Virtuoso Clear Aligners Review: Best Option in the UK?

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The national health plan rarely covers adult orthodontics — and when they do, braces are the standard option. For many adults, this just won’t do. Luckily, there are many clear aligner providers in the UK that deliver quality, inconspicuous treatment for a lower cost than braces.

Here, Virtuoso is really making its mark, undercutting the prices of most in-office providers like Invisalign. But will Virtuoso work for you? Read on as we discuss the pros and cons of using Virtuoso, and dive deep into the details of their service offering.

How Does Virtuoso Work?

Virtuoso treatment begins with an online consultation. Just find a Virtuoso provider near you and complete an online assessment with them so they can determine if you are a good fit for treatment. This consultation is free, and even if you are a great candidate for Virtuoso, there’s no obligation to purchase treatment.

If you are a candidate and feel excited about starting treatment, the next step is your 3D scan. Visit your dentist in person and they’ll take the scan, as well as any other diagnostics they need to plan your treatment. About a week later, you’ll get to see a 360-degree preview of your future smile, plus schedule any other dental procedures you need. If you give the go-ahead, your doctor will order your aligners.

Once your aligners are ready, usually about four weeks after you approve your plan, your doctor will have you come to the office to try on the first set and review your treatment instructions. From there, you’ll check in virtually using the Instant Dentist app according to the schedule your doctor sets, attending the occasional in-person appointment until treatment is complete.

Pros and Cons of Virtuoso

Virtuoso is one of the first companies to offer UK customers hybrid treatment not as an extra option, but as their standard care approach. While they aren’t ideal for every case, we think they’re a solid choice for affordable and convenient care. In our research, we evaluated them in five categories: effectiveness, affordability, convenience, appearance, and customer support. Below are the primary benefits and drawbacks we found.

Effectiveness

Even if you work with a low-cost provider, orthodontic care is always a major investment. You want to feel confident that this investment is going to pay off, so you need aligners that can get the job done right. While Virtuoso isn’t as powerful as fully in-person treatments, it’s still safe, reliable, and fairly effective.

As a hybrid treatment, Virtuoso is limited in the cases it can treat.

Fully in-person treatment can incorporate multiple types of attachments and benefits from in-person check-ups where the dentist can make adjustments. You sacrifice these aspects for the convenience hybrid treatment brings. However, Virtuoso can correct many alignment concerns adults have, including mild-to-moderate cases of crooked, overlapping, gapped, crowded, and protruding teeth.

They go slightly further than most fully remote treatments in that they can move the first molars as well. This means Virtuoso can move all the teeth visible in your smile.

The blend of in-person and remote check-ins helps balance convenience with effectiveness.

There are a lot of benefits to fully remote treatment, but robust oversight isn’t usually one of them. They essentially sacrifice effectiveness just to avoid in-person appointments. Virtuoso gives their dentists a lot of freedom in setting your office visit schedule, meaning your doctor can have you come in just to start and end treatment or several times in between, based on what you need. This lets them better monitor complex movements and make adjustments as needed, while still avoiding the frequency of visits traditional treatment requires.

Their remote monitoring uses the Smart Dental Scope, which pairs with the Smart Dental Scope Assistant app.

This is actually one of the best remote monitoring tools available. Quite a few providers use large camera attachments that can be awkward to move around the teeth for a full view — and they don’t always capture all surfaces of the teeth. There are even some providers that just give you a smile stretcher and ask you to take photos with your phone, which is even less detailed.

Virtuoso uses the Smart Dental Scope — a wireless intraoral camera on the end of a wand — which captures crisp videos and images of even the hard-to-reach areas of the mouth. Once the files are on the Smart Dental Scope Assistant app, you just attach them to your Instant Dentist account and your doctor can view them.

Virtuoso aligners use clear BPA-free plastic that is produced in the UK.

This doesn’t tell us a lot about their plastic, but it means it’s safe to use and meets UK standards for dental materials.

One thing we do know is that the material changes based on your plan. Virtuoso uses an A/B aligner system. A-aligners prep the teeth for movement and use a softer, more flexible material. B-aligners are more rigid and effectively move the teeth. This combination approach helps make dental shifts safely and with little discomfort.

Treatment plans are a collaborative effort between your dentist and the Virtuoso clinical team.

While the software creates your plan’s foundation, both your dentist and the Virtuoso team will tweak it to ensure it’s perfect before they finalize it and send it to you. This mix of perspectives ensures you’ll have multiple eyes on your smile and benefit from diverse backgrounds and opinions.

Affordability

One of the biggest barriers between adults and the orthodontic treatment they need is cost. Virtuoso aims to be a low-cost provider, though their prices aren’t the lowest in the industry. Despite this, they still offer a solid value with lower prices than traditional treatments like Invisalign.

Virtuoso is unique in the world of hybrid aligners because it offers a fixed price for all patients.

No matter how simple or complex your treatment, or how many office visits you require, Virtuoso costs just £1,999 for upper and lower aligners. Most hybrid aligner companies leave prices up to the discretion of each dentist or orthodontist. It’s nice to head into your consultation knowing exactly what you’ll pay.

For this price, you get numerous items that help support your treatment.

In addition to your aligners and basic appointments, your price includes your dental scope, regenerate toothpaste, aligner protective case, chewies, aligner retriever, aligner file, patient wear and care manual, refinements (if needed), and your first set of retainers.

However, it isn’t exactly an all-inclusive price. If your doctor feels you need more appointments than just the two to start and the one to wrap things up, they might cost extra. Some doctors also charge for the 3D scan that generates your treatment plan.

If you are going for a full smile makeover, you might want to add treatments that further enhance your smile, such as:

• Teeth and gum check-up
• Teeth whitening
• Cosmetic bonding or contouring

Most dentists offer discounts on these treatment upgrades to the Virtuoso patients, but check with them first to be sure.

