New Invisalign Wearer Questions

[boaster]

I was initially excited about wearing invisalign but after reading things here have some concerns.

1) My orthordontist told me treatment will take 12 months for appearance, and 6 more months after that to get my bite into normal alignment. I asked if traditional braces would be faster and he said, in my case, probably not. 18 months seems like an awfully long time. He said I'd need to wear a retainer for 6 more months after that, but only at night. Does this seem like an excessive amount of time?

2) I had not even CONSIDERED that Invisalign might be painful, but am reading a lot of postings saying that it is. This concerns me. I cannot take aspirin or motrin because they give me terrible nosebleeds, and Tylenol is the most worthless pain drug ever created (i.e. it does nothing). The thought of being in constant pain for 18 months has me very fearful. How painful would you say invisalign is? (I have sinus problems which often cause my top teeth to ache as it is).?

3) Does invisalign significantly affect speech? This is a vanity question.

4) Do you have to take invisalign out to drink coffee (no sugar, just coffee with a dash of skim milk)? If not, will coffee badly stain the aligners?

Thanks!

[harvardboi]

I would say that Invisalign has not been as painful as I expected. You can expect the first week to be the worst and there is pressure for a few days after you change your aligners. Any time you move your teeth there will be a moderate amount of pain involved. You will get used to it. I do not take anything for the pain as I have not found it to be bad enough.

My speech was effected for about the first week and now I sound a bit funny when I remove them to eat. Your speech will change anytime you put anything foreign in your mouth.

I have choosen not to dring anything with sugar or that is hot while I have my aligners in. The heat might cause your aligners to warp and the sugar might cause decay. I would be more worried about the heat then the sugar. This is a personal choice.

[invisagirl]

Here are my answers to your questions:

1) No 18 months doesn't sound excessive. It probably means your case is a medium level of difficulty. From what I have observed at my ortho's office easy cases are finished in less than a year, medium cases range from a year to two years and difficult cases are greater than two years. A caveat is the time is an estimate. I originally had a treatment time of 23 months and I'm now at 28 months with at least 6 months left. I knew the possibility of it taking longer was high when I started (my friends who went the traditional route all got their treatment times extended through no fault of their own) and I was o.k. with that (mostly cause I didn't think it would happen to me )

2) Invisalign is only uncomfortable when you switch into a new aligner. I always do it at night and I have no problem sleeping. I've never taken anything for pain. Your teeth will be sore at times but its nothing I haven't been able to handle and I don't think my pain tolerance is really high.

3) Your speech will be affected for the first few days while you adjust but soon you'll be talking like you always have.

4) They recommend you don't drink anything but water with the aligners in. I drink seltzer with them in all the time and it hasn't promoted any decay. Every now and then I'll have a clear soda and just rinse my mouth out when I'm done but I stay away from colored beverages. The reason to stay away from colored beverages is that it will seep into the aligner and make your teeth look really, really weird.

Hope the info helps!

[rooroo]

1) Not at all. Sounds like a pretty normal amount of time, in fact a little shorter on the retainer wear than I was told to expect. I was expecting all the time for at least 6 months if not a year, then at night for 2-3 years after that.

2) Invisalign is much less painful than traditional braces. It's more of a pressure, or aching pain than sharp pain. And it often goes away within a day or two from when you put the new trays in. As with the others that have replied I never used painkillers except when I first got them. I use pain killers almost every adjustment with braces.

3) I had trouble for 2-3 days, then was noticably slurring for about 2 weeks. After that I had no trouble at all. You may have more or less trouble, but the best part is if you have a presentation to give, you can just take them out for the 30 minutes it takes to give it!

4) I absolutely would. No hot liquids at all with them in. I didn't drink anything more than water with mine in. Always brush after meals too, keeps the aligners much cleaner.

[boaster]

Thanks for the info...it is appreciated...

I was going to go the cosmetic dentistry bridge route since it is much quicker but everyone kept telling me to keep my real teeth as long as possible so we'll see how it goes