Both move teeth. They do not move every tooth equally well, and the honest comparison is about biomechanics rather than appearance.
Where aligners genuinely excel
Mild to moderate crowding, spacing, relapse after previous orthodontics, and tipping movements. The treatment is predictable, the appointments are short, and you can take them out for a wedding. Compliance is the only real variable, and twenty-two hours a day is not a suggestion.
Where fixed appliances still win
Significant rotations of round teeth, bodily movement of roots through bone, closing large extraction spaces, and severe skeletal discrepancies. A bracket bonded to a tooth can deliver forces an aligner cannot replicate, and pretending otherwise leads to long treatments that finish short of the plan.
How we decide
A scan, a full set of records, and a candid conversation. Roughly seven patients in ten are genuine aligner cases. The other three are told so, because a compromised result you did not ask for is worse than a visible appliance for eleven months.
