The Smile Shop
So! To start from the beginning of my journey.
I saw on the SDC website that I had two options for getting an impression of my teeth and to see if they are eligible for the program. I could either order a kit (this option costs $ but the pro is that you do it at home and you could probably find coupons to help lessen the costs) or go to one of the few locations that Smile Direct Club has. (Finally! Living in New York has some benefits!)
I had gotten a scan back in February and was approved however, due to financial reasons I decided to hold off. Finally, this past May I had saved enough and gotten a sweet coupon from SDC that pushed me over. So during a graduation mishap, I had some time to kill so I quickly scheduled an appointment and got my teeth rescanned!
The process is relatively easy (however there were slight differences since the first scan I got was in Brooklyn and the second was in Midtown Manhattan). First thing to note, SDC is not in its own facility - the two offices that I went to were part of WeWork buildings (WeWork primarily provides shared workspaces for startup businesses). Other than that, I walked in and let them know my name and appointment time. Immediately they offered to take my coat, a seat, and a disposable toothbrush before I started my session. After making sure any coffee breath residue was brushed clean and I was greeted by Annalee. She was extremely friendly and made sure that if I had any questions, I was going to get answers. Before we started with the scan, she had me fill out a form of sorts; this asked me if I had any crowns or implants etc. They take some photos of your teeth as a before and a little smile shot too. Afterwards, Annalee explained how the SDC would work and the process of the purple box.
You get a purple box with all of your aligners, teeth whitener, and a lip balm. That's the underlining difference between Smile Direct Club and Invisalign; Invisalign gives all of your aligners to your dentists/orthodontists and they hold onto them as you come in for your new trays while SDC gives them all to you and you are held responsible for your aligners! If I'm saving over $3,000 on my aligners while also learning how to be held accountable for my teeth, I say it's a win win!
After the whole shpiel and a little back and forth of questions, Annalee said I was ready to get my teeth scanned! This is where they differed, at the Brooklyn office, the technician didn't really let me face toward the screen but Annalee asked if I would like to see and even encouraged me saying that it's pretty cool. They are very clean (everything was packaged and anything used was covered) so I felt pretty comfortable. Looking at the scan was pretty awesome and I also realized how badly I need to cut back on the coffee.
After making sure the scan was all good, Annalee had me fill out my preferred payment method. I decided to pay in a single payment to save some $. One thing that made me a little uncomfortable was that they asked for my payment method there on the spot. Although I was assured that they would only charge me if I was eligible, I still felt iffy about it. I'm a little fickle when it comes to bigger purchases so I like having a way out.
Other than that, my appointment didn't take more than 30-40 minutes. It was a painless process and I'm excited for the aligners to arrive!