The Candid aligners lawsuit history has two very different sides: a resolved patent fight with SmileDirectClub that ended in Candid’s favor, and a stream of consumer complaints tied to the company’s abrupt 2022 exit from the direct-to-consumer market. If you are a former Candid customer looking for legal options, the most important fact is buried in the fine print: Candid’s terms of service require binding individual arbitration and prohibit class actions.
Candid Shut Down Its Direct-to-Consumer Business in 2022
On January 24, 2022, Candid announced it was closing its entire direct-to-consumer operation along with all 45 of its physical Candid Studios.1PR Newswire. Candid Closes Its DTC Offering and Doubles Down on CandidPro At the start of 2021, DTC sales had accounted for 99.5% of the company’s revenue.2Modern Retail. Candid CEO Nick Greenfield on Why the Dental Brand Shut Down Its DTC Business
CEO and co-founder Nick Greenfield said patient feedback showed a preference for treatment under an in-person doctor rather than a fully remote model, and pointed to rising digital advertising costs and iOS privacy changes that made customer acquisition more expensive.2Modern Retail. Candid CEO Nick Greenfield on Why the Dental Brand Shut Down Its DTC Business The company pivoted to CandidPro, a business-to-business platform selling telehealth tools and aligner services to dentists and orthodontists.1PR Newswire. Candid Closes Its DTC Offering and Doubles Down on CandidPro Candid did not publicly detail a transition plan for existing DTC customers at the time of the closure.3Dental Products Report. Candid Closes Direct-to-Consumer Business
One important boundary here. In December 2024, the New York Attorney General announced a $4.8 million refund settlement for over 28,000 SmileDirectClub customers who were improperly charged for aligner installments after that company stopped providing treatment. That settlement involves SmileDirectClub and its financing partner Healthcare Finance Direct only. Candid was not a party to it and it does not cover Candid customers.4Spectrum News. NY Attorney General Recovers $4.8 Million From SmileDirectClub
What Customers Are Complaining About
Candid’s Better Business Bureau profile shows 72 complaints filed over a three-year period. Service or repair issues top the list at 31 complaints, followed by product issues at 27, with smaller categories covering sales, delivery, and billing.5Better Business Bureau. Candid BBB Profile – Complaints
Recurring themes in those complaints:
- Treatment results customers say fell short, including new gaps between teeth, bite misalignment, or incomplete correction after finishing the prescribed aligner cycles.
- Difficulty reaching a human support agent, with customers reporting robotic or unhelpful responses when they asked for refinements.
- Being denied additional aligners because of expired timelines or being flagged as “non-compliant” for missing scan deadlines.
In its written responses, Candid has generally said it defers to each patient’s treating orthodontist to decide whether more treatment is warranted, and that customers must follow specific wearing protocols and complete scans on schedule to remain eligible for additional treatment or refunds. In several cases, after a BBB complaint was filed, the company agreed to reopen closed cases, provide new refinement aligners, or issue full refunds.5Better Business Bureau. Candid BBB Profile – Complaints Filing a BBB complaint, in other words, has sometimes produced a result that direct customer service did not.
You Cannot Sue Candid in Court or Join a Class Action
Candid’s consumer terms of service, last revised in May 2024, sharply limit what a customer can do legally. All disputes must be resolved through binding arbitration before a neutral arbitrator rather than in court. You waive the right to a jury trial. Arbitration must proceed on an individual basis, and class actions and class-wide arbitration are explicitly prohibited.6CandidPro. Terms of Service
There is one structural exception written into the contract: if a court finds the class action waiver invalid, the entire arbitration clause becomes void, which would reopen the door to traditional litigation. Absent that, arbitration is the only path.
The mechanics of the arbitration itself:
- The American Arbitration Association administers the case under its consumer rules.
- Hearings are generally conducted by teleconference or video.
- Each party bears its own costs and shares the arbitrator’s fees, but Candid has agreed to cover filing and hearing fees if a user demonstrates the costs would be prohibitive.
- The terms include a broad limitation of liability, disclaiming warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, and capping Candid’s liability for indirect or consequential damages to the maximum extent allowed by law.
- New York state law governs the agreement.6CandidPro. Terms of Service
The SmileDirectClub Patent Fight
The lawsuit most often associated with Candid is a corporate patent dispute, not a consumer case. In April 2020, SmileDirectClub sued Candid in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, alleging that Candid had copied its business model for providing clear aligners through a remote, technology-driven workflow.7Becker’s Dental Review. Candid Sues Rival SmileDirectClub Over Patent The case, SmileDirectClub, LLC v. Candid Care Co. (No. 20-0583-CFC), was assigned to Judge Colm F. Connolly.8vLex. SmileDirectClub LLC v. Candid Care Co.
Judge Connolly dismissed the case, ruling that the asserted patent was invalid under 35 U.S.C. § 101 for claiming patent-ineligible subject matter. The court found the patent did not describe any new intraoral scanners, aligners, or advances in computer technology. It characterized the claimed invention as a “business model” and a “workflow” for scheduling and performing orthodontic scans and treatment without in-person dentist involvement, which the court concluded was an abstract idea rather than a patentable innovation.8vLex. SmileDirectClub LLC v. Candid Care Co.
On August 17, 2021, SmileDirectClub was issued a third patent covering its “SmileShop and digital customer treatment journey,” part of the same patent family the Delaware court had already invalidated. Candid preemptively sued in Wilmington federal court, seeking a declaratory judgment that the new patent was invalid and arguing it was “essentially the same as one already ruled invalid.”9Bloomberg Law. SmileDirectClub Sued by Candid Care in Expanded Patent Fight That case, Candid Care Co. v. SmileDirectClub, LLC (No. 24-1000), reached the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which issued a nonprecedential order on November 7, 2024.10U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Candid Care Co. v. SmileDirectClub LLC, Order
SmileDirectClub filed for bankruptcy in the fall of 2023 and ceased operations in December 2023, which effectively mooted much of the practical significance of the patent dispute.11DrBicuspid. ADA, AAO, Align Hit With Antitrust Lawsuit
If You Have a Complaint Against Candid
Given the arbitration clause, a customer with a treatment or billing dispute has a few realistic paths. Filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau has, in Candid’s own responses, led to reopened cases, additional refinement aligners, and refunds in specific instances.5Better Business Bureau. Candid BBB Profile – Complaints Where that fails, the contractual next step is individual arbitration through the AAA under the terms above, with fee assistance available on a showing of financial hardship.6CandidPro. Terms of Service Class action is not available unless a court first strikes down the waiver.