I have seen two different orthos for recommendations on Invisalign. I first saw a regular ortho who told me that I am not a good candidate for Invisalign b/c the crowding is too severe and it would take up to two years to correct and I would need braces at the end of the treatment. They quoted me almost $8,000 CDN for Invisalign vs. $5000 CDN for traditional braces. I then went to an ortho that is one of the 'premium Invisalign providers' and he had no doubt that I was a candidate for Invisalign and told me treatment would be one year and the cost would be $6,000 CDN.
I am really confused because these two recommendations are so conflicting! Do you think the Invisalign ortho was just trying to get me to sign up, knowing that treatment could take much longer and be more expensive?? Has anyone else received different opinions like this? Any help would be appreciated as I would just like to get started on treatment, whether it's regular braces or Invisalign.
Thank you.
Conflicting Invisalign recommendations
Moderator: bbsadmin
Invisalign
Here's my suggestions, as I go through this: Make sure your dentist is an qualified "orthodontist". Then understand the pros and cons of wearing plastic in your mouth 24 hours a day for how long? They give you an estimated time frame, but there is no guarantee that the aligners will move your teeth where the aligners want them to go, then if they don't, you're back to square one, starting over with more trays.
And, FYI, I had a 5 month wait between my last tray in my first set of treatment and my next set of trays. You are at the whim of the Invisalign staff as to when they answer their phones or not, and you cannot contact them, they will only talk to your doctor.
I thought my treatment would be an easy one, 3-4 months max, then refinements. Not so. I'm now into my 10th month and I'm basically starting over.
And let me elaborate on one more of my comments, what if one tooth won't move and it keeps all the others from moving. You can't back track, your doctor is issued a series of trays, you have to complete those before anything else can be done to go back and try to move that one.
And it is my understanding that I only have 3 chances for "refinements"
Seriously consider all aspects! When I started, I didn't. I probably would have taken the cheaper route and "real" braces!!
And, FYI, I had a 5 month wait between my last tray in my first set of treatment and my next set of trays. You are at the whim of the Invisalign staff as to when they answer their phones or not, and you cannot contact them, they will only talk to your doctor.
I thought my treatment would be an easy one, 3-4 months max, then refinements. Not so. I'm now into my 10th month and I'm basically starting over.
And let me elaborate on one more of my comments, what if one tooth won't move and it keeps all the others from moving. You can't back track, your doctor is issued a series of trays, you have to complete those before anything else can be done to go back and try to move that one.
And it is my understanding that I only have 3 chances for "refinements"
Seriously consider all aspects! When I started, I didn't. I probably would have taken the cheaper route and "real" braces!!
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thunderkat
- Posts: 17
- Joined: Wed Jan 21, 2009 10:59 am
Thank you for your feedback and I am sorry you are going through all that frustration. It seems like Invisalign involves quite a bit of ambiguity, which can probably be avoided with traditional braces. I will most likely obtain at least another 1 or 2 opinions before I decide on what I want. Does anyone know of any good orthos in the Toronto (west) area or how to find a reputable one?
How crowded are your teeth? My doc said I need to expand my lower arch by 5mm. 1mm of this will come from filing and the rest from tooth movement. It will require 18-24 trays. So you should find out how much your teeth are crowded and you can compare to other cases like mine. Invisalign can handle crowding/spacing of 5mm
I had two different opinions - one from a dentist and another from an orthodontist. The dentist was willing to use Invisalign if we got a decent Clincheck back, but the orthodontist said my bottom set was too crowded to recommend Invisalign. The orthodontist had far less experience with Invisalign, so I guess they weren't confident with it.
I went with the dentist because the Clincheck showed a sensible result. It arrived with comments pointing out potential difficulties and I was okay with each of these. They were: 1) Extrusion of an incisor (it has been short my entire life and I am accustomed to it) and 2) Rotation of a canine tooth. I hadn't realised the canine tooth was so rotated and it doesn't impact on the aesthetics of my smile or clash with any other teeth, so again I was okay if Invisalign failed to correct it.
It cost me £250 to get the Clincheck back and we tried a couple of different versions (with and without extraction) before I agreed to go ahead. Is that a possibility for you? It helped me enormously to feel in control of the process and in full receipt of all the points made by Invisalign.
