About to take the first step toward Invisalign/advice :)

[sentience]

Hi everyone.
I've been lurking about this board for quite some time, I've found it so helpful reading through everyone's stories and experiences on the various different paths to straighter teeth.
So after many many years of severe smile anxiety I'm finally going to book a few consultations and get the ball rolling.
I'm pretty self conscious about my smile as it is so am going to have to go down a pretty much invisible route leaving me with only two options really, Invisalign or linguals... Invisalign would probably be my first choice as the price is just about manageable, Incognito far exceeds my financial capabilities, I also have quite narrow arches and I get the feeling I'd struggle having linguals in an already tight space.
Saying this I do get a feeling of dread as I think towards walking into a consultation for Invisalign, I'm no orthodontist but I've done enough research over the years to know that my case is severe... a lot of issues going on in one set of chompers that are going to be difficult to treat. Worth a shot though I guess.

Anyway the point of my post was to ask if anyone who has already been through this first stage has any advice for the initial consultation? (I did have a look through older posts to see if a similar one had been made but i couldn't get the search to work).
But any info or advice on the important points I should remember to ask would be really appreciated.

Also I'm in the UK and although I live an hour or so south of London I will be making appointments with the highest ranked providers according to the Invisalign website (it seemed a good idea due to the severity of my case and also the London practices seem to be a bit cheaper). If anyone has any good/bad experiences or recommendations with any providers in London or further south towards Portsmouth would you maybe drop me a pm with your thoughts? (that's if it's not ok to post recommendations for specific practices/orthodontists in the thread).

Well apologies for rambling a rather long post and cheers in advance for any advice you can give.

[Wobblydeb]

Hi and welcome

Hmmmmmmmm where to start.... First and foremost I would encourage you to book at least a couple of appointments with different people, at least one of which should be an orthodontist. You will probably pay consultation fees (as you are in UK) but I would say it is money well spent.

Please try and stay open minded about the solution, becuase the best option may not be Invisalign. Lots of people on this board have said the same thing - that before getting braces they were really concerned about appearance, but after a short time it becomes irrelevant. As time goes on, you will rate getting the perfect smile higher than the visibility of your braces. If you have a complex case the perfect smile is more difficult (and occasionally impossible) to achieve with Invisalign.

Having said all that ..... Invisalign is a very user friendly system if you are educated and aware of its limitations before signing up. So, some questions to ask would be:

- Establish exactly what your teeth and orthodontic issues are - e.g. narrow arch, cross bite, rotation, gum problems etc.

- Ask your dentist what has caused them, and will they continue or will the planned orthodontics offer a permanent solution.

- What is needed to sort out your bite and the alignment of your teeth? Are there alternative options - e.g. extractions versus expansion versus interproximal reduction (IPR - shaving the sides of the teeth).

- What are the benefits and limitations with each of those options? e.g. Extractions are an easy way of gaining space and may be the only realistic option, but Invisalign struggles to move the surrounding teeth into the extraction space, and there may be resulting changes in your appearance. A perfect solution may not be possible with any type of braces and IMHO its better to be aware of that from the outset. The most common example of that with us adults seems to be the black triangles you get when crowded teeth are straightened, and there isn't enough gum to fill the gap...

- Is there any dental work needed before going ahead? e.g. Fillings, extractions or gum treatment?

- If you have any crowns etc. I would ask how they will respond to orthodontic work.

- If you do go for Invisalign, what is included in the price? The initial moulds and x-rays, all appointments, retainers?

- How many refinements are included? (Beware - I think these can often be less in the UK market!)

- What happens if you go for Invisalign and it does not work? An orthodontist may offer to switch to fixed braces, but what will a dentist do? (I am with a cosmetic dentist, and have put money aside for moving to an orthodontist if it is needed).

- Does the price include whitening treatments?

- I would also ask if they supply Invisalign Teen and how much it would cost - having seen recent posts about it, there seem to be definite advantages to it that could be worth the extra cost (better root torque and compliance indicators).

- What happens at the end - what type of retainer do they recommend and why? Is it included in the cost?

- You could also ask for an indication of how long they think it will take. An experienced Invisalign provider might be able to give an estimate. My dentist couldn't, so I just found out when the initial plan came back.

- What are the payment terms - do they offer a payment plan?

- Can you pay up to the Clincheck stage before committing the rest of your cash? I did this, and it was very comforting to see the anticipated outcome before handing over the £££££s!

I hope this helps - its scary but a very worthwhile step to start sorting out your smile

[lt81]

Hi

I am quite new to all this, having had my first round of consultations about 6 weeks ago, just saw my clincheck today and get my first set of aligners in 3 weeks.

