Patient journey
What happens, from first call to retention
Orthodontic treatment is a long relationship. Knowing the shape of it in advance makes it easier to decide whether to start.
On this page
What happens, from first call to retention
1. Enquiry
You call the clinic or complete the appointment form. You will be told what a comprehensive consultation includes and what it costs before you commit to anything. Nobody can quote a price for treatment at this stage, because the treatment has not yet been determined.
2. Comprehensive consultation
Allow around an hour. The appointment covers your concerns in your own words, your medical and dental history, and a full clinical examination — the teeth, the bite, the jaw joints and muscles, the soft tissues, nasal breathing and facial proportions. Records are taken where they are needed to answer a specific question: photographs, a digital scan, and radiographs or a CBCT where indicated.
3. Diagnosis and options
The findings are explained to you: what the problem is, what is causing it, and what the options are — including doing nothing, which is a real option and is discussed as one. For each option you should be told what it can achieve, what it cannot, how long it takes, what it will cost and what the risks are. This is also the point at which you may be told that the answer is not orthodontic.
4. Consent
Consent is a conversation, not a signature. You are entitled to take the written plan away, think about it, get a second opinion and come back. A practice that pressures you to decide on the day is telling you something about itself.
5. Active treatment
Appliances are fitted and adjusted on a schedule appropriate to the mechanics — typically every six to ten weeks, more frequently during phases like MARPE activation. Progress is compared against the plan at each visit, and the plan is revised where the response differs from what was expected. That is normal; biology is not uniform.
6. Debond and retention
Appliances are removed and retainers fitted the same day. Retention is not the end of treatment; it is a permanent part of it. Teeth move throughout life, and the only reliable way to hold an orthodontic result is to keep wearing retainers indefinitely. This is explained before treatment starts, not afterwards.
7. Long-term review
Retainer checks, repair or replacement of bonded retainers, and review of any ongoing condition — jaw joint symptoms, sleep appliance fit, bite changes — continue after active treatment finishes.
Frequently asked questions
How long is the first appointment?
Allow around an hour for a comprehensive consultation, including examination, discussion and records. Shorter appointments are available for specific single questions, but they will not produce a treatment plan.
Can I get a treatment plan without attending?
No. A plan requires examination and records. General information can be given by phone or email, but a diagnosis and plan cannot be produced remotely — and any clinic that offers to do so is guessing.
Page last reviewed: 2026-09-10. This page is general health information about orthodontic care and is not a diagnosis, a treatment plan, or a substitute for an in-person clinical examination. Suitability for any treatment described here can only be established after a consultation, clinical assessment and the appropriate records. If you have symptoms that concern you, seek advice from a qualified clinician.
Appointments
Arrange a specialist orthodontic assessment in Dubai
Consultations take place at Manhal Medical Center, Al Safa 1, Dubai, in English or Arabic. Every assessment begins with a full clinical examination and, where indicated, 3D imaging — not a treatment quote.