“Invisalign Process for 40+ Year Old Professional - Seattle”

I'm a 40+ year old male who has decided to finally address crooked teeth, fangs, and other unhappy aspects of my smile. I've just started the Invisalign process.

I began by going to 3 consultations with reputable orthos in Seattle. All of the doctors arrived at the conclusion that Invisalign would help me get a substantial improvement in the orientation of the teeth, but would not help with the bite. That would take braces.

Given my job (and age, I suppose), I'm just not prepared to have metal mouth like I had in my teens. I picked my orthodontist based on referrals from 2 friends and my dentist (Dr. Zerngast on Mercer Island).

Today I had my first appointment (think it cost $400) to get panos and other xrays, as well as molds that are used to get my first set of Invisalign aligners (not retainers, as I keep calling them). I'll keep updating along the way, but I'm looking at 2 years of this!

Updated on 15 Feb 2012:
Attended the consultation where I was shown the movies (below) of how my teeth should move after 18 months, 26 aligners. Back teeth align nicely, so it's all the upfront teeth that will get moved around...oh, there's some widening that happens near the end. They'll require shaving off .3mm on the fronts to get better alignment.

Pretty amazing if they can close my bite with plastic!