DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!!!! I wish someone had warned me. This is a long review so I will bullet point the overall issues first.
-They don't check in during treatment AT ALL!
-Some aligners did not fit
-Damage caused to teeth due to aligners
-Pain caused due to aligners
-Massive dental bills to treat damage
-BYTE giving me a hard time to refund my money
-Really hard to deal with all of this during Covid
-Video Review will be available on YT 11/2/2020 (styledbytshante)
I know this company has good reviews, but PLEASE do extensive research. I was convinced by the reviews that this was a good choice for aligners. I was very, very wrong. Imagine simply wanting a better smile and ending up needing a root canal on one of your very front teeth, needing your wisdom teeth pulled and an uncomfortable bite due to the transverse relationship of your teeth.
The company seems amazing when you first contact them, you receive the impression kit quickly almost overnight. In the beginning you are assigned a representative that is in contact with you to answer questions you may have, but this person is only in close contact with you before you officially commit and purchase. At the time of purchase I was not asked for any doctor's note or dental records, or a physician's approval (keep this in mind for what happens later). Once I received the aligners I read every piece of instruction on the site and within the booklet (I purchased the night aligners, btw). During the the 3rd week I was having a tough time with the fit, I reached out to them to figure out what to do, I was told to cut the aligner to just fit the smile teeth. They were a bit delayed in getting back to me and also note no one ever reached out to me during the entire time to check on how I was doing with the aligners. I reached out to them once again during what should've been my last couple weeks but I could not fit week 8 (top) or 10 (bottom) aligners, which caused me to stay in week 7 and week 9 for 2 weeks. I sent an email to them with photos to which they never responded until I called them more than a week later. At this time I had finally gotten week 8 to fit however unbeknownst to me the pressure I thought was a normal part of the process was indeed not normal. I was experiencing an extreme amount of pain on my front left tooth, I had not worn the aligners for nearly a week at this point due to the pain. They still had not respond to my email, one morning i was in so much pain it felt like my gums were bleeding. I looked in the mirror and realized my tooth was GRAY! After breaking down in tears from both the pain and the shock I placed a call to BYTE, explaining the situation. Far too disappointed, emotional, and in pain I was simply looking for guidance at the time. A representative from the clinical team said to me , "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you may need a root canal." At this time I had not even thought about a round because I was just so concerned about my tooth and the pain. I was told to contact a local dentist and have my teeth examined.
Once I got off the phone with BYTE I ended up on the phone for 2.5 hours trying to secure a dental appointment with a dentist in my network taking new patients (as I had gotten new coverage earlier in the year). Due to Covid not many dentists within my network had appointments in the very near future, I was in too much pain to wait so I decided to go with a small (mom & pop) dental practice as they could get me in quickly. During my visit I was told I had suffered occlusal damage to tooth #9. The dentist pretty much scolded me for using online aligners and not being under the supervision of a physician. I was also informed that my bite was too complexed for such a simple correction and that the transverse relationship of my teeth were totally off and that my wisdom teeth would need to come out, the same wisdom teeth that were just fine a year ago (my left side top and bottom). I have been referred and scheduled with an endodontist to perform the root canal. I don't even know when I get to picket a crown, because this is my very front tooth I am extremely nervous about this.
I relayed all of this information to BYTE, I included the dentist I saw for the visit and the dentist that will be performing the root canal. I was very transparent and thorough in explaining the situation and how much this would be costing me and I most certainly deserve my money back. They responded to me requesting a letter from the dentist on the letterhead, and BYTE stated to me via email that to discontinue treatment, it must come from a dentist, but to start treatment I did not need a letter from a dentist (interesting). After requesting a letter from the dentist through his assistant 3 times, I was simply sent my patient summary, I called back and requested the letter again to which the dentist responded that he was very busy and that it was not his job and that its not very smart to get a medical treatment online, he then told his assistant to draft the letter and email it to me.
Once I received the letter, I immediately sent it to BYTE, to which they later responded to me and said that the letter needed to be signed, dated and a phone number needed to be included, a phone number was included. This is a mom and pop type dental office, they don't have fancy letterheads, the dentist does not even have a privatized email account its simply a gmail. The issue with this is both Covid, it is incredibly challenging to receive proper healthcare right now and the fact that there were no need for a physician's supervision to start the treatment and take my money but now there's a need when its time to return my money and discontinue treatment.
Also note the return of my funds does not make me whole, I did not start this process in need of a root canal, if and when I receive my refund it simply goes to fixing problems that I did not have before purchasing the BYTE treatment plan. To really make the right they should be refunding my money and paying the cost to fix the issues caused. That's the only way to be made whole. Meanwhile I have a dying tooth, an uncomfortable bite, constant pain, and $2149 that went to absolutely nothing. I've not even reached the point of ordering my aligners, what reason would I have to lie??? Why would I continue with something causing me enough pain to cry everyday. Its just insult on top of injury.