good chance you may not qualify for nighttime-only treatment. Even if you qualify, you might not achieve the same quality of outcome that you could with regular, all-day aligners.

Plus, because of the additional back-and-forth wiggling involved with Nighttime Aligner plans, your teeth may be more likely to shift back to their original positions after you wrap up treatment. This is an especially big risk if you don’t consistently wear your post-treatment retainer — which is a good habit no matter which provider and treatment you choose.

Is SmileDirectClub The Only Option for Nighttime Treatment?

As we learned from SmileDirectClub’s customer support staff, the nighttime-only treatment features the same aligners as standard treatment. So, couldn’t other clear aligner companies do the same thing?

Yes, and they do.

In fact, three other home teeth alignment companies — Byte, AlignerCo, and NewSmile — have developed their own lines of nighttime-only aligners.

Like SmileDirectClub’s treatment, Byte At-Night requires ten hours of continuous wear (typically overnight). However, Byte designs their nighttime aligners specifically for this adjusted wear schedule, using a thicker, grind-resistant plastic that’s also compatible with their HyperByte device. There’s some evidence that high-frequency devices like this can reduce discomfort and encourage faster teeth shifts for certain people. The downside of Byte At-Night is its price. At $2,399, it’s more expensive than both SmileDirectClub’s nighttime option and Byte’s standard treatment.

AlignerCo’s nighttime treatment uses the same model as SmileDirectClub’s. It’s the same aligners as you would get for all-day treatment, just worn on a different schedule. You’ll wear the aligners for 8–10 hours per night over 6–8 months. They also cost slightly more, $1,195 instead of $895.

NewSmile’s Night Aligners present another affordable option, costing just $1,595. Like SmileDirectClub and AlignerCo, these are the same aligners you’d get with their standard treatment; you’ll just wear them on a different schedule. They require ten hours of continuous daily wear and typically deliver final results in 8–10 months.

While nighttime-only treatment is growing in popularity, not every company offers it. We can only assume that other providers haven’t yet tested and evaluated nighttime-only plans enough to offer them with a clear conscience. They may be wary of a treatment schedule that could be less comfortable, effective, or efficient. This is completely understandable but, given that nighttime-only treatment doesn’t require the use of different aligners (simply a different schedule), we still wouldn’t be surprised if more companies jumped on the bandwagon in the future.

Still Undecided? Here’s Our Recommendation.

Home aligner treatment takes some discipline. Without regular dentist face-to-face time, there’s no one holding you accountable for wearing your aligners properly. It’s up to you and you alone. When thinking about your schedule and tendencies, you might not be confident that you could follow the standard, 22-hour-per-day protocol. In this case, going with Nighttime Aligners could make sense. But we think most people are better off going with a standard, all-day plan, even if it’s a little less convenient.

SmileDirectClub’s Nighttime Aligners might have the same price tag, but the nighttime-only option isn’t as effective. Given the amount of time and money you’re going to end up investing for any orthodontic treatment plan, it’s probably worth it to put up with some extra inconvenience to get the very best result possible.