Invisalign: Stories

I am 28 years old, and started my Invisalign treatment at 27. During my adult years, my teeth started to bother me more and more and after hearing about Invisalign it took me a couple years to finally decide that I would try it.

I chose Invisalign mostly because I have seen people with white acrylic braces and I felt as if they were still very visible. My reasons for choosing Invisalign were mostly cosmetic. I chose a provider near my home who is also a super elite provider.

I have an overjet and overbite, and my lower teeth are extremely crowded, with one that was nearly sideways covering the tooth next to it. I had 2 upper and 2 lower teeth extracted prior to starting treatment. I began treatment in February 2011, with 37 trays total. It’s now October 2012 and I’m on tray 3 of 22 – refinements. My treatment cost came to approximately $7,000 CAD.

I have worn elastics for the duration of my treatment, and for the first 37 trays, I had tads inserted to my lower gums to assist with the rotation of the very sideways tooth. Now that I’m on refinements, the tads have been taken out and I have been wearing elastics. In addition, my refinements have power ridges (these were previously only available on Invisalign Teen and I believe the purpose is to help with the movement).
This review will primarily cover my original treatment as I haven’t gotten far in my refinements to comment.
Approximately half way through my treatment, I noticed that the upper aligners were not sitting well on my back teeth, and as a result the two teeth farthest back were not moving with the rest of my teeth. So, the gap from my extraction was closing, but a new gap was forming in the back. Also because the tray did not sit properly, the gap was closing slower than the gap on the opposite side. I pointed this out to my orthodontist, who said we would fix it w/ the refinements. This problem is probably one of the reasons I have 22 sets of aligners for my refinements!

Secondly, the gaps from extraction were not fully closed at the end of my 37 trays. My overbite/overjet had gotten WORSE because the bottom teeth had straightened out and although my upper teeth are quite straight, they now cover my bottom teeth completely. My ortho has told me that this problem will be corrected by the end of the refinements, and I sure hope that it is as I’m looking for close to perfection and do not want to have any overbite/overjet.

Finally, at the end of 37 trays, my bottom teeth (molars?) were over corrected from the tads, they had over rotated and now are rotated towards the front of my mouth. This issue also needs to be corrected with refinements.

At my initial assessment I was told treatment would be approximately 18 months, there was no mention of refinements. I wish this is something I had known as my treatment is taking a lot longer than anticipated. Other things I would have liked to have known prior to starting treatment – the extractions would take very long to close, elastics needed to be worn, gum recession could occur (and it has – which is another concern of mine as it’s not pretty).

I am now on Tray 11 of 22 refinements - finally halfway to the end of these refinements!
At my last appointment last week I told my orthodontist I was a bit concerned about my overbite - this is really the last thing that needs to be corrected (the bottom teeth are nearly straight, the only exception being that one tooth that was practically sideways before). I have been diligently wearing my elastics, chewing my chewies and wearing my trays as much as I can.
We moved the bottom button to the back tooth so hoping this will help speed up the process.