Metal Mouth Message Board

Hi everyone!

I am on tray 20 of 21U/L, so I am just about done with the initial treatment. My main motivation for getting Invisalign was a very crooked top lateral incisor and two crooked bottom lateral incisors that bent sort of inward. My bottom teeth never bothered me too much because no one really sees them and they weren't that bad, but my top tooth was a real snaggletooth that made me very self-conscious. Plus, now that I'm 27 and a lawyer, I figured it was time to fix my smile in order to look more professional.

Invisalign means complete lifestyle modification. If you think it's going to fit "seamlessly" into your life, you have another thing coming to you. Your habits have to change in that you can't eat things randomly, on whims, and you have to arrange to be able to brush your teeth after anything that goes into your mouth that's not water. I personally am very crazy about dental health, so I have followed this rule to the T for the last 40 weeks. I've always been scared that my teeth will begin to rot from sugar and other food trapped between my teeth and the aligner, so I made sure this was my golden rule. As the weeks went on, I became a little more liberal about the time the aligners spent in, but I did wear them at least 19-20 hours every day.

I had six attachments on the bottom and four on the top, including one on my snaggletooth (necessary because the tooth had to turn). I was very self conscious about these at first, but after a while, you just don't care. I also didn't care about who knew I was wearing the aligners - although most people didn't notice, there were a few that did.

I'm almost done and my snaggletooth is thankfully now STRAIGHT. My bottom teeth will likely require refinements, but hopefully my top won't. After I finish whatever last tray I'm given, I'm going to wear my last tray for three straight months before getting fitted for my retainer. Not sure how that will work out seeing as these trays don't appear to have that long a lifespan, but we'll see.

As for cleaning - I gave up on the Invisalign cleansing packets LONG ago and started instead soaking my aligners twice a day (morning and night) in water with Listerine, the brushing them with my electrical toothbrush. This has been incredibly effective and not as expensive. Now looking back, the aligners that I used the packets on are completely yellow and gross - the later ones that I cleaned with Listerine are still clear. That's saying something!

Thanks for sharing your story. I can't tell if you are happy that you did it or not since you don't think it fit seamlessly into your life. At least you are doing it when you are relatively young, so you can enjoy your straight teeth for the rest of your life. Some of us are near 40 or older and wish we did it or braces earlier.

Would you have rather had braces?

About the cleaning, I usually just brush the aligners off with a regular toothbrush and keep them in a bowl of water so the minerals don't get dried on. I sometimes have to scrap some scum off them with the rubber "toothpick" end of the toothbrush, but they pretty much stay clear for me.

When I had to wear mine for several months waiting for refinements I noticed my breath wasn't as good, so I think that they may harbor some sort of bacteria. Maybe your Listerine trick will give you better luck than I had.

I will definitely be trying the Listerine trick. I've been wearing the last bottom aligner no.17 for nearly 3 months now and its going a pretty 'orrible colour.

Considering I've got nearly another 5 months to do, I've got to find someway of cleaning it more thoroughly! I've been using denture cleaning tablets and my sonic toothbrush but its obviously not working.

Oh, I'm absolutely glad I did it! I was just trying to be as candid as possible and tell people what it's like - the truth is, it's a big adjustment, particularly at first. You always have to worry about having a case with you, about taking them out only for eating, about brushing your teeth all the time (and carrying the equipment for that) - they are things that people who don't do Invisalign simply don't worry about. That's all I'm saying - it's a great product, but just be prepared for everything that comes along with it. At the end of the day, it's completely worth it! I can't believe my smile now.

I really didn't think traditional braces were an option for me given my profession. I look extremely young as it is (no one ever believes me when I say I'm a lawyer), so imagine me walking into court to argue something with braces on. I would've felt so, so self conscious. I loved the flexibility of being able to take my aligners off whenever I was going to court or taking a deposition or something. That's basically why I chose Invisalign in the first place.

I'm not looking forward to wearing any aligner for such an extended period of time! I'm just going to have to be very vigilant about cleaning them as often as possible and soaking them in a water when they're not in. Thank you for all of your tips!

Listerine made my aligners worse. It coated them and made them thick and gunky.