Invisalign: Stories

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.