I went with the dentist because the Clincheck showed a sensible result. It arrived with comments pointing out potential difficulties and I was okay with each of these. They were: 1) Extrusion of an incisor (it has been short my entire life and I am accustomed to it) and 2) Rotation of a canine tooth. I hadn't realised the canine tooth was so rotated and it doesn't impact on the aesthetics of my smile or clash with any other teeth, so again I was okay if Invisalign failed to correct it.
It cost me £250 to get the Clincheck back and we tried a couple of different versions (with and without extraction) before I agreed to go ahead. Is that a possibility for you? It helped me enormously to feel in control of the process and in full receipt of all the points made by Invisalign.
Initial set: 31 upper / 17 lower
1st refinement: 14 upper / 10 lower
2nd refinement: 10 upper / 5 lower
1st refinement: 14 upper / 10 lower
2nd refinement: 10 upper / 5 lower
I think a lot of times braces or Invisalign takes longer than expected. With both you still have to wear them after the movement is done until the teeth get fixed in place. Like someone else said, if you have a complicated Invisalign case then you may need 1 or 2 sets of refinements and with each there is a waiting time. My first set of refinements took 2 months to get. So what I thought would be a little over a year is looking like 2 years, but I am used to wearing them so it doesn't seem like a big deal.
It seems like people usually get wildly different opinions from different orthos/dentist. I guess you just have to think about all options then go with what makes sense.
It seems like people usually get wildly different opinions from different orthos/dentist. I guess you just have to think about all options then go with what makes sense.
I have an unusual case where my orthodontist recommended Invisalign over regular braces. I'm being treated for a severe deep bite where my lower teeth were biting into the gums behind my upper front teeth. The problem was bad enough my upper gum receded enough to start exposing the tooth root. Fortunately, this happened only a couple of weeks before my aligners arrived - which took over seven weeks.
My initial consultation resulted in a recommendation for braces for 18 months and a bite plate. However, when I went in for my records consultation, my orthodontist noted that I would be difficult to treat since I had root resorption from a previous ortho treatment and that I would require frequent X-rays to verify no further root damage was occurring. If it did, he would have to periodically have to stop treatment for a while. With Invisalign he had better control over movement of the tooth with the root problem. He did clarify his position further by pricing regular braces the same as Invisalign.
After seeing comments about refinements and delays, this is something I need to check on since I have a three step treatment plan that includes correcting movement on my upper and lower arches, intruding my six lower front teeth, then extruding my rear molars. My orthodontist noted I may have to finish with regular braces if he can't get the results he want from Invisalign.
I was getting optimistic that I might be able to finish early since I have 21 trays for my lower teeth, which would work out to less than a year at two weeks per tray. However, it looks like refinements are relatively common. A friend is wearing Invisalign and she just had a refinement that added six months to her plan. I think I'm seeing a dose of reality here!
It would be interesting to find out how many patients have had Invisalign treatments with no refinements vs those who have required them. I'm also concerned about what happens with attachments when new molds are taken for refinements. I have seven, five of which are larger rectangle shape about the size of a normal bracket.
My initial consultation resulted in a recommendation for braces for 18 months and a bite plate. However, when I went in for my records consultation, my orthodontist noted that I would be difficult to treat since I had root resorption from a previous ortho treatment and that I would require frequent X-rays to verify no further root damage was occurring. If it did, he would have to periodically have to stop treatment for a while. With Invisalign he had better control over movement of the tooth with the root problem. He did clarify his position further by pricing regular braces the same as Invisalign.
After seeing comments about refinements and delays, this is something I need to check on since I have a three step treatment plan that includes correcting movement on my upper and lower arches, intruding my six lower front teeth, then extruding my rear molars. My orthodontist noted I may have to finish with regular braces if he can't get the results he want from Invisalign.
I was getting optimistic that I might be able to finish early since I have 21 trays for my lower teeth, which would work out to less than a year at two weeks per tray. However, it looks like refinements are relatively common. A friend is wearing Invisalign and she just had a refinement that added six months to her plan. I think I'm seeing a dose of reality here!
It would be interesting to find out how many patients have had Invisalign treatments with no refinements vs those who have required them. I'm also concerned about what happens with attachments when new molds are taken for refinements. I have seven, five of which are larger rectangle shape about the size of a normal bracket.