Excellent results from Invisalign--Added before pictures - San Mateo, CA

I had a moderate crossbite and some crookedness that was getting worse over the years. I'm 37 years old, but I never thought there wasanything worth fixing with my teeth until my late 20s. Slowly, one of my front upper incisors became crooked enough that it was affecting my smile from the side in pictures. My husband went through the ordeal of Damon braces (the best thing he's ever done for himself besides being treated for hypothyroidism). If you have terrible teeth and the orthodontists have recommended pulling teeth or jaw surgery, definitely look into Damon. If you only need a moderate or small fix, in my experience, Invisalign is a great way to go, because it allows you to more efficiently floss and brush your teeth. You just have to have the discipline to wear your aligners 20-22 hours/day.

My total treatment will be 15 initial aligners plus 6 refinement aligners, or about 42 weeks--less than a year in all. My teeth are straight and I love the way they look now! I have a couple of triangular gaps I didn't have before, which I knew would happen, but that was worth it to me. The ortho sanded me down three times in all, to make room for teeth.

The main cons are gum recession, which for me has been minimal, and the staining from the adhesive used to attach the anchors. So far, polishing with pumice has been able to remove the staining (it retirns within a few weeks, though). My only real concern at this point is whether they are able to remove the anchors without any negative side effects.

The insurance, btw, covered $2000 of the total cost.

Will post pics soon!

Today was my last day with Invisalign, and I had the anchors removed without incident. There is no trace of them left, including the glue and the staining. I am waiting for Dr. Alborzi to send me my pictures, at which point I will attempt to get them scanned and posted in a timely manner. I feel that I've gotten excellent results, though my teeth weren't that bad to start with. Overall, I'm happy with my investment, since I smile showing teeth (and I smile a lot) so my teeth are seen a lot. I always get comments on my smile, even with the aligners in and the anchors still attached! If cost is an option, this is not the best way to get a great smile--it's expensive for what it does and is limited in its efficacy. For me, it was the only option because I did not have time to floss half an hour after each meal. Because I could remove the aligners, flossing was a 5-minute affair a couple of times a day. My husband, while he had his Damon braces, spent literally 90 minutes a day flossing (3x30 minutes). It was prohibitively time-consuming. He got phenomenal results, but paid in both time and money.

Anyway, I'm very happy and would not hesitate to recommend Invisalign to those who are good candidates (ie. not with severe problems).

Still haven't gotten pictures from the doctor, but I will say that I got at least two, possibly more, cavities while I was doing this. Despite the fact that I floss two or more times/day. I think it's something about having the trays in all the time. I'll find out exactly how many cavities I got when I go to the dentist on Thursday, but I'm not hopeful :(

It increases the price of the treatment somewhat, obviously, and ancillary damage is always something to consider. Still, I am very happy with the way my teeth look, and more fillings will not affect that. It's more inconvenient than anything else, since I'm not scared of the dentist :)

Finally got to go to the dentist today, and it turns out that the spots I saw were not, in fact, cavities. They were just more staining. It turns out that flossing 2-3 times per day is a pretty surefire way to avoid getting cavities between the teeth, says my dentist. Go figure ;). SO, after a thorough polishing, my teeth are looking even MORE fabulous, although she could not get all of the staining off in the crevasses of my molars. Or between my teeth where I thought the cavities were. But yeah, very pleased.

I've added some before pictures. The after pictures have not been added to my dentist's account yet.

So, I've been out of my aligners for...has it been a year? Yes! Thank you RealSelf...I could look back and see that it has indeed been a year since I finished my aligners. I've been in retainers since then, and I've been using them religiously. It is, of course, much easier than the aligners. You only wear them at night. BUT, I was having problems with the retainers hurting terribly. So then I'd wear them more. But then I couldn't close my mouth and eat properly during the day. So my dentist told me I was wearing them too much, and that I should only be wearing them at night. Eating is no longer a problem.

But here's the rub: With Invisalign, you get four sets of retainers. And each of them is identical. You need to break in each of them. My dentist had me on a 3-month schedule, so I was supposed to wear a set for 3 months, then switch to the next set, and then have them all four broken in after a year. I didn't do that. I wore the first one for five months, the next for 3, the next for 4. Anyway, I've broken them all in now, and I'm still on the fourth set of retainers. But man do they hurt when you're breaking them in! They're sturdier than the aligners, and for four days, my mouth was just a wreck. Still, even though I've been wearing these for two weeks, they are uncomfortable when I put them in my mouth and for the whole night. It's bearable, I can sleep, but it's not put them in and forget about them like it was for the aligners.

I think that when I go for my next appointment, I'm going to discuss getting wires or something. I feel like my teeth are just moving too much during the day, and I'm not sure why that'd be. I suppose it could be because I get up at 4:30 and go to bed at 9:30, which makes it a long day without the retainers. But even when I leave the retainers in until 11 a.m., I feel like there's a lot of movement by bedtime. I only eat dinner, so it's easy enough for me to keep the retainers in all day, but they're not comfortable, and I still lisp with them in. I'm not sure what to do. But asking my orthodontist will be first on the list. If I can remember.

Otherwise, still very pleased with the Invisalign. They certainly worked. I just want to make sure that my teeth stay the way they are now.

Okay, at least I'm no longer in pain from the retainers. They're always a little uncomfortable when I put them in, but it goes away by the time I get to sleep. Also, I've been wearing them later most days, and they're broken in now. I recently had to take a video of myself speaking, and I can see that I'm still having trouble getting the English words out. I don't seem to have this problem in my other language. But I speak the other language more (even though I'm native in English and more comfortable with English) so I may just have had more practice speaking it with my new teeth. It may also be because the T's and S's are less strong in that language than in English. Anyway, I don't know, but it's a little uncomfortable talking when the retainers haven't been out for very long. It takes a few hours for my jaw to settle back into something I can talk well with.

Still happy with the way my teeth look. These are just small issues for me to remember to discuss with my orthodontist.

Bummed. Just went to the dentist yesterday (regular, not ortho,) and what is normally a relaxing time to meet with my buds who work there and get a nice tooth massage turned into terror. I got the word: I need a crown. And also, I need my wisdom teeth extracted. And it needs to be surgical, since they're all impacted and the upper ones (which are the only ones to even start coming out) are too close to sinuses. They're all too difficult. Waaaaaaaah! I don't want to get my wisdom teeth out! I'm doing the crown next week, though. *sigh*.