Invisalign
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“Not Too Happy - Teeth Look Great but Feel Misaligned”

1 post
Comments (8)
Updated 9 Sep 2009
Posted 7 Sep 2009
Not Worth It
Spent: $6,000 in NY

I needed to straighten my teeth because it was always something that had bothered me. I looked into getting braces but invisalign was more appealing to me as I was 23 years old at the time and didn't want to have a mouth full of braces.

I had 29 trays and my teeth look great, however they do not feel okay. I cannot comfortably or completely close my mouth and have my teeth rest on each other. In order for me to try to align my teeth up, I have to pull my bottom jaw back which doesn't feel natural at all. As a result I wear my retainers 24/7 unless I am eating or brushing. It has become very annoying.

When I asked my dentist about the problem, he attempted to file down some of the teeth to help them interlock correctly. It didn't solve the problem and I asked him to stop because I didn't like the thought of filing my teeth down. I'm irritated that I have spent so much money and my mouth is uncomfortable. My teeth look good, but they are less than perfect. They still are not completely straight.

I am going to discuss this problem with an orthodontist as well as a dentist and see if there are other alternatives. I think I might be looking into conventional braces as I do not want to have to wear a retainer 24/7 for the rest of my life!

Updated 9/2/11

So here is an update for everyone: I originally wrote this post nearly two years ago. I actually now work in the dental field and understand all of this in such a different way. What had happened was invisalign threw my bite off really bad. It ended up creating a click in my jaw joint, so now it pops and I had a ton of interferences in my mouth. Its not something I would ever have gotten used to, instead it would have caused localized periodantal
disease, which is permanent bone loss. When your teeth move from lining up, they occlude differently and adjustments HAD to be made. The Dr I work for fixed my bite so that it is no longer destructive to my joints but my bite will never feel the same. I'm pretty sure that even if I did ortho (which I can't afford) my bite would still not be the same. If I were to do it all over again I would just do braces.

This review is the subjective opinion of a RealSelf member and not of RealSelf, Inc.

Before, Overcrowding, and overlapping Before, Overcrowding, and overlapping
After After
Vote: 3 members found this review helpful

Comments (8)

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ang in philly (9 posts) 9 Sep 2009
Its for problems like this that I recommended going to an orthodontist over a dentist in my post. My ortho doesnt like the way my teeth are lining up either. he is going to use a rubber band to fix the allignment issue i am having on side of my mouth when i am finished with my lower alligners. I dont think it should be a big deal. Hopefully you can go see an ortho who can recommend the same or similar easy solution!
starting over (18 posts) 9 Sep 2009
Ang, I agree with you completely and made the same recommendation in my original post. The "premier provider" cosmetic dentist I originally used relied completely on the computer and also never looked at my teeth at the six- week visits. He simply had assistants hand me the next 3 sets of aligners. My back molars became longer than the rest of the molars due to poorly fitting trays. I am now in new treatment with an Elite Premier provider orthodontist (tray 9 of 21) to correct the damage caused by that treatment. My experience with the orthodontist has been so positive. I would recommend that anyone considering Invisalign research the experience level of your provider with respect to moving teeth!
tammy263 (8 posts) 26 Sep 2009
did anyone get there molars distilized instead of getting teeth filed to make room for crooked teeth during invisalign treatment thanks.
mariellehairdresser (2 posts) 13 Nov 2009
i had the same experience. i was promised invisalign would give me the same results as braces. 19 trays later i'm in the dentist chair for my last visit with crowded and uneven teeth that look nothing like the computer step by step results showed.i told him my concern and his answer was..."you need to be in braces for a year and then veneers." i would've done braces in a heart beat if he would've been honest and told me that's what was needed to acheive my results....needless to say i'm frustrated and out of money($5,000)....it's cool that you shared your experience and one day we'll both have pretty teeth!
invisalign too (1 post) 25 Jan 2010
the reason your teeth don't touch is not because they are misaligned, its because they have moved to allow for the retainer. They will move back after time.
Marie4724 (1 post) 27 Jun 2011
i would imagine that your teeth would feel misaligned afterwards at least for awhile, any shift in your teeth is uncomfortable since your so use to the way they have been for so long. Kinda like when you chip, lose, or break a tooth and it drives you crazy cause it feels so weird. I think that it would take time to adjust and there is no way to get somethin like perfect teeth without somethin bein annoying.
Afterward (1 post) 2 Sep 2011
There are a couple of decades difference in our ages, but it sounds like our Invisalign experiences have been quite similar. I completed treatment a couple of years ago and now wish I'd used an orthodontist instead of a dentist. My teeth look fantastic, but the top and bottom teeth simply do not come together comfortably. It feels like the top and bottom arches are shifted sideways (left/right). My dentist has tried and tried to correct this, but after multiple adjustments (filing teeth), he says he can do no more (can't do any more filing). So I am now saving for consultation and possible additional treatment with an orthodontist. If I had it to do over again, I would definitely choose Invisalign over braces. But I would use an orthodontist instead of a dentist. By the same token, I would not go an orthodonist to have a cavity filled or to get a crown.
Megan P (Community Manager - 1,281 posts) 2 Sep 2011

There is a forum open that asks the question "Dentist or Orthodontist, does it matter that much?" Would love to have you chime in on the conversation.

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