Invisalign | 19 Y/o, Previously Had a Horrible Experience with Regular Braces! - Austria

I decided to get Invisalign because my teeth had bothered me ever since and it was about time to do something about them!

Anyway I previously had the type of braces you were required to wear over night but I regret that procedure SO MUCH.
I was about 12 back then and my teeth were crooked and just not aesthetically pleasing so - like every other kid - I got braces, which didn't bother me at all back then because I only had to wear them over night and most of my friends had to wear them too.
During the first 6 months my teeth got straighter and I didn't have any real problems but out of the blue my dentist decided I needed new ones for some reason - which cost a lot considering their just kids' braces. The new braces were okay for like the first 3 months but then she started trying to speed up the procedure by skipping stages and making my braces extremely tight each time I came in for a check up. I was literally crying every time I walked out because the pain was so strong - the previous braces gave me bearable tension for the first 2 days wearing them but with these the pain never stopped no matter how long I wore them.
During the procedure the end of the wire of the braces managed to poke me into my gums where my molar teeth are, to the point where I constantly had bleeding gums so of course I went to the doctor's to have her cut it off or something and all she responded with was "It's supposed to be like that".
Obviously that was when I stopped wearing them.
A few years after that when I was about 17 I went in for a regular check up and she managed to scrape off enough dental calculus to make a tiny whole between my lower front teeth so that every time I drank something the mostly cold liquid would flow right through it - I guess you can imagine what that felt like. Aside from that my gums were bleeding for 3 days.
Needless to say that was the last time I saw her and a few months after my appointment the government actually took away her dentist license (I don't know what the exact term is) and she is no longer allowed to practice dentistry in any way. I guess that's a good end to my tragic story after all lol

Two weeks ago I had my first appointment with Dr. Mandl. She took a look at my teeth, told me which ones are out of alignment and explained the whole Invisalign procedure to me.

So anyway here are my stats:

Length of procedure: about one and a half years
Amount of aligners: 160
Price: €4500 (ca. USD 5100)
Info on the teeth: I'm actually considered an "extreme case of out of alignment" lol I guess nobody except for dentists would say that though. I don't have any pain or problems when biting, so the procedure is purely for aesthetic reasons. Personally I think my teeth don't look that bad, I just want them to be straight. Oh btw, I still have a milk tooth that might fall out during the procedure but if that happens I'll have to get an implant or something else (forgot what it was called). I'd like to keep it though, I think it's kind of a special thing to have!

I didn't really have any questions when she asked me if there was anything else I wanted to know, simply because she explained everything very well and I of course did a ton of research on Invisalign before.

I'll update again in about 2 weeks when the ClinCheck and my aligners arrive and I'm finally ready to start my journey!

Oh btw, last week I had my dental casts made and some professional photos taken.

The girl who did them was one of my dentist's assistants and let's just say she was not the most talkative person and didn't even ask how I'm doing.
The upper cast had to be done three times because they have to be perfect - good for the accuracy of my aligners but bad for my gag reflex lol. I almost vomited at least 80 times during the procedure. Just take it as a warning if you're prone to having an easy gag reflex like me. The stuff they use for the cast tastes SO GROSS ugh.

After that I did some regular x-rays and had the professional photos of my teeth taken - from every angle, with mirrors inside my mouth, lying down and standing up etc. etc. etc... So once I'll get them (probably with my ClinCheck in 2 weeks) I'll put them on here!