I live near Birmingham in the midlands and saw about 3 invisalign providers to compare between. They all offered free inivisalign consultation.

I had a list of questions to take with me about my specific issues - still having baby teeth and wisdom teeth coming through etc. Not all providers gave the same answers to my questions and in the end, I went with the dentist that I felt was most qualified (not necessarily the cheapest) and that I had confidence in, so I know if there are problems, he is sufficiently experienced to know how to resolve.

I found it helpful to ask how many invisalign patients they treat a year and see if they will show you any examples of patients they have treated with similar issues to you - that way you can see for yourself what they have come up against in the past - particularly if you think your teeth have a number of issues.

WobblyDeb's comments are all really good advice. Definitely check how many refinements are included in the price, if the 6 weekly visits are included, retainers etc, so you can know if you are comparing prices like with like.

Good luck and let us know how you get on!

[lt81]

me again - my dentist also let me pay £300 to have the molds taken etc, so they could get the clincheck made up then only paid the rest today when I was happy with the planned results.

[myhollywoodsmile]

Hi there,
I too am a very complex case and saw several orthodontists before finding my current one (all the others were unwilling/unable to treat me properly)

My advice would be therefore to see only orthodontists. As they have experience in tooth movement they will give you the most realistic assessment of your case.

Secondly, I would (as you say you have done) only pick the most experienced doctor. Don't be surprised if you get very different opinions. Some docs like to stay well within their comfort zone so will only treat easier cases, some are prepared to try more difficult things. My ortho teaches orthodontics at Queensland University and creates lectures around my teeth!!


Don't be afraid to see the orthodontist more than once before you sign up, this is a huge amount of money and time- you want to get it right.

I understand how you are feeling as I was extremely anxious before I started all this. I had been wanting to do it for years but never quite got there. However, it has been far, far easier than I imagined.

Have a look at my blog- it describes my process of finding an ortho in detail including all the false starts.

Good luck.

[sentience]

Hi,
A big thanks to all of you for your informative replies.

That's a great list of points to ask Wobblydeb, I think the only other question that comes to mind was regarding attachments and whether if it was necessary to put any on the front four upper teeth if they could be done lingually... I wouldn't mind how many or where the others go but I would be reluctant to have them there.
Also I do appreciate your point about visibility coming second to the perfect smile in the long run, I think I'm slowly becoming a bit more open to other solutions but I'll see what they say at the consultations... part of me thinks that any kind of improvement even if it's not perfect will make such a difference. For example part of my problem is I have an overjet of I think around 6mm and without extractions or possibly the need for lower jaw surgery (I'm pretty certain my lower jaw is further back than it should be) this may not be reduced all that much but if my upper front teeth were at least straight I'd feel SO much better.

I have come across your blog before myhollywoodsmile and it really is amazing how much your teeth have moved already, I cant believe you're only part way through your treatment... such a difference!
I'll definitely take on the point about getting an appointment with an orthodontist who does Invisalign and not just a dentist, so far I have booked 3 consultations with pretty much the top ranked Invisalign providers in London but none of them seem to be orthodontists or provide any other forms of treatment so I will continue my search tomorrow to find at least one orthodontist to see as well.

Although it will probably be some time before I can get started on my road to straight teeth I will definitely be back here... it's so great to have people to talk to and hopefully I can find the courage to post some before pics and document my progress.

Wishing all three of you the best of luck with the rest of your treatment.

[stickytiff]

hi sentience
it does take a lot of courage to start with something as big and important as this, so well done for taking those first steps to book some appointments for initial consultations. I saw my invisalign provider, who is an orthodontist, 4 times before saying i was ready to go ahead - i went first with my mum and talked for ages, poured my heart out, almost in tears, about how my teeth made me so self concious and i felt everyone was staring at them... nice ortho was so understanding and put my mind at ease straight away

i didn't have any of those clever questions ready! my ortho has had invisalign himself so was able to describe it from an experienced point of view. my next visit was by myself to talk about prices as i was still debating whether to do invis or ceramic braces, and as the dental assistant talked me through them, i broke down and cried as it was such a big thing for me. assistant looked a bit puzzled but i think she understood

third visit was with hubby (and kids) as hubby wanted so see what i wanted to spend all this money on! and see for himself what it was all about.

then i said yes, and paid about £100 I think for the go ahead, but didn't have to pay any more until first trays came through. was still feeling reluctant even at this stage, and very nervous about what i'd let myself in for, until I'd got my first trays and finally felt positive that i was doing something I'd thought about for so long, probably 10 years before I decided to pursue it. feelin so positive about it now.

bit of a long rambling post! but good luck with it sentience )