Metal Mouth Message Board

Hey guys just wanted to post a before and after photo from my treatment. My lower teeth were pretty straight so I'm not including a photo of them - the uppers are really what I wanted corrected. Here's my treatment timeline: August 4, 2008: Quad helix installed February 16, 2009: Quad helix removed,...

If I were you I would ditch the fixed retainer and get a set of clear (essex) retainer trays to wear at night. That's what my ortho gave me and I couldn't be happier! Sure I have to pop them in at night, but it's not a big deal. It has only been about 5 days but they fit quite snug.

I just finished my Invisalign treatment :D I had 12 lower trays and 15 upper trays. Once I was finished with the uppers, my ortho had me wear them full time for an additional four weeks before going to nighttime wear. They took a mold of my teeth and gave me a set of clear retainers. I basically hav...

I put in my last set of upper invisalign trays 2 weeks ago - my lowers were done 6 weeks prior. My ortho says I need to wear them full time another 4 weeks and then I can go to night time wear. This means my uppers have only been in place six weeks before going from full-time wear to part-time wear....

Today they removed my quad helix expander. I am 27 years old and I had to wear it 6 1/2 months. The difference is amazing already! I start my Invisalign treatment in 6-8 weeks, or however long it takes them to create the trays. The gap will be difficult to treat without jaw surgery, but I'll be happ...

wow your progress looks amazing already! I'm also 27 and about to begin the same treatment as you, quad-helix for 6 months and then invisalign. I'm really really nervous about the expander. I'm not sure how i'll be able to deal with the speech thing. Did you have to take any time off work? Did you ...

chicklets wrote:Wow, what a difference already, Zipp!!!!! I had my expander for 6 months, and it worked well, but I never got used to talking or eating with it.

Looks like mine will come out at about 6.5 months - I'm not only counting the days I'm counting the hours until it's removed!

hello i see that you have an expandeer and was just wondering if you needed surgery along with it? also how was it to wear? i was told i would probabl need to wear one during my treatment thanks for any reply trw2 Nope, no surgery. I'll admit, the first week was bad. It was difficult to eat and I w...

Hi Guys, I'm 27 years old and five months into treatment. I have to wear my quad helix expander for another 6 weeks and then I start on Invisalign. I am already more confident when I smile. The gap might not get much better due to the way my jaw is positioned - but at least my teeth will be straight...

Pain hasn't been that bad. A few teeth that the metal wire pushes against were tender for a few days. The piece of metal that anchors to my molars sticks out to the sides a bit so that irritated my cheeks slightly. I'd say the most uncomfortable part of the quad helix has been a sore tongue. Some da...

My ortho also said I would only have trouble taking for an hour or so - definitely not the case for me. I noticed that not all quad helix expanders go behind all of the teeth like mine. If yours doesn't cover your front-most teeth I think it will be a lot easier to talk normally. Similarly, my ortho...

Hi Blonde - welcome! I'm 27 and I've had my quad helix in for four weeks, I'll try to help out since no one else has replied yet. 1. It took a solid 2 weeks before I became fairly accustomed to the apparatus. 2. I'll be honest, even after 4 weeks I have difficulty annunciating certain words. The fir...

$6200 for expander plus invisalign from a premier invisalign DDS. My insurance covered $2000 of that.

Hi Guys. I'm 27 and had my quad helix expander installed five days ago. Some of my teeth were pretty tender the first few days, and chewing was difficult. Most of the pain has subsided and it's a lot easier to eat harder foods now. Other than this slight tooth sensitivity, I don't feel any pain. I w...

Hi Folks. I just turned 27 and have never been happy with my smile. I decided to do something about it and scheduled a consultation with a premiere Invisalign DDS in Southern California. Three days later, I had my separators in place and I was on my way to a better smile. My tentative treatment is a...