Align Technology, an American multinational medical-device company. The company's clear align system has been used to treat more than 12.2 million patients. The company was founded in 1997 by Zia Chishti. Chishti conceived of the basic design of InvisAlign while an adult orthodontics patient. During his treatment with a retainer intended to complete his treatment, he posited that a series of such devices could effect a large final placement in a series of small movements. Sales began in the U.S. in 1999. Orthodontists were resistant to adopting Invisalign at first, in particular because the founders had no orthodontic credentials or expertise, but the product became popular among consumers. As of 2014, 80,000 dentists had been trained how to use it. Orthoclear Zia Chishti was ousted from Align Technology in 2002. In 2005 he developed Orthoclear, a similar product, which resulted in several legal disputes involving allegations of patent infringement, false advertising, defamation and trademark infringement. The case was settled in 2006. Align paid OrthoClear $20 million and OrthoClear agreed to end its operations. ClearCorrect ClearCorrect, LLC, based in Round Rock, Texas, was established in 2006. The company distributes its product throughout the United States, and in 2011 was named the fastest-growing health company in America by Inc. magazine. It has been reported that in 2017 its clear align system had been used to treat about 80,000 patients. ClearCorrect was founded in Houston, Texas, by Willis Pumphrey, Jr., a dentist. In 2001, Pumphrey started using Invisalign. He decided to switch to OrthoClear, because of the way OrthoClear manufactured its aligners and because of its reduced lab fees. When manufacture of Orthoclear ceased, Pumphrey had 400 patients in treatment. With no other options available, he started his own company to complete his patients' clear aligner treatment. Direct to Consumer Brands SmileDirectClub SmileDirectClub, based in Nashville, Tennessee, was launched in 2014 as an alternative to in-office clear aligners. The company offers direct-to-consumer clear aligner service which can be availed from home, without having to see a dentist. This allows them to price aligners at half of the other competitors. The company faces criticism from the orthodontic community because of no involvement of a physical dentist. Similar startups have also launched in different parts of the world. Direct to consumer clear aligner services Following SmileDirectClub, multiple companies provide aligner treatment to patients by mailing their aligners and monitoring the treatment through a digital platform.