A Long Road to Straight Teeth -Denver, CO

I'm very sad to say that my experience so far has not been very good. My speech problems have not improved -- lisping, spraying, other people unable to understand me when I speak, all still affecting my work and social life dramatically. I told Dr. Idiculla before starting treatment that I am self-employed and needed to be able to speak to clients without having my orthodontics cause any problems. He assured me there would be none. Now he claims that my speech problems are unavoidable and to be expected -- my only option is to put up with it.

I'm having another problem but I'm not looking forward to talking with him about it. I'm 99% certain it will be dismissed. One of my incisors on my lower jaw isn't moving properly. It's supposed to be rotating but it instead being pushed outward with no rotation. My current tray isn't matching up to the attachment on that tooth, so there's little chance of any of the future trays to match up either. I'm going to call and make an appointment to see Dr. I, but I can almost guarantee that he will do nothing and wait until I'm done with this round of trays (12 more sets to go in this round) and just adjust things on the next round of treatment. By that time my tooth will be really out of whack. :(
You can also see the severe gum recession that's happening from pushing one of my front teeth really far forward to make room for another tooth to come forward.

I finally talked to my orthodontist about my speech problems, he said there's no way to fix them right now. They are due to the position of my teeth, and will get worse before they get better. He suggested taking my upper tray out when talking to people.

I started my Invisalign treatment in October 2013. It's been more problematic than I'd expected. Here's what I have found difficult:

1. A few days after starting treatment I had a meeting at a client's office. My new trays were quite sharp, and they cut the inside of my mouth, causing the top tray to fill up with blood. It was very embarrassing.

2. The trays make it difficult to speak, a problem which is supposed to go away but hasn't. When I try to pronounce certain sounds, air bubbles flow under the top tray and pop out of my mouth. Sometimes I spray and it's embarrassing. People have trouble understanding me and I have to repeat myself a lot. If I try to speak louder I increase the chances of spraying them. It's awkward.

3. I had a little bit of an allergic reaction to them, causing me to feel nauseated and even threw up one morning. Thankfully, that has gone away.

4. My lips get snagged on my trays, making me look like I'm snarling. Sometimes after I smile my lips don't go back into place and I have to wiggle my mouth to get the inside of my mouth unsnagged.

5. The trays are MUCH more irritating than I had expected. Lots of people seem to get used to them but I haven't yet, perhaps because they have caused so many problems.