Metal Mouth Message Board

Hi all,

Ugh, my invisalign journey has been...not so great.

I just found out that for my refinements I'll have 13 trays with six attachments right across the front of my teeth.

That's two more trays than the regular treatment.

That's bad enough, but during the last round, the glue around the attachments severely yellowed, and I was so embarrassed I was nearly social phobic about it. I couldn't get them to lighten.

Has this happened to any of you and is there anything that you can do about it?

Here's more of my story - I started invisalign in 2007 and moved out of state for a job, so switched orthos. It turned out that my ortho in the new state had a lot of complaints, but I didn't realize that (I should have checked more). When I finished treatment with him I started with a new ortho, because my teeth had moved back quite a bit - the retainer was a hawley and didn't retain them.

The new ortho was very good but I had that glue yellowing issue - which I didn't have with the other ortho - so maybe they use different materials.

I'm about to turn 44 and have a number of social functions that I don't want to attend with such discolored teeth. I can't imagine six-seven more months of this. I'm so upset you don't even know. The attachments are bad enough, but the discoloration too...also, with all of these attachments on and off I worry that my enamel is damaged. My teeth looks transparent in spots.

This is a nightmare. Any advice would be appreciated.

Going for regular cleanings and dental polishings can usually take care of the staining. There are certain foods that will stain attachments more than others, and there are certain materials that tend to stain more than others also.

As a last resort, you can ask the orthodontist to take down the surface part of the attachments slightly, but this usually isn't necessary. Good luck!