“Invisalign: What They Don't Tell You”
My first set of retainers where 36 trays for the upper and 19 for the lower. When I got to tray 22 in the upper new trays had to be made because the trays were 'off track' just a little in the beginning and got to point of being worthless. The new set of trays was 34 for the upper and 17 for the lower. After tray 19 on the upper my canines were not line-up properly. I had the option of going for fine adjustments with invisalign (part of the package) or going full traditional fix appliance (no further cost to me). I decided to go for full fixed appliance and here is why.
Reason number one NOT to use invisalign. Check with your dentist on this if you don't believe me.....
1) I was 37 when I started invisalign and had one teenee weene cavity. One cavity in my entire life. While wearing invisalign I received five cavities! With invisalign the teeth are covered with plastic. Big deal right? YES! Your salivia acts as a cleansing agent for your teeth and helps prevent decay. When the teeth are covered guess what? They are not "washed" by your saliva and are more prone to decay.
2) Invisalign cannot raise or lower teeth. Trust me on this. Even with the litte "bumps" of the glue; it just doesn't work well.
3) For every hour you don't wear the aligners it take 24 hours of wearing to make up for that hour.
4) If you need eslatic work (mid shift alignment) forget it. What a royal pain.
5) You WILL lose a tray or two! and lose momentum in your treatment!
6) Snacking is a pain. Removing the trays, brushing all the time, etc....
In short I wouldn't reccomend this product to anyone. I was so worried about the look, what people would think, yada, yada, which is wy I choose invisalign. One thing I learned is no matter how bad you think your teeth are aligned other people think the extact same thinkg about their own teeth! Believe me on this one: People WILL be jealous you have braces! Not everyone has the money for brace....they WILL be jealous!
Average braces is 1 to 1.5 years and its a short time in your life. Do not worry what people will think or say or whatever. Your oral health is worth it!
Do your homework; a lot of homework if you are considering invisalign.
Go for traditional braces - they are cheaper and do a MUCH better job and most importantly give treatment control to your orthodonist who sees your teeth in real life as opposed to someone at invisalign looking at your teeth in 3D on a computer - Its just not the same thing....
This review is the subjective opinion of a RealSelf member and not of RealSelf, Inc.
Comments (12)
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Anxious about invisalign and whether you're getting the full story? Learn 18 secrets from a RealSelf community member who went through it all.
I would have to disagree with the braces as well. I wore braces as a child from 1st grade up until my sophmore year. Yes that is right 10 years, b/c my jaw was too small, not enough room for my all my teeth, my canines took almost 6 years to come down even with help from stupid incisions from the ortho. My ortho NEVER gave me retainers or anything once he took them off and my experience SUCKED on a whole and I would never do braces again. They hurt like hell. Luckily, my teeth don't look bad, but I am going to try Invisalign on the top teeth now. Second, my husband had braces when I met him. He wore them for 2 years. Got them off, his teeth looked great. His retainers broke time and time again. And you know why??? B/c his teeth are shifting! So much for braces and paying for them, b/c now you would never know. So that is just two personal stories I have. I could go on, but I will never go to braces!
And I have had to get a root canal wearing invisilign, including another cavity, oh and guess what my regular dentist told me? Not my gold digging orthodontist, but my regular dentist. He says I have a lot of stains. You know what? I've never brushed my teeth and flossed as great as I do while wearing invisilign, yet I've never had my teeth with so much problems and as stained as heck while wearing invisalign. Don't ignore the facts, do your research. Yes I brush in an angle softly and do the flossing correctly and all. So don't assume. You know why? It can take saliva up to 2 or more hours to help penetrate the plaque and begin healing process. But wearing the plastics cover your teeth, for hours, not allowing the natural saliva your teeth needs long enough to help your teeth. THerefore, decay and cavities are more likely to happen. By the way, the root canal had to be an extra a thousand and something dollars by a professional root canal dentist. Gee more money... Also brushing too much and using too much flouride is actually harmful to teeth. (I'll let you research this one.) So as you can see, even following everything possible to have healthy teeth, while wearing invisalign is ...impossible. My advice? DO YOUR RESEARCH BEFORE YOU DECIDE TO CHOOSE A PROBLEM. My dentist was afraid to get into a confrontation with my orthodontist. So he said "I don't want to blame any orthodontist, so I can't really give you advice." He did admit he's not a fan of invisalign though. Now I am comtemplating whether I should continue invisalign or not. I have moved so far and am almost done. But I don't want any more bad things to happen to my teeth. I'm afraid of a tooth extraction in the near future and afraid of another root canal.... Yet it was a heck of a lot of money. Yet the cost of the negative effects will cost me more later. You know...perfect teeth, I guess isn't everything. I realized how many of my friends are beautiful even with their imperfect teeth. But if you can't help it, GET BRACES, NOT PLASTICS.
Yeah you have to brush your teeth a lot, and snacking is a pain. But that's life. If you really want it, put the work in. Simple.