With clear aligner therapy from Golden Hill Family Dentistry, you can achieve a healthy, beautiful smile, often in less time than you thought possible!

Clear Aligners in Lakewood, CO

our front desk Taking care of your smile shouldn't feel like a compromise between your confidence today and your health tomorrow. Clear aligners are a modern, virtually invisible way to straighten your teeth using custom-made, transparent trays that apply gentle, consistent pressure. At Golden Hill Family Dentistry, we believe that achieving a healthy smile should fit seamlessly into your everyday life, not disrupt it. We focus on providing personalized, patient-centered care that honors your schedule, protects your budget, and prioritizes your long-term wellness.

Beyond a Straight Smile: Protecting Your Oral Health

While clear aligners are wonderful for your confidence, correcting misaligned or crowded teeth is vital for your long-term wellness. When teeth overlap or have wide gaps, they create hidden pockets where food and bacteria gather. This makes them incredibly difficult to clean and increases your risk for cavities and gum disease.

Our goal is to partner with you to create a functional, healthy mouth by:

Closing Gaps: Eliminating the spaces where debris easily gets trapped.
Aligning the Bite: Correcting overbites, underbites, and crossbites to prevent uneven, painful wear on your enamel. Proper alignment can also help support balanced jaw function, which is especially important for patients managing broader TMJ symptoms and jaw pain.
Improving Function: Supporting your natural jaw structure while enhancing how you chew and speak.

Why We Choose OrthoFX® Clear Aligners

To deliver the safest, most predictable results for our Lakewood neighbors, we proudly offer OrthoFX® clear aligners. This advanced system gives you the smile you’ve always wanted without the hassle, bulk, or sharp wires of traditional metal brackets.

Comfort and Flexibility for Your Lifestyle

Unlike traditional braces, these custom trays fit snugly over your teeth, allowing you to speak clearly and attend business meetings or classes with total confidence. You simply wear them for 20 to 22 hours a day, removing them only to eat your favorite foods, brush, and floss. Your normal routine stays exactly the same.

Your Lakewood Clear Aligner Consultation Process

When you visit our Lakewood, CO, dental office for an orthodontic consultation, here's what you can expect:

Discussion and Goal Setting

We’ll start by asking you about your dental history and discussing your concerns and smile goals. This will help us determine if clear aligners are a good option for your smile.

Comprehensive Oral Exam

Next, we’ll perform a thorough examination of your teeth and gums and check your jaw alignment. We need to ensure that your mouth is healthy enough for clear aligner therapy.

Digital Scans and Imaging

Using the latest technology, we’ll capture digital 3-D images of your entire mouth. These x-rays and photographs will help us customize a treatment plan for your unique smile.

Treatment Plan Preview

Once we’ve gathered all the information and created your treatment plan, we’ll discuss it with you and answer all your questions about costs, financing, and estimated treatment time.

Frequently Asked Questions

While some clear aligner wearers experience slight speech issues, these concerns are usually temporary. And the good news is that after a few weeks, any aligner-related speech issues can be a distant memory if you follow some simple rules.

Speech Changes With Clear Aligners: What to Expect

Although speech issues are usually short-lived, you may find that you have difficulty with “s”, “sh”, or “z” sounds when you begin treatment. This happens because your aligners add a small amount of volume, requiring your tongue to adapt to the difference.

If you consistently wear your aligners for 20-22 hours each day, you should adjust quickly.

Helpful Tips to Follow

There are some things you can do to adjust to your clear aligners, including:

Read or speak out loud; this can help you adapt more quickly.
Practice any words or sounds that are giving you trouble.
Drink plenty of water to avoid a dry mouth.

Ready to Learn More About Clear Aligners in Lakewood, CO?

If you live in Lakewood or the surrounding area, we’d love to hear from you! At Golden Hill Family Dentistry, our goal is to help every patient achieve the healthy, beautiful smile they deserve.

To schedule an orthodontic consultation, please call us at (303) 237-1553.

Wearing clear aligners for 20-22 hours each day is the most effective way to straighten your teeth and keep your treatment timeline on track. Your comfortable, clear aligners are designed to fit snugly over your teeth, making them a discreet orthodontic option for many teens and adults.

