Inman aligners

[arca]

So, today was D-Day. I am home and three hours in. Can't really cope with words beginning with either d or t strangely enough. I guess I expected to struggle with s sounds rather than these. Tomorrow I am off on holiday, so should hopefully have a week to get used to the brace before I take the plunge and go into work......

[TraceT]

I had my two week check up last Monday. He's put an 'anchor' on one of my front teeth to stop the IA slipping too far up. During the day I was keeping it in place myself, but every morning it had slid too far up in my sleep.

The trouble is now, if I get animated with my speech, it pops out. I'm back again on the 1st of August, so hopefully he'll tighten it a little.

I still can't talk properly. D's are an impossibility. Someone told me that I sound 'posh and pi**ed' on the phone. Good job most people know I don't drink!!!

I also got told off for leaving it in too much........

[Tennessee]

TraceT- I had trouble with it slipping up too but got better when it was tightened. Never had it fall out though. I would say it needs to be tightened now if it's that loose.

As for me, I go back July 25. I had been worried about getting my teeth aligned before this appointment. A few days ago I decided to slide the front bar down so the wire...not the plastic was at the edge of my teeth when I went to bed. I could feel more pressure with it moved and when I woke up the next morning it had worked. It had closed the gaps and straighted the front two better. So I have been wearing it here since then, unless I know I'm going to have to talk to people because it is partially off of my teeth and I know looks odd. I am now pleased with my smile and think I'll be fitted for the fixed retainer Monday.

[TraceT]

Hi Tennessee

I'm off work now for two weeks, so won't be talking too much and I'm back at the ortho's a week tomorrow (Monday), so I'll hang on till then. He did say last visit that it didn't need tightening yet, but that was before he placed the anchor.

It's good that you discovered a way to align them quicker. I hope you get your retainer tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

[Tennessee]

I was able to be measured for the fixed retainter. The tooth to the side of my front tooth is slightly rotated but he said he could contour it to be even with the others. I am still wearing the the IA until I can get the the fixed retainer. Should be about 2-3 weeks. I am very pleased with the IA and how quickly I was able to get results. For anyone who is considering it, DO IT

[style1983]

I had my third adjustment recently. He tightened the left back spring hinge simply by bending it up instead of twisting it with pliers or inserting an acrylic ball. I found that slightly odd, also says I don't need any teeth shaving. Same springs, and trimmed the front bar again, says it will fit better. I've been wearing the IA over 2 months. As usual, the first few days I noticed some slight movement and while I do feel more pressure, they are about the same. I noticed as one tooth seems to improve, another may get slightly worse. I'm hoping this is only temporary. Both the teeth next to my front teeth were slightly pushed out and rotated. One thing I am upset about, the slight rotations haven't improved at all. I don't understand why the inman front bar doesn't have small grooves that put pressure between teeth that would address rotations better. I know there is another variation of the inman where the front bar looks like an invisalign tray, I would have gotten that instead but I learned about it myself. They never mentioned it when telling me my options.

I've tried using it with the front bar low, front bar mid, front bar high, and done the same with the back bar, and tried every possible combination. One orthodontist had heard of the inman and said it wasn't good with rotations, but would move teeth forward/backwards well.

Next appointment will mean 3 months wearing the inman, and it is getting frustrating. I work from home as a graphic artist right now but would like a career change soon - I need the inman to hurry up so I can just start wearing it overnight.

[allan]

I have had the aligner in for now 2 weeks. The problem i have is all the gaps that the dentist created to allow the teeth to align are now closed so i cant imagine how my front overlapping tooth is going to be able to come back?

As for speech well its terrible. I cant pronounce half the words i would like and have to remove to talk to customers which is a pain as i then struggle to make up the required time (16hrs)

[smileyrhi]

Hello everyone,

I've been lurking on the forum for a few days now and have finally had the courage to post!

I've had my aligner for 6 days now, have seen a lot of movement from one tooth (one front tooth sticking out a lot, two incisors need pushing back a bit), two of my teeth are loose, I have sores on the roof of my mouth - so all in all pretty typical experience I would say!

I'd really appreciate some advice from more experienced folks on a couple of things though, if you have the patience to read my questions, as there is a lot of conflicting information out there. I don't know how experienced my dentist is with these things but as time has worn on I realise there's a lot he didn't tell me. Basically, he told me not to eat with it and that was it, and I didn't know enough about it then to ask the right questions. Now I wonder if he actually knows himself, so I thought I'd ask here (the real experts!)

