Metal Mouth Message Board

i am glad that your dentist is willing to work with yu on cost, and that you are going to try and get your bite sorted out. good luck.

let me just say this, as my switch from invisalign to braces was because of resultant bite issues as well. invisalign corrects the upper arch and the lower arch independant of each other. where as with traditional braces the arches can be adjusted together through things like elastics.

just be careful not to go down a raaod that is going to "maybe fix things." if you have 3 orhos that say invisalign will work go ahead. if you have one that says it will and two that encourage regular braces... you get the point

good luck, chris

Thanks to all of you who shared your negative experiences. My dentist encouraged me to use invisalign to correct my upper crowding despite a crossbite and a too-narrow maxilla...I'm having a consult with an orthodontist next week because of my concerns that changing only the crowding will negatively effect my bite. I'm even more glad I insisted on the consult after hearing that other people have had a problem with this (she assured me that it would be fine). At least if the ortho agrees, i'll be a little more convinced.

thought I'd give an update after several months of not posting...

my dentist did give me most of my money back and I've turned around and handed that money (and some more out of my pocket) to an ortho in my area that has done over 300 Invisalign cases, in addition to having 25 years of ortho experience. his job is to fix my bite - which was actually made WORSE by my dentist.

he put together a treatment plan based on some bite analysis that he did - he actually took molds and mounted them on mechanical jaws to get a better look at how my bite was fitting and what needed to be done to fix it.

I'm on tray 3 upper and lower of a 15-tray invisalign treatment... keep in mind that my teeth were already straightenend with 12 months of RWB treatment.

At one point he referenced elastics - from the back of my top arch to the front of my bottom - to pull the bottom teeth back and the top teeth forward. He hasn't mentioned that again, tho, so I don't know if it actually is part of the plan or not.

I can certainly atest now to the fact that invisalign is a more "precise" treatment... the trays fit tighter and seem stronger (but thinner!?) and they have much less of an impact on my speech than the RWB trays did - even after a year of wearing them.

I also like the approach of changing trays every 2 weeks instead of every 6. The pain involved is much reduced, they are easier to keep clean, and psychologically I think you feel better when you change trays more frequently - it feels like your actually making quicker progress.

I know that there is still a possibility that I will have to get traditional braces if he can't fix the bite issues with Invisalign, but he seemed confident that he can, and has guaranteed to fix the problem without any more cash from me - even if it means braces after invisalign.

So, at the risk of repeating myself, my recommendations to anyone considering this for the first time is:
1) go to an ortho, not a dentist.
2) consult more than 1 ortho, and ask how many Invisalign treatments they have done.
3) make sure they are committing to a result, not just a treatment. That is, make sure you understand what happens if you end up with bite issues at the end of treatment - who pays for more treatment?? and while you're talking about money with him, ask if retainers are included in the fee?
4) go for it!

Well this whole topic has just scared the crap out of me... Im on red white and blue and i just went in for my second aligner two days ago. I, like cleveman notice some problems with my bite after the first aligner. My top right central inscisor is hitting my lower right central inscisor not allowing me to close my mouth all the way. I basically had one crooked tooth that this treatment is supposed to fix and if it screws my bite up im gonna be pissed. I guess i was hoping my ortho would make an adjustment after my teeth are straight but after reading all of this Im a little worried.

Hey Slimjim,

I know it can be scary reading all the horror stories out there but try not to worry too much. Everyone's case is different and what works for some may not works for other but that is also true for the flip side, just because someone else has had a problem doesn’t guarantee it will happen to you. Reviews for orthodontics seem to be like anything else, more people seem more likely to post about the bad than the good.

I've had invisalign for a little over 2 years now and I've had a couple of bumps in the road but all and all things seem to be moving right along and so far Im happy with what Im seeing.

As far your bite changing, that seems to be the norm with any ortho treatment (at least from what I've read on these boards) and it does make sense when you think about it - even if your just moving one crooked tooth other teeth need to be moved around to make room so I wouldn’t be too worried if you notice your bite changing while this happens. My bite has changed many times during treatment but Im just trying to go with it and as I get closer to the end if things feel really off I'll bring it up with my ortho.

That being said, maybe its worth expressing your feeling of doubt/worry to your ortho - hopefully he'll be able to give you some words of encouragement.

Hang in there and keep us posted on your treatment!

I had a similar problem with invisalign. Started out with crowding on the top and a few small gaps in the bottom. Treating the two jaws as separate entities, does not work (ceramics on the bottom and invisalign on the top). I ended up with a completely dysfunctional bite. Long story short - I complained about the bite issue early in the 4 year! invisalign treatment and was told repeatedly not to worry (as I went through refinement after refinement)...After 4 years I found a new orthodontist and now have lingual braces. My original orthodontist refunded my entire original fee with little argument.
I would love to know how many invisalign treatment cases have resulted in dysfunctional bites....

I'm shocked to see that I haven't update my progress in over a year. To re-cap, starting in 2006 I had a year of treatment with my dentist using the RWB system. The original issue we were correcting for was a bite issue where 1 of my lower teeth was being impacted by an upper tooth when I bit down. At the end of that year my bite was FAR worse than it was when we started, in spite of the fact that my teeth looked much straighter.

I got most of my $$ refunded from my dentist and started Invisalign with an Ortho in spring 2007. I'm almost 18 months into that treatment, and now on my first revision. I started with 15 trays upper and lower, and this revision has 11 trays, upper and lower (I'm on tray 4 now).

For the first time in almost 2 years I can actually bite now without my front teeth banging. I think I probably have 6 months to a year more to go - my ortho is a very precise guy and will likely use both revisions that are "included" in the full invisalign package. That's fine with me. At this point I want to get it done right, and have become very commfortable with the treatment, to the point that I'll probably feel strange when I DON'T have trays in.

At this point I would highly recommend Invisalign to anyone who asked my opinion - I'm a 35-year-old sales professional and don't at all feel that having Invisalign has gotten in the way of me doing my job. I would STRONGLY recommend, however, that a prospective Invisalign patient go to an Orthodontist with lots of Invisalign experience, not just their family dentist.