How visible are attachments?

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#16 Post by **Silvia Brazil** » Sun Aug 17, 2008 7:30 pm

Actually I thing people can notice them but some are too polite to ask us about it. The best of invisalign is not that they are 100% invisible but that they arenÂ´t ugly even when they are noticed. You are not going to be less atractive because of them.

#17 Post by **Devushka** » Mon Aug 25, 2008 9:57 am

I feel mine are only noticeable because my teeth are unfortunately more yellow than the attachments. If I had whitened my teeth before treatment I'd feel better about them. But ah well, I consider myself lucky to think that the attachments are the worst of my treatment.

#18 Post by **jennicakes** » Tue Aug 26, 2008 12:17 am

Only one person noticed mine the whole year they were attached to my top 2 teeth adjacent to the front teeth.

By they way, from what i've seen on here, most orthos will not tell their patients ahead of time that attachments will be part of their treatment, unless the patient specifically asks. Mine did not, and believe me, I was pissed, but now i realize he did it because he wanted me to go through with the treatment. Granted, he probably just wanted my money, but I am happy it was not mentioned, because I, like you, would have seriously considered not going through with the treatment as a result.

My teeth are not perfectly white by any means, and they blended in nicely, not even showing up in semi close up photographs, so don't worry!

And remember, attachments, noticeable or not, are far more discrete in appearance than any metal braces or ceramics.

#19 Post by **PaulInc** » Tue Aug 26, 2008 6:17 am

There is no excuse for not explaining the full procedure and especially things that will cause distress like attachments! You should have been shown the attachments on the clincheck before you approved treatment too.

I found out about attachments in the course of assessing my own options, it definitely put me off, but it's far better i know about it and get over it now than have a shock after i've already paid for treatment.

It actually annoys me people don’t do their homework before doing something as serious as body modification. A dentist/ortho explaining everything can only tell you so much. You must research and read on your own. I find myself doing this to a fault and then finding the actual consultations rather uninteresting as i already know everything he going to say.

#20 Post by **jennicakes** » Tue Aug 26, 2008 2:38 pm

No, I did plenty of research....but my ortho told me that i would be getting button attachements to move one tooth before invisalign even started. THAT I was ok with. So naturally when I read about the invisalign attachments, I thought they were referring to the buttons. Since my ortho did not tell me I would have attachments with the invisalign, and since I already knew I needed the buttons with the power chains ahead of time, it never crossed my mind that additional attachments would be used once treatment was started.

The ortho should have informed me....and I was never even shown my clin check...not once! Yes I should do research, which I did, but the ortho should walk you through the whole treatment plan before you sign a contract! He also never told me that retainers were not included, but we won't get into that one.

I am new to orthodontics...no one in my family has worn braces, and no one I know ever had invisalign, so I didn't know any better.

#21 Post by **Rio UK** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 5:10 am

I think mine are really visable!

I've had 4 friends notice my aligners because of the attachments!

I have 5 all on my top front teeth!
Last night while out for dinner with my friend she said 'you havent taken your brace out' I had! She said 'Oh sorry I just saw the bits on your teeth.... I didnt realise that they attached to your teeth!' hmmmm That didn't feel too great!

#22 Post by **lomdogs** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 9:36 pm

I'd say that the attachments are far more visible with the aligners out than with them in place though.

This is what I have noticed. Before I knew I was getting attachments, I figured that whenever I needed to be up close to someone or have my picture taken, I would remove the aligners. Now that I have them, I think the attachments are far more visible without the aligners. The aligners kind of smooth them out. When my husband finally noticed that I was wearing my aligners, it was because he saw the attachments. But, like I have read on this board, better to see attachments for a year or so, than our crooked teeth for a lifetime.

#23 Post by **Spooky Tooth** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 12:04 pm

Mine are pretty visible...and I'm a little disappointed. Like many, I was eased into treatment with no attachments during the first two trays. I'm now in the middle of 3/20 trays upper and lower. The attachments were added yesterday. I have four upper and three lower. They are square or rectangular rather than the round buttons.

The Bad News
a) The color match is not great. They are very noticeable at meal times.
b) I have a huge one on one of my upper front teeth. This is my one really crooked tooth.
c) It looks like I have a grain of rice glued to my tooth.

The Good News
The attachments look smaller to me than they did yesterday.

#24 Post by **anastasia** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 4:29 am

I have one attachment on an upper canine.

I feel that it's really visible from certain angles, but of course I'll see it myself when I know it's there and check out my teeth in the mirror.
Others haven't noticed (that I know of). So I think that even though the attachment is visible, it's not really noticeable. Turns out that other people aren't as obsessed with my teeth as I am

It's a tiny bit annoying though, cos the tray would in fact be 100% invisible without that one attachment..

#25 Post by **scorpetteFL** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 11:41 am

Blargh! I am on my second and last refinement, and am covered in attachments! I have 6 on top, right covering the front, and seven on the bottom!

I am so eager to be done now that in a way I don't care, but they make invisalign extremely visable. Also get food stuck, I've had some pop off twice, the glue yellows easily and it always feels like there's food in your teeth when there aren't!

Three more trays to go - Invisalign didn't really work that well for me, but they are better than they were. My orthodontist was a huge part of the problem. I'm just going to finish this up and at some point maybe revisit ortho treatment (if I can afford it).

I wouldn't mind the attachments if my teeth were really straightening, but I have a stubborn upper canine and plastic trays just do not provide the force needed, it seems.