Hi all
I have been lurking on this site for sometime ever since considering invisalign. I have a lot of crowding on my front lower teeth and have wanted to sort this out for years but didn’t fancy the metal braces route at the age of 34. So I decided to look at veneers following a discussion with my dentist. They also recommended that I speak with the orthodontist before embarking on the veneers as there may be a better way of sorting the problem without the invasiveness of veneers. So after a visit to the orthodontist was quite excited by the prospect of invisalign and after a few weeks deliberating decided to go for it. So in April I had my first appt for the x-rays and impressions etc. I then went back 6 weeks later for a second appt when further impressions were taken that would then be sent to invisalign for the manufacturing of the trays. I also needed a front tooth to be extracted and this happened last Monday 31 July. I then had my appt on Tuesday 1 Aug to have the trays fitted. Initial impressions were good, I have 24 trays (about 10 1/2 months) in total for my lowers and had 6 buttons attached which are very difficult to see. The trays popped on and off ok so I left excited.
I now have some questions:
1. My front teeth adjacent to the extraction have become very sore from the pressure of they tray. Its ok when the tray is on but removing and fitting is quite painful, don’t look forward to it at all! I cannot put pressure on my front teeth when eating, side teeth ok. Is this likely to be where I had the extraction and will ease or it is just a sign of the invisalign working and therefore I have to get used to it? The last 3 days I have been taking painkillers constantly and don’t think its good to take so many for such a long period of time.
2. I have also been suffering from quite a dry mouth and bit of a lisp, I do a lot of speaking with my job and this is a bit of a pain but is it likely to get better? My speech is not right and I get a few strange looks like “are you chewing a sweet or something?â€
New to invisalign and some q's
Moderator: bbsadmin
I had invisalign for a day and couldn't take the ritual of trying to take them out after every meal. It was a 45 minute fiasco with unbelievable pain and discomfort. After trying it, I realized that invisalign isn't as advertised. I went back to my orthodonist and got regular metal braces. I didn't want them either at age 38, but after trying invisalign, I welcomed them. Lo and behold, I am a million times happier with my new Damon braces. The only issue I have at all is I can't yet chew with my front teeth. I can only chew on my side back teeth. Although as each day goes by, it gets easier and I can see that soon I should be able to bite again with my front teeth. I've now had them on for a week and 2 days. I highly recommend the Damon braces over invisalign any day.
One more thing. I had to wait a week before switching from invisalign to braces and they did not remove the attachment points during that time. I can honestly say that eating with those speed bumps for a week was more difficult than it is with regular braces.
One more thing. I had to wait a week before switching from invisalign to braces and they did not remove the attachment points during that time. I can honestly say that eating with those speed bumps for a week was more difficult than it is with regular braces.
tomjscott now u have a mouth full of metal why do u not stick to the correct forum and stop scaring newbies to death, its really rare for anybody to give up on invisalign after a couple of hours i admit not everything about invisalign is perfect but if people were confident enough to wear metal braces then invisalign would be out of buisness the fact is some people would never have any ortho treatment without invisalign so take my hint and do 1 as we say in uk 
Yep, Tom's post about how horrible invisalign is almost scared me off. Luckily I had already done the impressions and so I wasn't about to back out and lose 5000 euros 
I also had a bit of a lisp the first day or two, especially the first sentence or two after I hadn't spoken for a while, but I found that with a few rounds of singing in the car as practice, I was fine
I also keep well hydrated. I have 12 buttons, and popping the trays in and out is a snap now.
I have nothing negative to say about metal braces, but of course with whatever orthodontic treatment you take you will need to adjust and it would be unrealistic to think anything can be completely magically effortless - as Anne said, we ARE moving teeth! As a personal choice for me, the positive aspects of invisalign matched my needs, and I am really happy I chose it! I listed my blog on one of my posts here, feel free to have a look if you're interested.
I also had a bit of a lisp the first day or two, especially the first sentence or two after I hadn't spoken for a while, but I found that with a few rounds of singing in the car as practice, I was fine
I also keep well hydrated. I have 12 buttons, and popping the trays in and out is a snap now. I have nothing negative to say about metal braces, but of course with whatever orthodontic treatment you take you will need to adjust and it would be unrealistic to think anything can be completely magically effortless - as Anne said, we ARE moving teeth! As a personal choice for me, the positive aspects of invisalign matched my needs, and I am really happy I chose it! I listed my blog on one of my posts here, feel free to have a look if you're interested.