Daily Clear Aligner Tips

Here are some care and maintenance tips to follow during clear aligner therapy:

Remove your aligners before eating, brushing, and flossing your teeth. This will keep you from damaging them.
Brush and floss before reinserting your aligners. Use fluoride toothpaste and a soft bristled toothbrush.
Use lukewarm water and gentle soap to clean your aligners. Hot water can damage them.
Store your aligners in their case when you’re not wearing them. This can help you avoid loss or damage.
Switch to a new set of aligners according to your treatment schedule, and attend any dental appointments to monitor your progress.

Questions About Clear Aligners in Lakewood, CO?

If you’d like to learn more about clear aligner therapy in Lakewood, our experienced dental team will happily assist you! At Golden Hill Family Dentistry, we’ll do whatever we can to help you achieve straighter teeth and a more beautiful smile.

Please give us a call at (303) 237-1553 for more information or to book an appointment.

What to Expect: Our Step-by-Step Process

Smiling woman holding up an OrthoFX clear aligner tray at Golden Hill Family Dentistry in Lakewood, CO We know that starting any dental treatment can bring up a lot of questions. To give you complete peace of mind, we have mapped out exactly how your journey unfolds so there are never any surprises.

Step 1: Your Private Consultation
We sit down together to discuss your goals and answer your questions about timeline and costs. We use an advanced digital scanner to take a fast, comfortable 3D image of your mouth without the need for messy or choking putty.
Step 2: Mapping Your Transformation
Using your 3D digital model, we design a customized movement plan. You will actually get to see a digital preview of how your teeth will move and what your final smile will look like before we even get started.
Step 3: Receiving Your Custom Trays
Once your custom OrthoFX® trays are fabricated, you will come back in to ensure the first set fits perfectly. We will give you clear guidelines on how to easily pop them in and out.
Step 4: Progress and Protection
You will wear your aligners for 20 to 22 hours a day, switching to a new set at home every one to two weeks. We will check in periodically with quick, low-stress progress visits to ensure your teeth are tracking perfectly toward your goal, while also being available if you ever experience unexpected pain or need emergency dental care during treatment.

Your New Smile is Within Reach

We believe financial concerns should never stand between you and a healthy mouth. Our administrative team takes the stress out of the paperwork by dealing directly with your insurance provider and filing claims on your behalf. To ensure care is genuinely accessible to our neighbors in Lakewood, we offer multiple flexible payment pathways:

Smile With Grace Savings Plan: Our direct in-house plan gives you an immediate 15% discount on clear aligner therapy (excludes non-covered lab fees).
Flexible Financing: We gladly accept HSA and FSA funds, offer Sunbit payment plans, and provide an interest-free, in-house 3-month payment structure.

Whether you live right here in Lakewood or are visiting us from neighboring communities like Golden, Wheat Ridge, Applewood, or West Denver, our team is ready to welcome you. Let’s work together to give you the healthy, comfortable smile you deserve.

Ready to see your future smile? Book your Lakewood consultation today.

Our Team

Meet More of Our Team

Dr. Grace Rudersdorf DDS

Dentist and Practice Owner

Dr. Grace Rudersdorf is the proud owner and lead dentist at our practice in Lakewood, CO. She brings a thoughtful blend of clinical expertise, compassion, and a deep commitment to patient education. She began her …

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Dr. Carson Spornhauer DDS

Dentist

Dr. Carson Spornhauer brings a thoughtful blend of creativity, clinical excellence, and genuine care to her role as a general dentist at Golden Hill Family Dentistry. Since joining the practice in 2023, she’s been committed …

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Clear Aligners Smile Gallery

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Testimonial

She takes such great care and is so understanding.

Dr. Grace and her team are amazing. I have severe panic attacks, especially at the dentist after a terribly traumatic experience years ago. Grace is the only dentist I will even consider working with. She takes such great care and is so understanding. I have been seeing her since she started her practice and am so glad I found her.
-Del

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Blogs

patient holding clear aligners in lakewood co

September 21, 2026

What to Expect During Your First Week with Clear Aligners

So, you’ve picked up your clear aligners, and suddenly that dream of a straighter smile feels a lot more real. Exciting, right? If you’re considering clear aligners in Lakewood, CO, your first week is an important part of getting comfortable with your new routine.

Days 1–2: Getting Used to Your Aligners

Your first day may feel a little strange. You’ll likely notice some pressure or tightness as your aligners gently guide your teeth toward their new positions. This is normal and often a sign that your aligners are doing their …