Metal Mouth Message Board

I was told I would wear invisalign for 18 months and my cost was $6000. I only have to wear them for 40 weeks. Should my cost have decreased?

Also, should I have been given a video of my treatment plan with my first aligners?

Thanks!

I paid $6200 for eight trays (16 weeks). I've heard of people paying less but I guess it depends on the ortho.

And no, I didn't get a video. Your ortho might be able to show it to you if you ask!

I only have 9 trays for the top and 15 for the bottom and I'm still paying the full cost of 5,600, which is what my ortho charges. I never got a video, infact when I went to get my first set, it was a quick visit. They put them on, gave me the box with the cases, some cleaning aids and I was on my way.

ok...maybe I won't complain!

i get my moneys worth 35 lowers and 47 uppers

my understanding is that there are 2 pricing levels that Ortho's pay Invisalign... Invisalign express is anything under 10 sets of trays and includes 1 revision (I think). Full Invisalign is anything over 10 trays and includes 3 revisions. I thought that Express was like $1000 cost to the ortho and Full was like $2000... which sounds really cheap compared to what ortho's charge for the treatment... but that doesn't include ortho time or "chair time" or mark-up.

and if you have like 60 sets of trays, obviously you're taking up much more "chair time" for the ortho than someone with 20, so it obviously costs more and probably is "riskier" to the ortho - more can go wrong in 3 years of treatment than in just one....

what I did to figure out what I was paying for the ortho's time was to take the quoted amount, subtract $2000 since I'm a "full" situation and a few hundred since retainers at the end are included, and divide by a generous estimate of the number of hours of chair time. you might assume an hour (or even 2) for every 6 weeks of treatment, to cover the time you are actually in the chair (which might only be 15-20 minutes a visit, in my experience) and the time they invested in planning the treatment and managing your case behind the scenes.

anyway - you might be shocked at what you're paying per hour, but I'm the kind of person that likes to understand what I'm paying for.

for those that know the business better than I do - did I miss something?

So what is a revision? Is that something after you are all done, or is that changes to the trays before you are finished?
Thanks!