Kris --- if you're feeling more pain than you think you should be experiencing, by all means phone your dental office to voice your concerns. The added trauma with the extraction would certainly make a difference to the pressure pain exerted by your first set of aligners - that's only natural.
Most of us feel more pressure upon removing the trays once our teeth have begun movement, but it usually lasts only a short time & you may even prefer the feeling of having your aligners in most times. Some teeth may be tender for a few days because of that, but will feel better as you get into the 2nd week with each aligner.
No doubt your lisp is noticable to no one but yourself & it will go away soon. You've got some good advice from Meryaten above. I'm sure the process will get much easier for you as you get used to it all. Please continue to let us know how your treatment is going as you progress - it helps us all to compare notes.
Tom - having read all about your experience, I'm amazed your ortho let you leave his office before making sure you could comfortably remove your aligners when they were first inserted. They would be full aware of the size of your mouth & surely must have some difficulty in even working in it if your own finger & thumb can barely fit in. Did you ever try using a small piece of paper towelling to help you grasp the aligners? It makes all the difference in the world & has been suggested at these forums often. My mouth is also considered small & I've not had any problems at all - each experience IS unique.
Hopefully your treatment continues to go well, but it may be just a bit premature to extoll the virtues of conventional braces after only 9 days of wearing them in comparison to aligners when only having had Invisalign in for one. There are benefits & drawbacks to both systems. And there are plenty of patients very happy with the benefits of Invisalign in these forums - myself included. Just as many "horror stories" can be found from brace wearers. Can you tell us what problems you are having fixed?
Most of us feel more pressure upon removing the trays once our teeth have begun movement, but it usually lasts only a short time & you may even prefer the feeling of having your aligners in most times. Some teeth may be tender for a few days because of that, but will feel better as you get into the 2nd week with each aligner.
No doubt your lisp is noticable to no one but yourself & it will go away soon. You've got some good advice from Meryaten above. I'm sure the process will get much easier for you as you get used to it all. Please continue to let us know how your treatment is going as you progress - it helps us all to compare notes.
Tom - having read all about your experience, I'm amazed your ortho let you leave his office before making sure you could comfortably remove your aligners when they were first inserted. They would be full aware of the size of your mouth & surely must have some difficulty in even working in it if your own finger & thumb can barely fit in. Did you ever try using a small piece of paper towelling to help you grasp the aligners? It makes all the difference in the world & has been suggested at these forums often. My mouth is also considered small & I've not had any problems at all - each experience IS unique.
Hopefully your treatment continues to go well, but it may be just a bit premature to extoll the virtues of conventional braces after only 9 days of wearing them in comparison to aligners when only having had Invisalign in for one. There are benefits & drawbacks to both systems. And there are plenty of patients very happy with the benefits of Invisalign in these forums - myself included. Just as many "horror stories" can be found from brace wearers. Can you tell us what problems you are having fixed?
Tomjscott -
How long did it take you to get your trays from the time you got your impressions made?
What happen to the trays when you decided to go w/metal braces after one day?
Did you get all your trays on your first visit?
Did you throw them away?
Did you get a refund?
My ortho would have worked with me on getting my trays out. I have a very small mouth and I was taught several ways to get me trays out. I dont understand why your ortho would just say after 24 hours - lets go with metal braces. What a waste of money!!! And his/her time too.
How many buttons did you have?
The most I ever spent on getting my trays out is 1 minute. Yes, at first it hurt, but 45 minutes... ? Is that exaggerated or what?
Did you really have Invisalign?
Your post dont make sense to me.
I have several friends/family/coworkers that have Invisalign now and everyone is happy. I know 26 people personally that have Invisalign, and no problems.
Another post, I think you mentioned something about hurting when you had your buttons removed. I had some buttons removed and it didnt hurt. What hurt you?
I think I would actually be questionable of your ortho too... for him/her just to say .... lets go w/metal braces after all the prep work for Invisalign.
But then... if you complained a lot to the dentist I would have slapped metal braces on you too.
How long did it take you to get your trays from the time you got your impressions made?
