27yo Female, Invisalign for Crowding & Unilateral Crossbite - Brisbane, AU

I used this website heaps when I was researching orthodontic treatment so figured I should return the favour. I'm currently just over 2 weeks into Invisalign treatment.

I've hated my teeth my whole life and finally decided to do something about it! I only heard about Invisalign last year, I can't remember how it came about. I have narrow arches and some pretty bad crowding top and bottom and have always been super self conscious of my smile. My biggest issue is my lateral incisor on one side which is in crossbite. It's so far pushed back that if I smile with my teeth in photos it often looks like I'm missing a tooth. So I just don't. And it sucks.
Also one of my premolars was completely out of line and blocked off by my other teeth. Other than that, just general crowding and wackiness.

After researching for a few months I decided to get my general dental health in check so I could start with the orthodontic treatment. I hadn't been to the dentist in maybe 10 years?? Yeah, so bad... I know. I needed one filling and an extraction of my top molar second from the back. Half of it broke off years ago and it was really badly decayed. The dentist also referred me to an oral surgeon as my lower wisdom teeth were badly impacted (luckily I don't have any wisdoms on top).

In the meantime I had a free consult with an ortho in my city (found through the Invisalign website) and he said I was a suitable candidate. I wasn't 100% fixed on Invisalign rather than braces but was definitely relieved to find out I qualified. The dentist had said I would probably need braces. I got my teeth scanned there and then and discussed payment options. A few days later I made my deposit and signed the forms to proceed treatment. About a week and a half later they sent through my ClinCheck pictures to predict my before and after. The treatment also included extraction of my top premolar that was out of line. Ortho said the molar blocking it off had a good bite relation to the other teeth so there wasn't much point going to the extra effort of trying to bring it back into line.

I also had a consult with the oral surgeon and a few weeks later got that bit over and done with. I ended up getting 4 teeth extracted - my 2 lower wisdoms, plus the dead top molar on one side, and the premolar on other side. I was prepared for the worst, but my surgery was a piece of cake, I couldn't have asked for a better recovery :) Such a relief.

Then FINALLY, two and a bit weeks after my oral surgery, I had my appointment with the ortho to start treatment. I got 14 attachments and received all of my trays straight up, which was a surprise. I have 41 trays for now, so for the time being I'm counting down 41 weeks. Although I'm counting on refinements after, so won't get my hopes up. My ortho does weekly changes, so 41 trays = approx 10 months!! Way less than I expected so I was pretty stoked.

The initial feeling of having the trays in my mouth was super weird, my mouth felt like it was protruding a mile and I felt like my lips couldn't close properly. The attachments don't bother me, I feel like most people probably wouldn't notice them. Obviously they're hugely noticeable to me, but only cos I'm staring at my mouth from 10cm away in bright lighting in a mirror haha. I also have a rubber band on one side. I can't feel it there and often poke my tongue to the corner of my mouth to make sure I remembered to put it back in. Also, one of my attachments broke off literally 2 hours after getting them. 14 down to 13. It was the one on my lateral incisor, that needs the most movement! It just broke off eating dinner, sigh. At that time I had another appointment booked in 4 weeks to get my IPR, so I guessed I would just wait until then. The ortho said not to worry if the odd attachment came off, only if it was several in a row or something like that.

My teeth have been a little sore but mostly just when I clench my teeth, and sensitive when I brush. It's completely manageable. The trays were effin SHARP in the first week though! My tongue was getting cut up from rubbing against the edges. After a few days I lined the bottom edges with dental wax which was SO much more comfortable, but definitely worsened my speech impediment ugh (btw felt like I sounded ridiculous for a long time, lisping all over the place).

Getting the trays out was a challenge for the first few week or so but now I'm pretty confident I've got the technique down. As I write this I'm on Tray 3, day 3 (thank god for weekly changes!!). Sorry for the super long post, but I usually found the most detailed reviews the most helpful.

I'll *try* and remember to update this once in a while, looking forward to seeing some progress.

?????

Can see some tiny movements.

Changed to tray 10/41 earlier this week, happy to be onto double digits and almost a quarter of the way through treatment. I took some more progress pics and from front on there's not too much difference from my last update (tray 6). But my bottom teeth when I look top down are looking much better. I always used to think my bottom teeth were pretty straight, hahaha... no. I never noticed how much one of my bottom front teeth overlapped the one next to it. The overlap is getting WAY better. Although I still have pretty noticeable gaps between my bottom teeth since they did IPR around 7 weeks ago. I have a checkup with the ortho this week, hopefully everything is going to plan.