Invisalign Start to Finish

Message

#1 Post by **Jeff** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 9:57 pm

I'm curious how many people actually make it all the way through a course of treatment with invisalign with no "real braces" refinement. My original plan for invisalign was 30 top and 15 bottom trays with the bottom trays starting with the 16th top. I changed them out every two weeks and was quite obsessive about trying to keep them in for the 23 hours a day my ortho advised. After about 20 trays on the top, my teeth weren't keeping up with the required movement and became ill-fitting to the point where there was an unslightly gap between the tray and one of my top-middle teeth.

I went in to make a refinement mold and was surprised to find out that I had 25(!) more trays prescribed for the top but the course for the bottom was reduced by about 5 trays. When I made it to the last tray for the bottom, it was clear that my teeth were nowhere near where the clinchek showed they were supposed to be. Rather than dealing with more plastic, I opted to punt and go with traditional metal braces while continuing the invisalign on the top.

This situation went on until about a month ago when it became clear that the top teeth were never going to wind up where they were advertised to be either. At that point, the trays weren't fitting correctly over my molars, which by the way weren't even close to being in alignment top to bottom. i.e. my bite is completely messed up.

Despite my disappointment with the product, there were some good things. Although they didn't make my teeth perfect, they did lessen some crowding on the bottom, and they did move a couple of molars in the right direction. Hardly anyone noticed them (until they didn't fit) and it was nice to be able to floss in fewer than 10 minutes which is what it takes me now.

Now, I find this website and see that I'm not alone. I'd be interested to hear others' stories (good and bad) about going the distance with invisalign.

#2 Post by **johnnys_angel** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 2:13 pm

Hi Jeff

I'm sorry for the late reply!! For the most part, people get invisalign to correct crowding, and then get braces to finish the job, or to fix jaw work. I hope this helped!

#3 Post by **Jeff** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 11:37 am

Angel, I'm afraid I have to disagree with your premise. People choose Invisalign (and the added cost) specifically to avoid the hassle and the aesthetics associated with traditional braces. I would be willing to bet that it's a negligibly small percentage of Invisalign consumers who buy into the product expecting to put on metal later.

If Invisalign marketed itself as a very expensive precursor to regular braces, they would be out of business in very short order.

I'm not at all bitter about my Invisalign experience despite how I'm probably coming across in this forum. There were some things that I was quite pleased with, in fact. I just really want to hear a full-up success story from an Invisalign alum.

#4 Post by **Icesk8er** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 12:30 pm

Jeff,

Sorry I can't help with your full success story, but I did want to chime in with you on your reply to Johnny's Angel...I paid $5k for invisalign with the promise that I could avoid braces. It's now been 25 months and I am getting braces to finish treatment this month. I am not amused about it, but I suppose the only good thing I can say is that Invisalign lessened the time (hopefully!) that I will have to spend in real braces. However, if I had sucked it up from the beginning I would have been done 10 months ago, not 6 months from now which is the current estimate.

#5 Post by **johnnys_angel** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 6:28 pm

Wow, Ice and Jeff! I really had no idea that people go through such hassle with these things. I think it's almost dishonest that people are promised 'no braces' when they end up out $8k with train tracks! Thanks for setting me straight, guys

Happy smiling!

#6 Post by **tinseltown** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 4:52 pm

I had the same experience. I was quoted seven months in invisalign and I'd be done. A year and a half later and into my second modelling, I was told that I'd have to go to TinselTown! It's now been a year and a half in Tinsel for a total of three years in ortho appliances and I'm still not done and don't think I'm even close to done. Will the hell never end?

It was very disappointing to buy into the invisalign and then realize it was a waste of time. I was very diligent in keeping them on for 22 hours or more. They just don't have the torque to move teeth like the Tinsel does. Even then, the whole process is a trial and error methodology and my teeth are very stubborn. I've probably got another year to go. So...seven months in Invisalign turns into four years of tweaking. Then I get to spend more dough on the veneers!

#7 Post by **Jeff** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 7:53 pm

Hmm, I'm beginning to think that no one has a fully satisfactory experience with Invisalign. Including myself, I personally know of 4 people who finished unhappy. Looks like more of the same here.

I'm now into my third year in orthodontics when I had pretty decent teeth to start with.

#8 Post by **Leslie022** » Fri Jan 20, 2006 9:59 pm

Invisalign isn't right for everyone...my ortho told me NO! He said it might fix my problem but it would be likely that it wouldn't.

#9 Post by **cordelia** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 10:32 am

hi, jeff, et al.
yes, id love to hear from anyone who has completed invisalign treatment and been in a total success without having to wear braces at all. i am considering of having my teeth done with invisalign/similar invisible clear tools. my ortho said my case is treatable with invisalign and am seeing another one in a week time and another in a month time.

but it sounds that quite a few have had to wear traditional braces like those here. indeed, ive seen no single response claiming total success with invisalign in this forum or anywhere else on the net. well, maybe, if you are totally done and have had no problem, then you might not need to post anything in a forum in the first place, but id like to know anyone whos absolutely happy with the outcome with invisalign, not someone in progress but done with it.
xx

#10 Post by **Pinkie** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 8:43 am

This is very scary! I'm getting my first aligners in 2 hours time..

You sure it's not just that some people's teeth aren't suited to just Invisalign?

My friend has been having othodonic treatment since she was 13! She's now 26! Not invisalign but some people are seriously unlucky so that's the way i'm trying to look at it in case Invialign isn't successful for me..

#11 Post by **tinseltown** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 9:31 am

I was told by my Dentist (after the invisaligns weren't working) "it's common that regular braces are put on Invisalign patients 'just to finish up.'" In my case the "finishing up" is taking YEARS. Just be aware that the Invisalign promise may be an empty one, depending upon your response to treatment.

#12 Post by **Pinkie** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 9:35 am

Hmm it's a bit to late for me now as i'm literally about to log off and head to the Ortho

Oh well, fingers crossed!!!

#13 Post by **diehard** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 1:02 pm

best bit of advice i can give you is put the trays in on a friday night before going to bed so then you have them in for 8 hours or more and if you are like me u do not want to be uncomfortable at work because if u put them in on friday night then u will have no discomfort on monday morning.

#14 Post by **Pinkie** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 1:35 am

Thanks it's good advice - it's kind of what i did last night! I don't feel too bad today, i am taking painkillers though but it's not too bad! I'm interviewing people for a job in my work later though so not really looking forward to that with the speech a bit dodgy and all!

The worst bit is how annoying it will be for eating etc! Bottom tray is a bit more uncomfortable that the top - let's see how it goes!

Cheers

#15 Post by **Big E** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 9:48 am

Hi everyone!

New guy here. I'm on week #8 of Invisalign and my fourth set of aligners. I've got 24 uppers and 35 lowers altogether. So far it's been all good. My speech is good and no one notices them.

And my teeth seem to be tracking fine. So far the aligners have been pretty tight and make my teeth sore for the first 3-4 days. Then they feel like they fit my teeth perfectly for the remainder of the 2 weeks until I switch them out. I've been pretty good about wearing them 22+ hours per day.

There do seem to be several threads on this board about negative Invisalign results and people ending up having to wear braces. I'm curious to hear if these folks went to a "premier provider" orthodontist and how complicated their cases were. My ortho is a premier provider who has treated hundreds of patients with Invisalign. He says only the extreme cases end up in regular braces at the end, and he tells them this up front.

For those of you looking for some positive Invisalign results, check out:

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/InvisalignUsers/

There is a recent post on there about a patient who went through 70 aligners without a revision.

I hope everyone gets the results they want!

Eric