In a lot of Carol Stream households the aligner question is not one question. It is a teenager whose teeth are crowding as the last adult ones come in, and a parent who never had braces and has been meaning to do something about a front tooth for years. Dr. Henry Kim, DMD treats both in one office, plans each case from a Trios 3D scan, and puts the price in writing before either of you commits. The office is about 10 minutes up Schmale Road, and it starts with a $99 new-patient exam.
Clear aligners suit more people than they used to, and still not everyone. The adult with mild crowding, a gap that opened over the years, or teeth that drifted after braces as a kid is the classic case. So is the teenager whose teeth and bite the scan shows are ready for trays, and who would rather not spend high school in brackets. Both are treated the same way here: exam, scan, plan, trays, retainer.
Where it stops is the bite. Some jaw relationships and some kinds of tooth movement need a fixed appliance, and a tray cannot do that work however carefully it is worn. That is decided from the scan, not from a photo, and if a case in your family lands on that side you hear it at the consult. Our clear aligners vs braces guide walks through which cases tend to fall where. The general treatment page is clear aligners; this page is about how it works when more than one of you is thinking about it.
Two people in treatment does not have to mean two calendars. This is a family practice, so a teenager and a parent can be scanned, planned and checked by the same dentist, and appointments can be booked back to back where the schedule allows. Check-ins are short, so pairing them is usually easy.
Each plan is still its own plan. A teenager and an adult in the same house rarely need the same amount of movement, so each gets a separate preview, a separate timeline and a separate written price. Nobody is quoted a household number and left to work out who costs what.
Teens are treated here as family dentistry patients, by a general dentist, and the parent is part of the conversation from the scan onward. The practical questions come up early: whether the habit will hold, what happens to the trays at practice or in a band room, and who is keeping track of the tray changes at home.
Questions worth asking any office when more than one of you may be in treatment, this one included.
No case is promised off a photo. A picture sent from a phone cannot show how the back teeth meet or how much room there is to move. Whether trays will do the job is confirmed from the Trios scan and the exam.
No teenager is started on hope. If the scan shows teeth or a bite that trays cannot handle yet, that is said out loud at the consult and nothing is ordered. A plan that will not track is worse than waiting.
No braces here, and no pretending otherwise. This office offers a clear aligner system, not brackets and wires. When the scan says a case needs a fixed appliance, you are told so, clearly, before you spend anything.
No trays over untreated teeth. Decay or gum trouble found at the exam is dealt with first. Aligners move healthy teeth; they do not fix anything underneath.
Wear time is the whole game. The FDA says aligners should be worn at least 20 hours a day or as your dentist directs. Trays only move teeth while they are in, and a set that lives in a pocket does not move anything. For a teenager, that habit is worth talking about before the first tray, not after the second check-in.
Plain water is fine with the trays in; everything else means trays out. Meals, snacks, sports drinks, the coffee on the drive to school. Out, eat or drink, rinse, back in. A case in a backpack and a case in a work bag saves a lot of trays from napkins.
A lost tray is a phone call, not a crisis. Call the office before putting a different set in, and you are told what to do next for that plan.
Attachments. Many plans bond small tooth-colored bumps to a few teeth so the tray has something to grip. Our guide to clear aligner attachments and buttons explains what they do.
Teeth that have just been moved want to go back, and the first months after the last tray are when it happens. A retainer keeps them where the trays left them. For a household this is the part to plan for: the teenager finishing sooner still needs to wear the retainer as directed, and the adult finishing later does too. What relapse looks like, and how it starts, is covered in retainers after clear aligners.
How long treatment runs depends on the case. Most patients finish in several months to about a year, depending on the case, and two people in one house will usually finish at different times.
Each person starts with the $99 new-patient exam with X-rays. The aligner price depends on how much movement that mouth needs, so it is set after the scan, and you get an exact price at your consult, in writing, for each plan separately, before you commit to anything.
Financing is available and most PPO insurance is accepted. Where a plan carries orthodontic benefits, what it is likely to pay is checked for each person before you decide.
When a parent is hearing the options for a teenager, the details matter twice. The whole appointment, from the scan results to each plan and each price, can happen in Vietnamese, Korean or Spanish, and the teenager can hear it in English at the same visit.
From Carol Stream, head north on Schmale Road. It becomes Bloomingdale Road at Army Trail Road and brings you nearly door to door. Gary Avenue works just as well from the west side of town. Figure about 10 minutes from most Carol Stream neighborhoods, without touching a tollway. The office is at 183 S. Bloomingdale Rd., Suite #102, Bloomingdale, IL 60108, with parking at the door.
Everyday care for the rest of the family is on our Carol Stream dentist page, and dental implants for Carol Stream covers replacing a missing tooth.
Dr. Henry Kim, DMD, 183 S. Bloomingdale Rd., Suite #102, Bloomingdale, IL 60108. One general dentist plans and checks every aligner case, and the same chart carries the cleanings, so a family is not split across an orthodontic office and a dental one. Hours are Monday 9 to 6, Wednesday 9 to 6, Thursday 10 to 6 and alternating weekends, closed Tuesdays. Read more on the bio page or the new patients page.
The practice is rated 4.8 stars across 126 Google reviews. Two are below, word for word, and the reviews page has the rest.
“My son has special needs and has been coming here since elementary school; he’s now in high school. He has always received thoughtful and kind care. The staff is patient and understanding. Highly recommend.”
Yunkyung Lee, Google review
“My experience with Dr. Kim’s office has been extremely positive. Henry at the front desk greets patients, answers the phones, and makes appointments with a smile. Dr. Kim resolves your dental issues with as little pain as possible, alongside his assistant, Pris. I would highly recommend Dr. Kim.”
Kathleen Kretch, Google review
Yes. Both of you are examined and scanned here, each case gets its own plan and its own written price, and check-ins can be booked back to back where the schedule allows. It is one practice and one dentist for the whole household.
It depends less on age than on the teeth. Whether a teenager’s teeth and bite are ready for trays is decided from the exam and the Trios scan, not from a birthday, and you are told plainly whether trays are the right tool now, later, or not at all for that case.
Call the office before putting a different set in. What happens next depends on where that plan is, and the office tells you at the time.
Each plan is priced separately, after the scan, because the cost depends on how much movement that mouth needs. You get an exact price in writing at the consult before committing. The $99 new-patient exam and X-rays come first, and financing is available.
Often, yes. Teeth that drifted after braces are a case trays are often used for. The scan confirms whether the movement needed is within what trays do, and a retainer afterward keeps them where the trays left them.
The FDA says aligners should be worn at least 20 hours a day or as your dentist directs. In practice that means out for meals and cleaning and straight back in, for adults and teenagers alike.
Usually not, and that is fine. Most patients finish in several months to about a year, depending on the case, and two people in one house rarely need the same amount of movement. Each plan carries its own estimate.
Book a $99 new-patient exam for each of you. Call (224) 520-8665 or use the contact form and mention you would like the visits together; the office will look for a block that fits.
Book the $99 exam for whoever in the house is thinking about it. The scan shows who is a candidate, and each of you gets a written price before anything is ordered. Call (224) 520-8665 to arrange it.
Related pages: family dentistry · general dentistry for Carol Stream · retainers and relapse · all services · clear aligners in Bloomingdale · clear aligners vs braces · cleanings and exams · clear aligners in Addison · cosmetic dentistry in Itasca · emergency dentist in Addison · cosmetic dentistry in Wood Dale