Length of time with attachments?

[mcawful]

I'm new to Invisalign and I'm on a 41-week treatment. My treatment plan is a little unconventional in that I'm changing aligners every week rather than every second week. (I'm not jumping ahead - I just have twice as many aligners as someone with identical teeth on a two-week program. It's supposed to reduce discomfort.)

I'm on my third set, and in two weeks I'll be getting my attachments. Are these attachments supposed to stay on for the duration of my treatment, or does this vary? How long have you had your attachments on?

[Devushka]

From what I gather, you wear them until you get refinments(they may change the teeth with the attatchments).

Wow, so you have double the aligners. But...aren't you paying a lot more then? At least at my ortho's office they have brackets of the number of aligners with the cost like 13-18 aligners is like 4200 dollars and then 19-27 is 4500 and so on.(Totally made up those numbers, no idea what they charge). Or is your orthodontist giving you some special deal?

[John37]

I would think a lot of the cost of Invisalign covers the ortho's or dentist's time and Invisalign's people creating the treatment plan (Clincheck). Creating the actual trays is probably only a small amount of the cost, so having double the trays shouldn't cost that much more. I'm just guessing.

I got attachments before the second set of trays and will have them until the end. If you look at the clincheck or get a movie of it, it will show the attachments. Each frame of the avi movie represents a different tray. Mine shows the attachments until the end. You can also ask your doctor.

[yvart]

I got my attachments after the first 2 aligners, then kept them for the duration of treatment (22 bottom arch, 18 top). I had 8 attachments and hated them ... They were on the 2 teeth just back from the canine teeth both upper and lower arches, both sides if that makes any sense.
But oddly, no one ever noticed them except myself! Still, I was very happy when they were filed off.

[mcawful]

Thanks. Looks like everybody has attachments right until the end. Like many others, I've been getting the run-around on my ClinCheck. I've e-mailed my orthodontist every day for a week requesting a copy with no success.

My orthodontist is a "Premier Provider Elite" and supposedly the #1 Invisalign provider in Canada. Whether that's just buzzword hype or an actual distinction is unclear. I was told that because of this, he can offer Invisalign at a fixed, flat rate for everyone, regardless of how many aligners the patient needs. That rate is $5800 CAD. Not cheap, but not outrageous. Changing aligners once a week really does make the process much easier though. There is virtually zero pain involved.

[yvart]

My ortho didn't offer to show me my clincheck either, and the only reason I got to see it finally was because I learned that other invisalign patients (on this web-site, not with my ortho) got to look at theirs ... and of course I was curious.
My ortho's office told me they no longer had it on file, and would have to request it again from the company. So I said, then ask them to send it to you again, because I would like to see it! They were not very happy about that, and acted like it was a huge imposition.
Finally they got it on their computer, and showed it to me one day. It was interesting to see my teeth become upright and my smile wider, but I can't say it was as awesome an experience as I thought it might be.

On a separate topic, that sounds really nice having a new aligner each week! Besides after 2 weeks of wearing an aligner, they get less transparent, so from all standpoints, it sounds very good. Good luck with your treatment. Having beautiful straight teeth is such a treat every day (now that I am through the active part of treatment with invisalign.)

[teacher61]

Has anyone heard of wearing the aligners for 3 weeks at a time? I am suppose to wear 10 upper and lowers for 3 weeks at a time. The dental assistant said it would take 15 months. I still don't see how she is coming up with this time span. I am suppose get them May 27.

[yvart]

Hi - Yup - I have definitely read posts on the invisalign forum about orthodontists who want their patient to wear each aligner for 3 weeks. It goes a bit more slowly, obviously, but when you change to a new aligner, it is less painful (because you are moving the teeth more slowly). There is more risk with moving the teeth too quickly, rather than too slowly. However, with Invisalign, it is slower than traditional bracket and wire braces anyway, so there isn't much risk in going too fast so long as one wears the retainers at least 280 hours over a 2-week period. That works out to 20 hours per day. It is better if you do more (i.e. 22 hours per day) but still the minimum is 280 hours in 14 days.

You don't seem to have too many aligners to get through anyway, so the treatment should be only 30 weeks for 10 aligners U & L.

Did you ask your ortho why he/she wants you to do 3 weeks instead of the usual 2 weeks per aligner?

[John37]

My ortho didn't offer to show me my clincheck either, and the only reason I got to see it finally was because I learned that other invisalign patients (on this web-site, not with my ortho) got to look at theirs ... and of course I was curious.
My ortho's office told me they no longer had it on file, and would have to request it again from the company. So I said, then ask them to send it to you again, because I would like to see it! They were not very happy about that, and acted like it was a huge imposition.
Finally they got it on their computer, and showed it to me one day. It was interesting to see my teeth become upright and my smile wider, but I can't say it was as awesome an experience as I thought it might be.

That's bull. I think they just have to log in and put in your account name, and it should bring up your file. I think they just didn't want to be bothered. They should always have it on file in case the doctor wants to check something like compare your teeth now to where they should be based on the clincheck.

They can show you different views and should be able to make avi movies of all the views for you. I wonder if you only looked at one view.

[aussie]

I agree with John37, they should always have it on file and as far as i am aware they do download them off the site using their unique username & password. my ortho has all his patients on file, even all previous patients to show the new patients.

more on topic though -
i am on 68 week treatment for uppers & 40 week treatment for lowers.
i get my attchments next visit, just before tray 3 then as far as i saw on my clincheck, I have them until the end of treatment (so about 64 weeks of attachments upper & about 36 lower).