45 Female, New to Invisalign - Norwalk, CT

I thought I would comment since your story sounds so much like mine. I too am a 45-year-old woman who had braces before (for 1 year, in 1982-1983) and now, years later, I am doing Invisalign due to relapsed overcrowding. I did wear a retainer for a while after the braces, but apparently that wasn't enough. I think the relapse occurred gradually over those 26 years, and I'm now hearing that it may be necessary for some orthodontics patients to wear a retainer indefinitely! I have had pretty good success with Invisalign and I hope you do too. I finished my lower jaw in just 6 months (13 total trays) and am now on tray 18 of 22 for the upper jaw. I still have some distance to go on the upper jaw, but I'm hoping those last 4 trays take care of it. The lower jaw looks great. Overall, there's plenty of improvement that I can see since starting this 8 months ago. I agree with you about some of the cons, but they are minor compared to the advantage of being spared the trauma of metal braces. I remember that very well from 1982-83 and I would not want to ever go through that again. For me, discomfort from the Invisalign trays has always been minor, if any at all. It is sometimes inconvenient to have to take them out before eating, especially if I am at a meeting at work and someone spontaneously invites me to eat with them. As for the foul odor of the trays after overnight, I experience this every so often, but keeping up good hygiene (brushing and using mouthwash frequently, and keeping the trays clean) helps a lot to suppress this. Some reviewers on this site have stated that the trays are not invisible, but mostly I disagree. They may not be completely invisible, but they're close enough, and at my age, walking around with metal braces would have made me look (and feel) self-conscious. One thing you could do is ask your provider to show you the last tray in your series. Looking at those (which is how your teeth are projected to look according to the Invisalign analysis) will provide some encouragement! Best of luck to you.

Hi SandM! Things have been good so far. It's been about 5 days now, and the tip of tongue is a bit raw/sore, I guess it is from the tongue resting against the sharp edge of the inside bottom aligner. Brushing can be a pain in the butt, as I was only a 2x a day brusher, morning and night previous to the aligners. Now, I brush 6 times a day. I hope I don't wear my teeth out! LOL! Speaking of looking at last tray of aligners for encouragement. My dentist has the virtual software that shows the progression of my teeth week by week from the aligners, it is amazing. The only questionable part would be trying to get that front tooth pulled down. He said that he may have to put some type of rubberband on the back of the tooth to help pull it down. But, that will be a few months from now.

I have had Invisalign now for about 8 weeks. I strongly recommend going to the Invisalign website and buying the cleaner. It was $75 for a 50 pack but worth every dollar. I use the cleaners twice a week (dissolving packets that sit for ~20 mins) and brush many times throught the day. This will help you with the bad taste/smell. I promise. :)

Thanks Anon4290. It seems the smell is just when I take them out in the morning after being in my mouth for 8 hours overnight. I just brush them with my toothbrush and a bit of toothpaste. :) I am now on my 2nd aligner and for some reason it is starting to bend on the back right side which my chompers are, where I pull up on them to pull them off. It seems it is weakening that area, and I now see a tear in it. I have 1 more week of wearing this aligner and my dentist is on vacation. He did give me aligner #3 to put in myself on 8/20/10 (the 2 week mark for this aligner). I hope the #2 aligner hangs in there long enough and doesn't completely tear in half.

Put Aligner Bottom #3 in on 8/20/10. Just in time, as I mentioned #2 was ripping in the back right side from pulling up on it. I have to admit something must have been wrong with Aligner #2, it was such a pain to take out, sometimes I would not eat, just so I didn't have to attempt to remove it. I even used a butter knife to wedge up underneath the aligner to separate it from my teeth. Anyway, I am on my Aligner #3 and all is good. Removal has been a breeze and no problems with it weakening in any spots. I have to say, I already see a difference in my overlapped teeth on bottom. :) Only 14 more aligners to go (28 weeks)!