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POSTED UNDER Invisalign REVIEWS

Apprehensive About Getting Started -Asheville, NC

ORIGINAL POST

Why do I want Invisalign? I hope to close up some...

litlred522April 6, 2013
$3,680

Why do I want Invisalign? I hope to close up some gaps, fix a wonky tooth (not visible) in the back, and improve my bite so I don't grind my teeth as badly. I had braces as a teenager, but I wasn't the most responsible young person, and at the time I didn't care about wearing my retainer. Then I got my wisdom teeth out and....hello gaps! I've also distorted a tooth in the very back of my mouth (it's almost sideways!) from grinding, which causes me a good bit of discomfort.

I start on Wednesday, and I'm really nervous. I'm 30 years old, so I'm concerned about Invisalign not being as invisible as I had originally thought (umm...attachments don't seem to be so invisible! I wasn't even told about those when I signed up...just discovered them on the internet!).

I'm also concerned that it's not going to be worth the over $3,500 I'm paying out of pocket for this (that's after my insurance, which is paying $1500!). I've had major second thoughts, and I haven't even started yet...but I've already signed on the dotted line, so here goes nothing.

I'm getting married in September, so that was a big motivating factor. My dress cost about 1/7th of this treatment, lol! I'm going out of town for a wedding the weekend after I start, so I guess I'll get some trial by fire with eating out, drinking alcohol and whatnot. Ugh...
I'm also planning to whiten my teeth using the Invisalign. Has anyone done that, and, if so, do you have any suggestions?

Replies (4)

Megan P
April 8, 2013

Its always a bummer to have those second thoughts after you have already committed. From what you have written you have some really good, non-cosmentic, reasons to move forward though.

Here is a Q&A where different dentists share their thoughts on whitening with Invisalign:

Whitening with Invisalign Tray and Attachments?

Looking forward to hearing how your first weekend with the trays goes.

P.S. Congratulations on your upcoming wedding - that is so exciting!!

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ShanJohn_NC
April 9, 2013
I am a similar case - braces as a teen, not responsible with wearing the retainer, wisdom teeth removed, more movement...I became more uncomfortable with my teeth as I got older hence the Invisalign... I didn't know about the attachments either but I haven't had any problems with them thus far. I'm only on the 2nd set of trays and don't have a problem with people noticing when they're in. I too am planning to get my teeth whitened when I'm done but don't know about using the trays. My dentist has a less expensive treatment I'm going to consider at the end of this one (depending upon how empty my pockets are after all of this)!! ;-) I'm excited to see the end result & wish you much success!!
litlred522
April 10, 2013
Thanks, ShanJohn! It's really nice getting responses from other people in similar situations. Have you had any trouble with a lisp? That's another concern of mine. I'm going to try whitening with the trays based on what I read on the link that Megan posted below, but I'm going to make sure to do it before the attachments go on, just in case. I'll let you know how it goes :-)
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ShanJohn_NC
April 10, 2013
Hey - I have a small / minor lisp but nothing major at all. Nothing that keeps me from wearing my aligners, shy away from chatting, etc. If anything, it makes me more conscious about it so I try harder to enunciate properly and not bring attention to the aligners. Not a big thing for me... I look forward to hearing about the whitening process. I plan to look into whitening AFTER all of this is done depending upon how empty my pockets are!! ;-)
UPDATED FROM litlred522
1 day post

Well, just started my first set of trays yesterday...

litlred522April 11, 2013
Well, just started my first set of trays yesterday. So far, it isn't so bad. I'll have 21 trays in total, and will wear each tray for 10 days. I'll have 8 attachments as of tray #4, which I'm concerned about because they said they would have to do some "gentle filing" (um...what?? Apparently they do this so the teeth can align properly? Why wasn't I told about all this?). Anyway, the aligners themselves really aren't that visible, but I am concerned about how they will look with the attachments. One good thing is that they said they will remove the attachments for my wedding, so that I can have pictures without my teeth looking all funky. The ortho said I should be about 85% done with Invisalign by that point, so hopefully the pics will be great.

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