Candid Clear Aligners in Orland Park, IL

If you’ve been thinking about straightening your teeth but the idea of metal brackets has held you back, Candid Clear Aligners are worth a closer look. They’re nearly invisible, removable for meals and brushing, and — at Inspire Dental Wellness — paired with a remote-monitoring system that uses AI to keep your treatment on track between in-office visits.

Dr. Erica Zolnierczyk uses Candid for adult patients in Orland Park whose cases involve mild to moderate alignment concerns: minor crowding, gaps, or a bite that’s drifted out of place over time. For more complex movement, jaw-development cases, or airway-focused orthodontics, she’ll point you toward the right path — see the right-fit section below.

What makes Candid different

Several clear aligner brands are on the market today. They look similar at a glance — thin, transparent trays you swap out every couple of weeks. The differences are in how the case is planned, who reviews the progress, and what happens between in-person visits. Here’s where Candid stands out:

Doctor-directed treatment planning

Every Candid case is planned in collaboration between your treating dentist and a U.S.-licensed orthodontist on the CandidPro clinical team. That second clinical perspective reviews the digital scan, the proposed tooth movements, and the biomechanics before any aligners are manufactured. It’s a layer of oversight that not every aligner system in the same price tier offers.

CandidMonitoring — AI-assisted check-ins from home

This is the feature most patients tell us about by week two. CandidMonitoring is an FDA-cleared remote monitoring system: every 7 to 14 days, you take a quick scan of your teeth using the ProMonitoring app on your phone (a specialized scanbox that ships with your aligners makes the geometry consistent). The scans are analyzed by AI down to the millimeter for tracking, fit, and aligner seating, and your case is flagged for review whenever something needs a clinician’s eye.

What that translates to in real life: small issues — an aligner that isn’t fully seating, a tooth that’s tracking slower than the plan — get caught early instead of at the next office visit. And because the tracking is happening continuously, fewer routine in-office check-ins are needed. Most Candid patients at Inspire Dental Wellness come in only when there’s a clinical reason to.

ZenduraFLX aligner material

Candid aligners are made from ZenduraFLX, a multi-layer thermoplastic designed to deliver more sustained force than single-layer aligner materials and to hold its shape during the full wear period. It’s BPA-free and laser-trimmed for a smoother edge against your gumline. The trays are designed to be worn 22 hours a day — out for meals, brushing, and flossing; in for everything else.

Streamlined in-office time

Mild-to-moderate Candid cases at our office typically run 4 to 12 months. The combination of remote monitoring plus pre-staged aligner sets means most of that time is spent at home or work — wearing trays, swapping them on the schedule we set together, and submitting your weekly scan. Your treatment fits around your life, not the other way around.

Is Candid the right fit?

Clear aligners are a great option for many adults, but they’re not the answer for every case. We’d rather have an honest conversation up front than start a treatment plan that’s not the best path for you.

Candid is typically a good fit for

• Adults age 16 and up looking to address mild-to-moderate alignment concerns
• Minor crowding, spacing, or rotation cases
• Bite-relapse work after old orthodontic treatment has shifted
• Patients who want a discreet, removable option for the work day or for professional environments
• People who travel often or have schedules that don’t accommodate frequent in-office visits

Candid is not the right tool for

• Severe crowding or significant skeletal bite issues
• Cases that need surgical orthodontics or significant jaw repositioning
• Children and most adolescents — for kids through age 15, Dr. Erica’s preferred path is early-intervention orthodontics that supports facial and airway development (see functional orthodontics)
• Adults seeking palate expansion or airway-focused work — Dr. Erica refers these cases to a trusted functional-orthodontic provider

If your case is on the border, we’ll tell you. And if a case turns out to be more complex than what aligners can address, we’ll connect you with a board-certified orthodontist who can take it from there. Inspire Dental Wellness is a general dental practice — not an orthodontic specialty office — and we believe in pointing patients toward the right clinician for the work that needs doing.

How Candid works at our office

Here’s what to expect from your first visit through the end of treatment.

1. The consultation

If you’re new to our office, your first appointment is a roughly two-hour combined hygiene visit and extended consultation with Dr. Erica. We use a digital intraoral scanner — no goopy impressions — to capture a precise 3D model of your teeth and bite. We talk through your goals, the alignment concerns you’ve noticed, your history with orthodontics, and what kind of timeline fits your life. If Candid looks like a fit, you’ll see a preview of the projected tooth movements before any commitment.

2. Treatment planning

Your scans, photos, and records are reviewed in collaboration with the CandidPro clinical team. A U.S.-licensed orthodontist on that team works alongside Dr. Erica to confirm the proposed movements, the staging, and the projected number of aligners. Once the plan is approved on both ends, your custom aligner set is manufactured and shipped to our office.

3. Aligner delivery

You’ll come in to receive your full aligner set, your ProMonitoring scanbox, and instructions for the daily wear schedule and your scan cadence. We’ll review how to seat the aligners, when to swap to the next set, what to do if something feels off, and how to use the app. You leave with everything you need.

