Traditional braces, oral surgery, and invisalign?

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#1 Post by **Thathrill** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 8:53 am

Have anyone went through this process? When I originally saw my ortho I inquired about invisalign. I found out that he is a premier provider. Well of course my case was way too complicated for invisalign alone so he said I would need braces, surgery to correct the underbite, then use invisalign to finish everything off. I read through threads here and in the invisalign forum but did not see any cases similar to mine so I thought I would ask.

#2 Post by **gradgrill2** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 10:33 pm

Though I am not doing this myself (wearing ceramic upper, metal lower, surgery in 1 year), my ortho does do this. She explained to me that Invisalign is OK for moving teeth in the horizontal plane to a certain degree, but not so much in the vertical (up and down in the gums). She also said that Invisalign does not help with bite position and provides her with very little control to make adjustments during the process since all of the aligners are prefabricated. In many cases, Invisalign may also take longer to accomplish certain goals. So, she sometimes does it in stages. She straghtens teeth first with Invisalign and then puts on metal or ceramic to align teeth vertically and prepare them for surgery. Then they stay on for 6mo - 1 yr after surgery with bands to make sure everything heals in place. After braces are off, she always pute permanent retainers on the bottom and sometimes on the top, depending on the case. With Invisalign, permanent retainers are extra. Though more noticeable than Invisalign, I find my traditional braces to be well worth it. Especailly since I am wearing races for the second time after having perfectly positioned teeth for the 15 years in between, I understand the improtance of a perfect smile and am willing to make some sacrifices to achieve it. Two more years of braces is woth a perfect smile and profile for the next fifty - something Invisalign could not provide.

#3 Post by **Lilypad** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 11:12 pm

And there you have it folks...a well informed consumer!!!!yay, good advice gradgrill2! One point though, I didnt find this forum until after I had signed my contract. My permanent retainer and 2 sets of essix retainers were included in my original cost. (I was lucky, huh?)

#4 Post by **Thathrill** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 7:45 pm

thanks for the responses but I am pretty well informed on what the limitations are for each. I just wanted to know if anyone had a similar experience to mine.

Originally I hated the thought of braces but come to think they are just fine. I guess I will just talk my ortho when I see him on wednesday.