“Invisalign is Worth It, but the Patient Has to Pay Attention and Wear the Aligners”

I just completed my Invisalign treatment. I am 46 years old, and I had lengthy orthodontic treatment in my teens. Over the years, my teeth became crowded again and especially so on the bottom.

Invisalign is definitely worth it, but you have to be diligent about wearing the trays the required number of hours. You will also have retainers at the end of your treatment, and wearing them is a lifelong commitment.

Pros: You can remove the aligners to clean your teeth.

Cons:

• The buttons show even when you remove the aligners.

• You are constantly popping the aligners in and out to eat and brush. Get used to carrying toothpaste and dental floss.

• The sharp edges on the aligners may make your tongue very sore. See suggestion below for alleviating that.

Here are some details of my treatment:

My Invisalign treatment consisted of 13 aligners over seven months. I had two “buttons” on top and five on the bottom. One message on this blog asked about the purpose of the buttons. I asked my orthodontist, and he explained: Teeth move in different directions, forward/backward, up and down, side-to-side, and rotationally (twist). The trays themselves can move teeth side-to-side and forward/backward. But in order to twist the teeth or move them up and down, the tray needs something to grab onto, like a handle, to transfer the force. That is what the buttons and corresponding notches in the trays are for.

Toward the end of my treatment, my crowded bottom teeth were stubborn about sliding into their final placement. They couldn’t move because they were stuck against each other. I put on a new tray and noticed the tray making snapping or popping sounds. In addition, there was a lot of pressure on my teeth and the trays. My orthodontist filed my teeth down a bit, and the teeth immediately slid into place.

Suggestion on alleviating sore tongue:

My first bottom tray caused my tongue to bleed and swell for a week until scars developed. I discovered that the irritation was caused by the sharp edges on the trays. The orthodontist said I could file them down with a nail file, but it didn’t work well. So, I bought a Dremel tool. A few minutes with the grinding stone attachment did the trick. I used my Dremel tool to file down the edges of every subsequent set of trays.