Finished Aligners But More Treatment to Go

[Wireless]

I finished my Invisalign treatment with a sneeze - literally!! I had been wearing a partial upper with a lower partial retainer to allow my rear teeth to grow in and correct a severe deep bite. At this point, all of my attachments are off and the upper tray, which covered 8 teeth had gotten loose.

I've ended up with a "sneeze proof" partial clear upper retainer to finish treatment. My treatment plan is still to have my rear teeth grow out naturally to close a gap of a couple of millimeters. I was hoping that something could be done to speed this up, but my Orthodontist wants to go this route first and use buttons and elastics only if I haven't made progress in three months.

I was hoping when I got to my final trays that I could give up my "Invisalign Lifestyle" but this isn't likely anytime soon. I have at least 4 or 5 months to hopefully close the deep bite - then probably more time with my retainers 22x7. It also looks like there will need to be special measures to keep my problem from coming back - something to look forward to!!

[DrJasonKTam]

Sounds like your doctor has everything under control. There are many ways of correcting the posterior intrusion of molars. Make sure to keep up with the proper amount of time for wear and keep us posted!

[Wireless]

So far I'm at about 50% for vertical correction (around 3 mm) according to my doc and it should take about 4 to 6 months to get the rest. I've been very surprised that Invisalign would work in my case - before I started treatment, everything I read stated this wouldn't work.

I am taking longer than expected, but the same pre-existing conditions that made metal braces not practical are probably slowing things down here too. I did get discouraged and lazy when I found out I was going to end up considerably longer than the 18 months I was told initially. I've tried to improve, particularly now that I'm on a 3 month retainer check schedule instead of the 6 week Invisalign checks.

The biggest problem in the future is going to be to keep another relapse from happening. In my original assessment, I was told my case would be hard to treat, and due to the shape of my jaw, nearly impossible to hold correction. At first I was told night retainers indefinitely, but at the last checkup, my orthodontist mentioned there would be options I would need to consider.

I'm not sure how often it happens where an ortho relapse causes serious dental problems that require correction. In my case, pre-existing conditions also limited my treatment options. I'm curious as to how often this happens with other cases?