Ok, here goes... First off... how long should you wear them? I'm aiming for around 20 hours a day. He didn't specify a time, just said I could take it out for a few hours if I needed to. Also, how do you clean them? Again, no advice given to me, I've been brushing with toothpaste and rinsing with mouthwash. I don't know what sort mine is, it's got a moulded plastic top but no wires running across it. Is is true you should only drink cold water? If so I'm screwed as have been drinking tea, coffee etc. And finally... my dentist told me a bit of a whopper in that it doesn't contain nickel, which I'm allergic to - my understanding is that the metal components are nickel/titanium alloy - has anyone suffered an allergic reaction to one of these?

Thank you if you've gotten this far, and for any advice you can give me!

Rhi :)

[Hatemyteeth]

Hi Smileyrhi,

I can help with the nickel question I hope. I'm also allergic and I told the dentist this when I first went for a consultation. He informed the lab and then double and tripled checked for me that mine was made with a material other than nickel-titanium as I'd also read that this was most commonly used. I've had the lower for about 17 or 18 weeks (should have the retainer but the mould broke on the way to the lab so there's a delay) and I have the upper for a good bit less and so far there's no reaction. I usually just have to look at nickel to break out in an itchy rash so I'm pretty sure there's none (or else the nickel bits are completely covered with plastic.

I take them out for hot drinks but only because it's more comfortable and I wear them for 20 hours a day on average except if I'm out somewhere for the evening, then it's down to 16-18 hours. My lower teeth have been perfect for about 4 or 5 weeks but I'm still wearing it until I get the retainer. My upper teeth are hugely improved but I've still about 10 weeks to go so I reckon the 20 hours a day is about right.

[smileyrhi]

Thanks so much for this... I feel so ignorant, like a lot of others I hadn't set foot in the dentists for a decade and just dumbly accepted what he told me. Didn't think to investigate beforehand, or shop around, I was just so grateful that something could be done that I went along with it without question. It is on my medical notes that I am allergic to nickel, but my dentist told me it was made out of chrome!

I am beginning to wonder about them really, in that my treatment - aligner, fixed retainer and consults - is costing me £400, which seems ridiculously cheap compared to some on here. It's a private clinic with a good reputation (and they were great with the other issues I had, e.g. fillings and extractions before I had this blasted instrument of torture handed me) but I wonder if I'm a guinea pig for them. On the other hand he said it was a simple case, as it was mainly a question of moving one tooth back where it came from and tightening up the others. I don't know. Have my first check up in a week so will go in armed with questions.

I never knew my mouth could be so darned uncomfortable!

Thank you again for your kind reply :)

[Hatemyteeth]

I forgot to mention how I clean them. I brush them every evening with a battery powered toothbrush and rinse them for ages. And once a week or so I use Retainer Brite. For a while there they were very smelly but they've been ok since I got a new toothbrush.

Smileyrhi, yours seems very cheap. Is it an actual Inman Aligner? It doesn't matter as long as it works

[smileyrhi]

Thanks again - you really are a fount of wisdom!!! I've been brushing mine and rinsing them with mouthwash, so much the same I think. God, how would I tell if it was a genuine one or not? The leaflet he gave me initially said inman aligner and he is a registered torture merchant, sorry, practitioner, so he must at least have completed the training.
I'm desperately miserable about the bloody thing today, it's rubbed the roof of my mouth (what feels like) red raw and it's stinging so much... nurofen aren't working any more... repeat to self, it'll all be worth it, it'll all be worth it etc.etc...

[Hatemyteeth]

Inman Aligner is printed on the metal bit inside the plastic facing towards the inside of the mouth (that's where it is on mine anyway). I'm sure yours is real if your dentist offers it. I've never had sores on the roof of my mouth but everyone has a different shaped mouth. If you're concerned you should go back to the dentist. In the meantime you could try sticking dental wax on it.

I had awful pain in the gum on one side of my mouth and others here didn't so again I think it's down to mouth shape. That was gone after about 4 or 5 days and I lived on painkillers.

[smileyrhi]

Ok, now I am very confused! I'm obviously being a bit dense here but on my aligner there isn't a metal bit inside the plastic facing towards the inside of my mouth! Just clear plastic. I can't see the name on it anywhere.

I don't know if this is standard or not, but the bit that hurts me is shaped to fit my mouth, so it sits flush (apart from a very miniscule gap) against the roof of my mouth to about a third of the way back, so the place it is hurting I couldn't get wax onto if I wanted. Had a comedy moment with a 2-sided compact mirror under the halogen light in the bathroom and there are 5 or 6 big sores under there which nothing can touch - tried 3 different mouthwashes, anbesol, bonjella, salt water, nurofen, paracetamol, though obviously not all at once lol. Maybe I should!

Will get in touch with the dentist again tomorrow, thank you so much for your advice :)

[Hatemyteeth]

I have an expander built in that fits to the top of my mouth and I have to adjust this every week - do you have to do that? It doesn't hurt at all. Does yours look like the inman aligners online? I'd definitely mention it to the dentist as it sounds horribly uncomfortable.