Virtuoso does not offer its own financing, but many dental offices do.

You’ll need to ask your provider about their terms before signing on for treatment. Some offer more favorable terms than others, so you need to be sure your provider’s align with your needs. And if your doctor doesn’t offer financing, you can look into third-party options.

Virtuoso backs their treatment with a pretty solid guarantee, and it’s possible your dentist will offer more.

Because every smile is unique and genetics play a part in how the teeth respond to aligners, some cases won’t reach the final projected outcome after the first round of aligners. If you need refinement aligners to reach the best possible outcome, you’ll get them at no extra cost. Just keep in mind that you must follow your treatment instructions to be eligible for free refinements.

Convenience

Clear aligners are all designed with convenience in mind — but some offer more than others. Virtuoso doesn’t match the convenience of remote companies, but it’s much easier and more streamlined than traditional in-office treatments.

You’ll get your aligners pretty quickly, assuming there are no delays on your end.

The first step in your treatment is an E-consultation. Assuming you schedule your in-person evaluation shortly after this and approve treatment the same day, step one to receiving your aligners should take about 4–6 weeks. This is a little slower than remote treatments, but faster than many in-office ones.

Finding a Virtuoso provider near you might be difficult, but should get easier as they expand their network.

Basically, to use Virtuoso, you need to either live close to a provider or be willing to travel. Since it’s such a new company, their dentist network isn’t expansive, but it’s growing. If you don’t have a provider near you at the moment, check back in again in about three to six months.

Virtuoso treatment timelines are on par with at-home aligner companies and much faster than in-office ones.

Most people complete treatment in 6–9 months. This is standard for at-home aligner treatment — if on the slightly longer end. It is 3–12 months faster than traditional options, though. Just keep in mind that this is often because Virtuoso treats less complex cases, skewing their averages.

You don’t have to have in-person checkups, but your doctor might require them.

Depending on the severity of your case, your doctor might want to see you a few times during your treatment for a quick examination. However, you’ll still likely need to make clinic visits every three months to pick up your next aligners. If you are traveling far, you can ask about getting them all at once or having them shipped to your home.

Appearance

One of the biggest reasons people choose clear aligner therapy is the way it looks: compared to braces, it is pretty much invisible. But every company makes their products a little different, and which aligner looks best depends on your personal preferences.

Virtuoso uses smooth, transparent plastic in their aligners.

That should make the trays less noticeable, right? Not necessarily. Since your teeth are covered in tiny pores, they look matte, not shiny. Smooth, reflective plastic doesn’t match those natural surfaces, so Virtuoso aligners can actually be more noticeable than frosted, textured ones. However, some people like these aligners put a little shine in their smile, so it’s just a matter of personal taste.

They cut their aligners straight across the top instead of trimming them to match the gum line.

That means your aligners will slightly overlap your gums. People will rarely notice that overlap, but it’s still slightly more visible than scalloped aligners that match your gum line. On the flip side, aligners that overlap the gums can leverage them to put more force on the teeth, so you’re essentially trading looks for power.

Attachments are not part of standard Virtuoso treatment, though dentists can add them if necessary.

Patient Experience

Virtuoso treatment starts with a virtual consultation and ends with a beautiful smile — but what about everything in between? From modes of communication to procedures when things go wrong, your patient experience is incredibly important, and Virtuoso’s hybrid model provides personalized and robust oversight.

The Instant Dentist app gives you a direct line of communication to your doctor — and you don’t need to wait for office hours to reach out.

While you might not get an instant reply, you can message your dentist with questions or concerns at any time. Most remote and hybrid companies have a similar feature, but many connect you to customer support rather than your doctor. Virtuoso ensures that you speak to your dentist each time, benefiting from their understanding of your case and dental health history.

You get the benefit of oversight without the inconvenience of monthly office visits.

Even if you don’t go in for check-ups every three months, Virtuoso’s remote monitoring is robust. Their intraoral camera can capture video and images that very few at-home devices can manage. And these help your dentist stay on top of your progress and deliver the best possible treatment for you.

Since the clinics are all independent dental offices that partner with Virtuoso, you aren’t limited to just straightening your teeth.

Most likely, your dentist will offer a full slate of services, allowing you to get a complete cosmetic smile transformation. This can include changes to tooth color, shape, texture, and more. You can also benefit from unique discounts and policies your dentist might offer.

Best Alternatives to Virtuoso

Virtuoso has a lot to offer, but that doesn’t mean it’s perfect for you. Fortunately, there are plenty of other options to choose from. Below are the three companies we consider their biggest competition.

Straight Teeth Direct

Straight Teeth Direct and Virtuoso share a parent company, and as a result, they share many of their best features. While it is strictly a remote treatment, Straight Teeth Direct offers solid monitoring and an app that gives you near-instant access to their customer service team. And they back their aligners with a generous satisfaction guarantee.

NewSmile

NewSmile joined the UK clear aligner market more recently than many other companies, but they’re quickly making a name for themselves with their value-driven treatments and flexible nighttime-only treatment option. They’re hundreds cheaper than Virtuoso, and even though they don’t incorporate in-person care, they provide remote oversight through their mobile app. 

Interested? Read through our complete NewSmile review.

SmileDirectClub

SmileDirectClub has treated more than 1.5 million customers globally since 2014. Like Virtuoso, they have numerous scanning locations (SmileShops), although they also sell impression kits to get started. Combined with their nighttime-only treatment option, SmileDirectClub makes treatment as convenient as possible. Priced at £1,739, SmileDirectClub costs less than Virtuoso, but their oversight isn’t nearly as intensive, only requiring photos of your teeth every 90 days.