When parents ask me how braces will affect their schedule, they usually mean: how often will I need to leave work or pick my child up early? Between school, work, and another child’s practices, fitting in regular appointments can be a concern.
With DentalMonitoring, most of our patients need about half as many office visits as they would on a traditional schedule. Your child still comes in for wire changes and other adjustments. Many of the routine progress checks happen through weekly scans at home.
Here’s how that changes the calendar, from getting braces on to having them removed.
When Your Child Needs to Come In
On a traditional schedule, your child usually comes in every four to six weeks so we can check progress and make any needed adjustments. Sometimes the teeth are moving as expected and there’s very little to do. That’s good news, but you’ve still made the trip.
With DentalMonitoring, your child scans their teeth at home once a week. The scan takes about a minute, and I review every scan myself. Most weeks, you receive a short note in the app confirming that things are on track.
That’s what a typical week with DentalMonitoring looks like. Most families settle into the routine during the first month on DentalMonitoring.
Some parts of treatment still need an office visit, like changing a wire. The treatment plan and weekly scans help me decide when your child is ready for that next step. Until then, they keep scanning at home.
The number of visits depends on your child’s treatment. Some cases need more office time than others, and we’ll talk about that before you start.
A Typical Braces Case, Stage by Stage
Let’s use a 12-year-old wearing Damon Ultima braces as an example. This isn’t a particular patient’s calendar, but it shows how the two schedules compare through the main stages of treatment.
| Stage of treatment | Traditional schedule | With DentalMonitoring |
| Getting braces on | Office visit to place the braces | Office visit to place the braces |
| Lining up the teeth | Visits every four to six weeks to check progress and make adjustments | Weekly scans at home; office visits for wire changes and other needed adjustments |
| Correcting the bite | Visits every four to six weeks to check the bite and adjust treatment | Office visit to start rubber bands, or elastics; weekly scans help track changes in the bite |
| Finishing details | Regular visits to check progress and make final adjustments | Office visits for final adjustments, with weekly scans between them |
| Braces off | Office visit to remove the braces and fit retainers | Office visit to remove the braces and fit retainers |
Your child still comes in to get braces on, have them adjusted, and have them removed. The biggest difference is what happens between those visits.
In the early months, we use a series of wires to line up the teeth. We move to the next wire when the teeth are ready. Weekly scans help me follow that progress without asking your child to come in for every check.
Picture October for that 12-year-old, a few months into treatment. On a traditional schedule, there’s a Tuesday appointment at 2:30 because it’s been five weeks since the last visit.
With DentalMonitoring, your child scans at home each Sunday evening. When I see that they’re ready for the next wire, we schedule a visit. They may spend the whole month on the current wire, with no office visit needed.
Later, we may use elastics to correct the bite. These are small rubber bands that connect the upper and lower braces and help change how the teeth meet. Your child comes in so we can show them where the bands go and how to put them on.
After that, the weekly scans help me see whether the bite is responding as expected. If it isn’t, we can talk about how the elastics are being worn or whether the plan needs an adjustment.
Toward the end of treatment, I make smaller adjustments to individual teeth and check how everything fits together. Those appointments still happen in the office. Scans let me follow progress between them.
What Changes for Your Family
For parents, the biggest difference is fewer afternoons spent getting to and from appointments.
A routine check-in may take 15 to 30 minutes once you include the waiting room. Leaving work, picking your child up, and driving both ways takes longer. Repeat that every four to six weeks, and it becomes a regular part of the family schedule.
For a middle schooler, it can also mean missing the same class over and over if appointments fall at the same time of day.
Fewer routine check-ins means fewer of those disruptions. Knowing what the next visit is for also helps us plan it with you.
There is a weekly task to keep up with, but most teens handle the scan themselves. Younger children may want a parent nearby while they learn. You can read the updates in the app and help them keep the weekly routine.
Travel is easier to work around, too. The ScanBox, the small phone holder your child uses to scan, fits in a bag. Your child can keep scanning during a family trip, and we can plan any needed office visits around your travel dates.
If you have more than one child in treatment, fewer visits can make an even bigger difference. Two children on separate four-to-six-week schedules can mean a trip to the orthodontist every few weeks.
For families coming to our St. Peters office, we can also often coordinate a dental checkup and orthodontic visit in one trip. We share a location with Dentistry for Children and Adolescents.
When Your Child Needs an Extra Visit
Weekly scans sometimes show something that needs attention before the next planned appointment, such as a loose bracket or a broken wire.
During my review of your child’s weekly scan, I decide whether something can wait or needs attention sooner. Our team then reaches out with instructions. Some issues can be handled at home. Others need an office visit, which we arrange based on what needs attention.
You don’t have to wait for a scan to tell us something is wrong. If a wire starts poking or your child notices a problem, message us through the app or call the office.
Some children also need more frequent office visits throughout treatment. I make that recommendation patient by patient. We’ll discuss it at the consultation so you know what to expect before treatment starts.
Getting Started
If you’d like to know what treatment would mean for your family’s schedule, book a free VO Smile Assessment. It includes a 3D scan of your child’s teeth and a treatment plan I design personally.
We’ll talk through the office visits your child is likely to need and how DentalMonitoring could fit into their care. We also use DentalMonitoring with braces, so these weekly scans aren’t limited to clear aligner treatment.
If treatment is recommended and you’re ready, our Same-Day Start option lets your child get braces that day.
Choose our Creve Coeur or St. Peters office, whichever works best for your family. Bring your questions about the schedule. That’s part of planning treatment, too.
