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ClearCorrect

Transparent dental braces

Clear aligners are orthodontic devices that are a transparent, plastic form of dental braces used to adjust teeth. Clear aligners have undergone changes, making assessment of effectiveness difficult. A 2014 systematic review concluded that published studies were of insufficient quality to determine effectiveness.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

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Clear aligners are orthodontic devices that are a transparent, plastic form of dental braces used to adjust teeth.2

Products and brands

Brands

Invisalign

Invisalign is manufactured by Align Technology, an American multinational medical-device company. The company's clear align system has been used to treat more than 12.2 million patients.

The company was founded in 1997 by Zia Chishti. Chishti conceived of the basic design of InvisAlign while an adult orthodontics patient. During his treatment with a retainer intended to complete his treatment, he posited that a series of such devices could effect a large final placement in a series of small movements.

Sales began in the U.S. in 1999.

Orthodontists were resistant to adopting Invisalign at first, in particular because the founders had no orthodontic credentials or expertise, but the product became popular among consumers. As of 2014, 80,000 dentists had been trained how to use it.

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Orthoclear

Zia Chishti was ousted from Align Technology in 2002. In 2005 he developed Orthoclear, a similar product, which resulted in several legal disputes involving allegations of patent infringement, false advertising, defamation and trademark infringement. The case was settled in 2006. Align paid OrthoClear $20 million and OrthoClear agreed to end its operations.

ClearCorrect

ClearCorrect, LLC, based in Round Rock, Texas, was established in 2006. The company distributes its product throughout the United States, and in 2011 was named the fastest-growing health company in America by Inc. magazine. It has been reported that in 2017 its clear align system had been used to treat about 80,000 patients.

ClearCorrect was founded in Houston, Texas, by Willis Pumphrey, Jr., a dentist. In 2001, Pumphrey started using Invisalign. He decided to switch to OrthoClear, because of the way OrthoClear manufactured its aligners and because of its reduced lab fees. When manufacture of Orthoclear ceased, Pumphrey had 400 patients in treatment. With no other options available, he started his own company to complete his patients' clear aligner treatment.

In 2017, ClearCorrect was acquired by Swiss company Straumann.

Direct-to-consumer brands

SmileDirectClub

SmileDirectClub, based in Nashville, Tennessee, was launched in 2014 as an alternative to in-office clear aligners. The company offered direct-to-consumer clear aligner service which can be used from home, without having to see a dentist. This allowed them to price aligners at half of the other competitors. Unlike Invisalign or traditional clear aligners competitors, no brackets were placed on patient's teeth in office and the teeth were expected to move via the plastic aligner alone. The company faced criticism from the orthodontic community because of no involvement of a physical dentist. Similar startups have also launched in different parts of the world. In September 2023, SmileDirectClub filed for bankruptcy, before shutting down completely in December 2023, leaving thousands of customers without any support.

Smile White

Smile White is a UK-based company that offers clear aligners. In June 2023, the brand was acquired by dentists Hussein and Hassan Dalghous, known on TikTok as TwinDentists.

Direct to consumer clear aligner services

Following SmileDirectClub, multiple companies provide aligner treatment to patients by mailing their aligners and monitoring the treatment through a digital platform. The American Association of Orthodontists, the largest society representing orthodontists in the United States and abroad, released consumer alert explaining potential risks associated with such services.

From Wikipedia’s article on ClearCorrect, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Sources

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