Metal Mouth Message Board

Hi everyone! I'm going to see an orthodontist for the first time on Saturday and am only interested in Invisilign or lingual/iBraces. I am 26, own a company that requires me to meet with people to get their business, and don't want "Metal mouth".

That said, my orthodontist is considered widely to be the best in my area, so I'm going out of my way to see him. 30% of his business is lingual patients; another 20% is invisilign. That said, he's made it clear he "prefers" linguals over invisilign and thinks they're better. I, however, don't particularly like the concept of scraping food out of my braces 24/7 and the pain and tongue-gnarling that seem to come with linguals.

He said himself, "zero percent of orthos put their own children in INvisilign for a reason, but if it's REALLY want you want, we'll do a good job on it."

I want to know - what made you choose invisilign over linguals?? What info should I go with?? I'll ask the linguals section this too!

Replied on the general forum

lauren wrote:He said himself, "zero percent of orthos put their own children in INvisilign for a reason, but if it's REALLY want you want, we'll do a good job on it."

Did he speak to every orthodontist in the world to say it was ZERO percent? And the reason it could be a low percent is that they get their children into a treatment plan at the earliest age possible. That age may be too young to expect good compliance with Invisalign.

lauren wrote:I want to know - what made you choose invisilign over linguals?? What info should I go with?? I'll ask the linguals section this too!

I didn't know about linguals, but I don't think I would have wanted them either because it would be harder to clean my teeth. I also wanted to go to a dentist because I have some dental issues also, like some crowns that I'll need in the future. I didn't want to try to coordinate the braces with ortho and with a dentist. So I went to a dentist that can do Invisalign. The jury's still out on whether I'll end up with good results because I will need refinements soon to make my bite better.

I want to know - what made you choose invisilign over linguals?? What info should I go with?? I'll ask the linguals section this too!

I chose Invisalign over linguals because:
-The stories on here made Invisalign sound much easier to live with - both from a speech and a comfort point of view. I had normal braces as a teenager and I remember the cuts from the wires and didn't want to go through that with my tongue. Getting the brackets off my back teeth was pretty awful too.
-The work I want done is relatively simple - front 6 teeth only, as I am happy with my bite although it isn't perfect (crossbite on one molar). If I had needed more complex work I would have gone for fixed braces, but the Clincheck showed a result I was happy with.
-It is easier to keep my teeth clean - especially important as the main reason I got Invisalign was to sort out early stage gum problems.
-It was c.£1,500 cheaper.
-I believe the incremental movements are smaller so I'm hoping less painful.
-I don't have to go to the dentist for every increment - and it is a simple matter of switching trays, rather than laying with my mouth open and someone trying to get two hands to the back of my teeth.

As for info?
I found learning as much as I could really helpful. The orthodontist recommended extracting a single lower incisor. It wasn't until I came on here, and read more that I even thought about how it might affect my external profile and possibly leave me with an overjet. I hadn't even heard the term overjet before! Learning all about my teeth and different treatments then enabled me to ask intelligent questions about options proposed at my consultations.

lauren wrote:That said, he's made it clear he "prefers" linguals over invisilign and thinks they're better.

At the consultation I had with an orthodontist she was pushing linguals as well. The cynic in me wonders whether it is because they make a bigger margin or amount of money on them? The sensible side of me acknowledges that it is just as likely because linguals give your orthodontist greater control over each individual tooth (hence they are better for complex cases) and the treatment as a whole. Invisalign assumes every patient's teeth will react and move the same way.

My orthodontist also suggested that she found Invisalign slow compared to linguals, but then quoted me a much longer timeframe. I think that was because she was planning on perfection whereas I just want to fix what I know I can keep in place afterwards!

I agree with John. I'm not surprised at all that no orthodontists pick invisalign for their own children. Orthodontists will have their children treated at a reasonable age (most likely before high school), therefore aestetics aren't as important. If I wasn't concerned about aestetics, I would have went with regular metal knowing full well that they do the best job. It's us adult patients that want the invisible treatments because we sometimes feel too old for braces.

My orthodontist preferred braces over Invisalign too, because of the possibility to alter and adjust the treatment.

I chose Invisalign over lingual mainly because lingual was insanely expensive. My dentist has very little experience with Invisalign (not popular here in Norway), but from what I gather after talking to him and reading a lot on the net, my problem is minor and totally fixable with Invisalign. If I had serious problems, I might have gone for lingual braces instead. Especially after reading all the "horror stories" here about how Invisalign doesn't always work properly..!