An honest review of my journey with Smile Direct Club, a review that is NOT SPONSORED with my real opinion, curse words and all!
 
So, I went ahead and purchased the Smile Direct Club aligners kit. I did a ton of research on teeth straightening, specifically clear rather than braces. I decided to go with SDC because they seemed the cheapest (at the time), had great marketing, and included a free whitening kit. They also have real result photos on Facebook and Instagram, and it’s nice to see that their product does work. Of course with any company there are some down-falls, & I will get to those. 

First things first, I went to get my free consultation. They had a location that was convenient for me, but they also do the at home impression kits if you don’t or can’t go in. (I recommend getting the scan in person if you can.) This location was a small office with two ladies around my age (25-30) there to help. First, one gal took me into one room and explained how the process worked and what to expect in your kit. Then they have you look at the pricing options, and you choose what’s best for you. Note* do not sign this if you are not 100% sure that you want to move forward with the process. I thought I would get to decide once I got the results from the 3D scan and doctor recommendation, so I signed off on it, and found out that they charged me THE NEXT DAY for my kit. I was a little taken aback by this, that was my first frustration.

Anyways, after they explained everything they took me into another room where they took a 3D scan of my teeth. That was neat, where they scan your smile and it generates a 3D model on the touch screen in front of you. The machine takes 6,000 photos per second, amazing. Once the scan was complete, they gave me a goodie bag and I was free to leave. They said it would take about 4 days to get the results back and tell me how long my smile journey would take. Inside the goodie bag (which was a recycled tote, props there), was the free LED whitening kit, and some chapstick. 

I waited the 4 days for my results and found that my smile journey would take 5 months (Not the case). My teeth were not really that bad, I just had one front tooth that was crooked and I always hated seeing it in photos. Some people can have a smile journey for up to 2 years, and I feel so bad for you if that is the case.. On the online portfolio, it shows you a how your teeth are going to transform in the given time, and you register your smile to get a calendar of when to change each aligner.

Once I “approved” my smile journey (even though I already did at my first check in because I signed that paper), they said it could take 4-5 weeks to get my kit. Mine arrived in 2-weeks. Time for the smile journey begin. In my kit I received 15 aligners total for the 5 months. I liked that you get them all at once, so you don’t have to make frequent doctor visits.

The first pair I pulled out of the packaging was a very warped. It was hard to fit into my mouth at first and painfully cut into my gums. I went ahead and trimmed them down to a reasonable shape and they fit much better! 
I am not going to lie, the first week was a bitch. I totally had thoughts of regret, and had to keep reminding myself that it is was only for 5 months, with promising results. The first 3 days I experienced pain around my teeth, then once they got used to the tightness, my lips and tongue had to get used to having this plastic in my mouth 22 hours a day…And even once my mouth was back to comfortable, my jaw started to ache. That went on for about 2 weeks, until it became more habitual and dull.

After that first set, there rest of my aligners were good to go, minus two pairs. My week 8 set came with two bottoms…but after freaking out a bit, I looked through the rest of my sets and found that week 12 had two tops. Jeeze.

When you have one more month of aligners left, there is a sticker reminding you to buy the final retainers. I was so excited at the thought of being done. They ask you to pay $99 for this pair and I don’t remember how, but I got them to wipe the fee. By the time I was done and ready to put my final retainers in, I realized that I was not 100% happy with the results. I mean they definitely worked, and my front tooth was almost flat, but not perfect. I spend an uncomfortable amount of money on this product, I want my smile to be perfect, dammit. Up until the time of ordering the final pair, I would get auto texts as reminders when to change your next set. Then, nothing. No more reminders. Not happy about that.

Unfortunately, this meant I had to go back into their location and get another scan. These results took about a week and a half to get back to me, with a measly email saying, yes you qualify and you’ll get your aligners in 3-4 weeks. 4 weeks go by… contact customer service. “sorry we are backed up on orders.” 8 weeks go by… contact customer service, and get them to put a credit on my account for the final retainers. Finally, after 10 weeks I got my aligners. Keep in mind…that is 10 weeks I could have been on track if they gave me the right results the first time. I had to wear my retainer and put a “pause” on teeth straitening . GRRR

I received 6 sets – so 2 more months of this shit. At this point I had been wearing my retainer only at night, so I decided that I would be wearing these new pairs only at night as well. I have 3 sets left…

Note* Both times I received the free retainers, they asked me to pay the $99. Each time had to inform them that I had a free pair on my account, and to look it up.

MY RESULTS:
Pro: It works
Cons: You have to put up with their sloppy process, expect customer service reps to be polite but unknowledgeable, wait for everything to ship, lack of communication and oh yeah…It’s uncomfortable.

Have any questions?
Cheers!