What happen to the trays when you decided to go w/metal braces after one day?
Did you get all your trays on your first visit?
Did you throw them away?
Did you get a refund?
My ortho would have worked with me on getting my trays out. I have a very small mouth and I was taught several ways to get me trays out. I dont understand why your ortho would just say after 24 hours - lets go with metal braces. What a waste of money!!! And his/her time too.
How many buttons did you have?
The most I ever spent on getting my trays out is 1 minute. Yes, at first it hurt, but 45 minutes... ? Is that exaggerated or what?
Did you really have Invisalign?
Your post dont make sense to me.
I have several friends/family/coworkers that have Invisalign now and everyone is happy. I know 26 people personally that have Invisalign, and no problems.
Another post, I think you mentioned something about hurting when you had your buttons removed. I had some buttons removed and it didnt hurt. What hurt you?
I think I would actually be questionable of your ortho too... for him/her just to say .... lets go w/metal braces after all the prep work for Invisalign.
But then... if you complained a lot to the dentist I would have slapped metal braces on you too.
It was a couple of months.Tomjscott -
How long did it take you to get your trays from the time you got your impressions made?
I returned the one tray that I received to my orthodontist.What happen to the trays when you decided to go w/metal braces after one day?
No, just the first one.Did you get all your trays on your first visit?
The orthodonotist has them and I don't know what is being done with them.Did you throw them away?
No. However, my orthodontist was generous enough to allow me to continue to make the same payments as if I had invisalign and put the braces on for no extra charge.Did you get a refund?
Because I told him there was absolutely no way those things were going back in my mouth. My experiences was so horrible that I'd have even eaten the entire cost if I had to. And you think I must be really whimping out right? Funny that I have no problems with my regular braces and I am very, very happy.My ortho would have worked with me on getting my trays out. I have a very small mouth and I was taught several ways to get me trays out. I dont understand why your ortho would just say after 24 hours - lets go with metal braces. What a waste of money!!! And his/her time too.
I'm not sure. Maybe 6.How many buttons did you have?
No, that wasn't exaggerated even 1 minute.The most I ever spent on getting my trays out is 1 minute. Yes, at first it hurt, but 45 minutes... ? Is that exaggerated or what?
Yes, I really had invisalign. What doesn't make sense about my post? I'm a little insulted that you'd think I'd make this up.Did you really have Invisalign?
Your post dont make sense to me.
I guess I'm just different.I have several friends/family/coworkers that have Invisalign now and everyone is happy. I know 26 people personally that have Invisalign, and no problems.
One of my teeth is very sensitive to anything (e.g. cold liquids, puff of air, etc.). When they started polishing it off with whatever that tool is, it hurt the closer it got to the tooth.Another post, I think you mentioned something about hurting when you had your buttons removed. I had some buttons removed and it didnt hurt. What hurt you?
He didn't say to do it. I told him that's what I wanted and after explaining my horrors of invisalign he agreed. Also, both my daughters go to him. One just got her braces off and the other just got hers on. He likes our family and was being very diplomatic in making sure I was happy and I got what was best in the end. What's to be skeptical about?I think I would actually be questionable of your ortho too... for him/her just to say .... lets go w/metal braces after all the prep work for Invisalign.
You make it sound like slapping metal braces on was a punishment. Compared to invisalign, I prefer it a million times over.But then... if you complained a lot to the dentist I would have slapped metal braces on you too.
Thanks for the comments.
I am now just over one week into my treatment (L1/24) and things have settled down. My experiences so far:
- Tooth pain. This has now settled down, I still cant chew food with my front teeth but this is getting better. I suspect that the discomfort I had was due to the tooth extraction as the teeth that were most painful were adjacent to the extraction.
- Invisalign tray. No one has noticed that I am wearing a tray (or if they have they haven’t said anything), this may be helped as I am only having treatment on my lower teeth. In fact, it more noticeable that something is different when I have the tray out as I am missing a tooth in the front so I actually prefer to be wearing the tray as this covers the extraction up. To test this I sat with my parents for an hour last week before telling them I had now started my treatment, they couldn't tell and were amazed when they realised. I have also worked out how to insert and take off without any real discomfort now which is great. I basically loosen one side at back and work round to the front and they pop off. To insert I start at front and it pops on from there. It only takes a couple of seconds, I have never found it difficult to insert/remove trays but it was painful but now seems much better.
