Your software plans 3 mm of intrusion. The patient achieves 1.7 mm. A 2026 systematic review found that clear aligners typically deliver only 50-60% of planned lower incisor intrusion in deep-bite cases. The movement is real. The predictability gap is real too. This article explores what that means for case selection, treatment planning and why many deep-bite refinements can be predicted before the first aligner is delivered.

Most aligner complications are not technical failures. They are risk decisions made too late - or not made at all. This article explains why clear aligner treatment requires risk management, not just better support, software, or technicians - and why this is ultimately a leadership issue in modern dental practice. Written for clinicians who already treat aligner patients.

Most aligner treatments don’t fail because aligners “don’t work.”They fail because the wrong decisions were made before the first aligner was ever delivered. That statement tends to make experienced clinicians