4. Daily wear + remote monitoring

Aligners stay in 22 hours a day, out for meals and brushing. Every 7 to 14 days, you’ll do a quick scan with the ProMonitoring app from home — it takes a few minutes. The AI analyzes the scan against your treatment plan; if anything is off, the case gets flagged and either Dr. Erica or the CandidPro clinical team reviews it and follows up directly. Most weeks, you’ll never need to come into the office.

5. Wrap-up + retention

When you’ve worked through your aligner set, we bring you back in for a final review. If a small refinement is needed to dial things in — common with any aligner system — we’ll plan it then. After that, retention is the single most important step: a custom retainer keeps your teeth where you’ve worked to put them. Skip retention and the teeth will drift, often back toward where they started. We’ll discuss retainer options at your wrap-up visit.

The Candid track record

Per Candid’s published clinical data, roughly 90% of cases finish as planned with one or zero refinements — the additional aligner sets sometimes needed to fine-tune the final result. That’s a useful benchmark to know going in: refinements are normal and built into many cases, not a sign that something has gone wrong. Dr. Erica will discuss what your projected timeline looks like, including the possibility of refinement, at your treatment-plan review.

Real-world results vary based on the complexity of the case, how consistently aligners are worn, how reliably the weekly scans are submitted, and individual biology. We’ll be candid (yes, the pun is on purpose) about what we expect and what’s outside what aligners can do.

Cosmetic alignment vs. functional and airway orthodontics

This is the question we hear most often, so we want to be clear about it.

Candid Clear Aligners straighten the teeth. They’re a cosmetic and bite-alignment tool — excellent at moving teeth into a planned position, well-suited to closing gaps, correcting minor crowding, and refining a bite that’s drifted. They are not designed to develop the jaw, expand the palate, or address upper-airway and breathing concerns.

Functional and airway-centered orthodontics is a different approach: it works with the underlying skeletal structure — the upper jaw, the palate, the position of the tongue, the way the airway is developing — and is most effective when started early in childhood. For kids through age 15, Dr. Erica’s preferred path is functional orthodontics. For adults whose primary concern is airway, palate width, or jaw development rather than tooth alignment, we refer to a trusted functional-orthodontic colleague who specializes in adult expansion work.

If you’re not sure which lane your situation falls into, that’s a great conversation to have at your consultation. We’d rather walk through both options with you than start one and discover it wasn’t the right one.

Investment and financing

If you have orthodontic benefits, there’s a good chance you can put them toward treatment here. Inspire Dental Wellness is independently owned and operated and not contracted with dental plans — a deliberate choice that lets us spend the time and use the materials that match the way we believe dentistry should be practiced.

Clear aligner investment depends on the complexity of the case, the number of aligners required, and whether refinement aligners are part of the plan. We’ll review benefits with you, handle the paperwork, and walk you through the full investment at your consultation — there are no surprise fees and no charges that show up after the fact.

Third-party financing is available through CareCredit for patients who’d like to spread the investment over time. Learn more about financing options.

Frequently asked questions

How long does Candid treatment usually take?

Most mild-to-moderate cases at our office run 4 to 12 months. Your specific timeline depends on the complexity of the case, how consistently you wear the aligners, and how reliably you submit your weekly remote-monitoring scans.

Is Candid the same as Invisalign?

They’re both clear aligner systems but different brands with different planning workflows, materials, and monitoring approaches. Candid pairs the in-office digital scan and treatment plan with AI-assisted weekly remote monitoring through the ProMonitoring app — that combination of doctor-directed planning plus continuous remote oversight is what drew us to Candid as our aligner system of choice.

How often will I need to come into the office?

Less often than with most clear aligner systems. Because Candid uses AI-assisted weekly remote scans, routine “everything is on track” check-ins don’t need to happen at our office. You’ll come in for the consult, the aligner delivery, and the final wrap-up — plus any visit specifically flagged by the monitoring system.

Will my teeth shift back after treatment?

Without retention, yes — teeth tend to drift toward their original positions over time. That’s why a custom retainer is part of every Candid treatment we plan. We’ll discuss retainer options at your wrap-up visit.

Do you treat children with Candid?

For patients age 16 and older, yes. For kids through age 15, Dr. Erica’s preferred path is functional orthodontics — early-intervention work that supports the way the jaw and airway develop, not just the alignment of the teeth that have already come in.

What happens if I lose an aligner?

It happens. Reach out to our office right away — depending on where you are in the set and how the case has been tracking, the answer is usually either move to the next set early, go back to the previous set for a few extra days, or order a replacement. Don’t go aligner-free for more than a day or two while you sort it out.

Can I drink coffee while wearing my aligners?

Take them out for coffee, tea, wine, and any colored beverages. Those drinks can stain the aligners and lock the staining onto your teeth. Plain water is fine while wearing them; everything else, the aligners come out and back in after you’ve brushed.

If you’ve been thinking about straightening your teeth and want to know whether Candid Clear Aligners are a fit for your situation, the first step is a consultation. Dr. Erica will review your goals, scan your teeth, and walk you through the plan that makes the most sense — including referring you elsewhere if a different specialist is the better answer. Honest, no-pressure conversation — that’s how we work.

Call us at (708) 460-6699 or request an appointment online.