Now that I've (nearly) finished...

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#1 Post by **Neil** » Fri Feb 05, 2010 12:34 pm

I went for my final check today. I've effectively finished, but I've been booked in next week to get impressions taken as I'll need one or two refinements. And that's fine, because I'm *really* pleased with the results and my teeth will look fantastic once I'm done.

However, my dentist gave me the impression that I'll have to wear my final tray (or some specially made final trays out of a harder material) most nights pretty much forever. I didn't press the point, but it came as a bit of a shock.

It's fantastic to have straight teeth, but the most annoying part of the process for me is having to scrub them last thing at night when I'm just tired and want to flop into bed. And the thought of having to do it every night for the rest of my life has taken the sheen off what is otherwise a brilliant outcome...

#2 Post by **TinySmiley** » Fri Feb 05, 2010 12:55 pm

Hi Neil, I've heard that too. My dentist said if you don't have wires attached to the back of your teeth, you'll have to wear a retainer for a year (i think?) then, one at night for a long time (he wasn't specific). so that's why my dentist puts wires at the back of your teeth, so that your teeth never move again and you don't have to wear a retainer when the treatment is done.

#3 Post by **Neil** » Fri Feb 05, 2010 1:06 pm

p.s. I should mention that I was never told that this was the case and that I was given the impression that I'd probably have to wear my final tray for about 6 months at night and that would be it....

On the up side, here's a little overview of my experience, and maybe a few hints for newbie*:

1 - it was generally pretty easy going and nobody noticed. Or at least nobody said anything if they did!

2 - The worst bit was the night-time cleaning of the trays when I was tired and couldn't be bothered.

3 - I ate several times with them in with no problems (only bananas, yoghurts and that kind of thing). I also drank tea and coffee all the time. Just had a glass of water afterwards to "rinse" them.

4 - After my first month or two I'm fairly certain I was wearing them for a maximum of 16 hours a day. In fact, I met a dentist 6 months into my treatment who said "in theory as long as you wear them more than 50 percent of the time, i.e. 12 hours a day, they'll do the trick"

* Usual disclaimers apply. Your milage may vary. Can't guarantee that any of this will work or not work for you. Etc etc.

#4 Post by **Neil** » Fri Feb 05, 2010 1:07 pm

Thanks Tiny - I'll ask my dentist about that...

#5 Post by **Bellalalala** » Fri Feb 05, 2010 3:55 pm

You could always get a Hawley for night-time and use your invisalign just when you want to go out

I hate cleaning my invisalign at night too

#6 Post by **Wireless** » Thu Feb 11, 2010 7:05 am

Neil,

I found out the hard way what happens without wearing retainers at night. Over 20 years ago, I had my deep bite corrected. However, my dentist at that time told me that once teeth were in place they would tend to remain there (not true!!), so I didn't have a retainer for long term.

The result of this is that I am now in treatment (18 months +) with Invisalign to fix the problem again. The changes happened so gradually that neither me or my family dentist noticed the problem until it was doing gum damage.

I've also been told I'll have to wear night retainers the rest of my life, unless I want to risk having everything fixed again later.

#7 Post by **KUMonkeyMomma** » Thu Feb 11, 2010 11:12 am

Same story, roughly, as Wireless. I had traditional braces as a teen to correct overbite and buck teeth. They couldn't correct all of the overbite (required breaking the jaw and removing pieces of it) because of bone structure, etc but they did get my teeth straight and got rid of as much of the overbite as they could. I had them for 3 1/2 years and they looked pretty darn good when I got them off my senior year. I was told the same - wear your retainer for 2 years at night and that was it.

Over the years my teeth moved back to fairly close to what they were - granted it took 15-20 years for them to get back to that state but still.

Now I'm back again for 18 + months with invisalign to get that smile back. I was told up front that I would have to wear some type of retainer for life - or until I no longer cared what my teeth looked like (senile, in my 90's, etc). It's worth the wearing if my teeth don't go back again!