- Lisp and dry mouth. The lisp has pretty much gone except for when the tray first goes in after eating as it takes a few words to get used to it again, this however is no longer a problem. The dry mouth is getting better or I am getting used to it. I have been drinking a lot of water which is a good thing
- Convenience / Inconvenience. Its convenient that you can take he tray out to eat and drink, I probably average 2 hours out in total during a day for eating. This conveyance is also and inconvenience as you cant eat with the trays in and need to find somewhere to clean your teeth afterwards before inserting. I am sure this will ease over time as it becomes normality.
I have read the comments also about teeth tipping following an extraction. I am hoping that I am ok here as when I first discussed treatment with my ortho he mentioned that my upper teeth would not be candidate for invisalign as I would need 2 extractions to sort our the upper crowding. However, my front teeth are not too much of a problem and it was my lowers that I really wanted to sort out. My lowers would need 1 extraction but this was a front tooth that was actually in front of two other front teeth where it had been pushed forwards over time. Therefore, after extraction the actual gap between the adjacent teeth is very small anyway. I will however keep an eye on this and forewarned is forearmed.
To summarise, I am underway although early days but now feeling pleased with my decision to embark on invisalign and had it not been for invisalign then I would never has started this journey in the first place. I will report back along the way.
Thanks, Kris
I am now just over one week into my treatment (L1/24) and things have settled down. My experiences so far:
- Tooth pain. This has now settled down, I still cant chew food with my front teeth but this is getting better. I suspect that the discomfort I had was due to the tooth extraction as the teeth that were most painful were adjacent to the extraction.
- Invisalign tray. No one has noticed that I am wearing a tray (or if they have they haven’t said anything), this may be helped as I am only having treatment on my lower teeth. In fact, it more noticeable that something is different when I have the tray out as I am missing a tooth in the front so I actually prefer to be wearing the tray as this covers the extraction up. To test this I sat with my parents for an hour last week before telling them I had now started my treatment, they couldn't tell and were amazed when they realised. I have also worked out how to insert and take off without any real discomfort now which is great. I basically loosen one side at back and work round to the front and they pop off. To insert I start at front and it pops on from there. It only takes a couple of seconds, I have never found it difficult to insert/remove trays but it was painful but now seems much better.
- Lisp and dry mouth. The lisp has pretty much gone except for when the tray first goes in after eating as it takes a few words to get used to it again, this however is no longer a problem. The dry mouth is getting better or I am getting used to it. I have been drinking a lot of water which is a good thing
- Convenience / Inconvenience. Its convenient that you can take he tray out to eat and drink, I probably average 2 hours out in total during a day for eating. This conveyance is also and inconvenience as you cant eat with the trays in and need to find somewhere to clean your teeth afterwards before inserting. I am sure this will ease over time as it becomes normality.
I have read the comments also about teeth tipping following an extraction. I am hoping that I am ok here as when I first discussed treatment with my ortho he mentioned that my upper teeth would not be candidate for invisalign as I would need 2 extractions to sort our the upper crowding. However, my front teeth are not too much of a problem and it was my lowers that I really wanted to sort out. My lowers would need 1 extraction but this was a front tooth that was actually in front of two other front teeth where it had been pushed forwards over time. Therefore, after extraction the actual gap between the adjacent teeth is very small anyway. I will however keep an eye on this and forewarned is forearmed.
To summarise, I am underway although early days but now feeling pleased with my decision to embark on invisalign and had it not been for invisalign then I would never has started this journey in the first place. I will report back along the way.
Thanks, Kris
It was quite easy, i was discussing the possibility of veneers with my dentist and she recommended that i also consider alternatives and meet with the ortho linked to the practise to discuss. The ortho told me about what options i had and that i would be a case for invisalign on my lower teeth but not the uppers. As it was really the lowers i wanted sorted i decided to go with it.
i had similar problem the first appointment i had which terrified the sesame out of me the ortho kept pushing the veneers on me but i kept saying a quick fix solution was not the way for me, i was worried that i would not be able to see the results until the work had been done which i could end up like a smiling donkey and be out of pocket many thousands at the end of the day an overbite is an overbite and need fixing properly 