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My Invisalign experience and outcome - Overview from start to finish
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My Invisalign Experience & Outcome - Overview from Start to Finish
After reading many online reviews and umming & ahhhing about whether to go ahead, I decided last September (2017) to go for it.
I'm a 47-year old Male and although I wore traditional braces as a kid my teeth have become noticeably more crooked over the past 20 years or so. I currently live in Dubai which seems to have a plethora of good dental clinics, but I decided to go for the Invisalign Center - I think mainly because this is their core activity rather than general dentistry.
I went in for the initial assessment in which they explained the procedure and took a 3D scan of my teeth/mouth. I forget the cost of this but it was re-imbursable if I decided to go ahead with the treatment.
Once the scan came back they walked me through an animation which showed the predicted progress week-by-week and final outcome. I was incredibly impressed by the predicted results (but a little sceptical) which far surpassed my expectations and agreed to sign up.
The total cost was around $5,700 which seems to be in the general ball-park as others have mentioned. This covers all treatment until a satisfactory result is reached regardless of time/number of trays which seemed fair.
The main appeal was that the trays were replaced weekly (rather than fortnightly as with some other clinics); so the initial set of 39 trays would only take around 9-10 months - way shorter than I initially anticipated.
My very first reaction on putting the first tray in was 'this isn't too bad at all'; and it's true they are virtually invisible - during the entire course of my treatment not a single person ever noticed them without me saying anything. However, over the next day or 2 the pain began; my tongue in particular was getting rubbed raw on the edges of the trays - and once the trays had hooks (for the elastic) this continually caught on the inside of my lips which was agony.
However, over the course of a few weeks my tongue grew used to the trays & settled down - since around the 5th or 6th week it hasn't been painful at all.
For the hooks, I started putting dental wax over them which helped immensely; finally (maybe around week 8) my mouth become used to these as well and I had no more issues for the rest of the treatment - to be honest I quite often forgot I was wearing them and bit into a sandwich at lunch.
It really is quite painful/irritating for the few first trays though, but persevere because it does settle down and the results are more than worth it!
Oh - and like many others I had a noticeable lisp during the first day or 2 of each tray, and found myself salivating and even spraying saliva quite a bit (this did get noticed...)
I had the attachments (I think around 8 in all, none on the front teeth so hardly noticeable) fitted after week 2; this was easy & they never caused me any real issues.
I was supposed to wear elastic bands (only at night) from about week 20 onwards but I confess I found them so fiddly and difficult to put in that I more often than not didn't bother. They were intended to help correct an overbite (which I still have) but for me this isn't an issue at all as my goal was straight teeth & a decent smile.
The rest of the program went very smoothly with regular checkups etc, I was very surprised (and pleased) at how quickly the results begin to show.
I drank tea, coffee & all kinds of alcohol whilst wearing the trays & didn't notice any huge discolouration over the week - however I'm a social smoker and highly recommend taking them out to smoke as it makes them taste like an ashtray...
After 39 weeks/trays I had an appraisal with the doctor & we both agreed the results were excellent & no more trays were needed; I then signed up for a follow-up package which included the Vivera retainers (3 sets) which I'm currently wearing every night (and sometimes during the day as I've observed the teeth start moving back very quickly) and a Zoom home whitening kit (cost around $900 total). I also had some cosmetic work done to fix chipped teeth and re-contour uneven gums at the same clinic - this was covered by my insurance.
I'll upload the 'before' and 'after' photos (taken at the clinic) below; I'm amazed at the difference in less than a year from beginning to end (but also horrified with the amount of weight I've put on judging from the pictures...
I'm happy to answer any questions - all in all a great experience from my perspective.
I'm a 47-year old Male and although I wore traditional braces as a kid my teeth have become noticeably more crooked over the past 20 years or so. I currently live in Dubai which seems to have a plethora of good dental clinics, but I decided to go for the Invisalign Center - I think mainly because this is their core activity rather than general dentistry.
I went in for the initial assessment in which they explained the procedure and took a 3D scan of my teeth/mouth. I forget the cost of this but it was re-imbursable if I decided to go ahead with the treatment.
Once the scan came back they walked me through an animation which showed the predicted progress week-by-week and final outcome. I was incredibly impressed by the predicted results (but a little sceptical) which far surpassed my expectations and agreed to sign up.
The total cost was around $5,700 which seems to be in the general ball-park as others have mentioned. This covers all treatment until a satisfactory result is reached regardless of time/number of trays which seemed fair.
The main appeal was that the trays were replaced weekly (rather than fortnightly as with some other clinics); so the initial set of 39 trays would only take around 9-10 months - way shorter than I initially anticipated.
My very first reaction on putting the first tray in was 'this isn't too bad at all'; and it's true they are virtually invisible - during the entire course of my treatment not a single person ever noticed them without me saying anything. However, over the next day or 2 the pain began; my tongue in particular was getting rubbed raw on the edges of the trays - and once the trays had hooks (for the elastic) this continually caught on the inside of my lips which was agony.
However, over the course of a few weeks my tongue grew used to the trays & settled down - since around the 5th or 6th week it hasn't been painful at all.
For the hooks, I started putting dental wax over them which helped immensely; finally (maybe around week 8) my mouth become used to these as well and I had no more issues for the rest of the treatment - to be honest I quite often forgot I was wearing them and bit into a sandwich at lunch.
It really is quite painful/irritating for the few first trays though, but persevere because it does settle down and the results are more than worth it!
Oh - and like many others I had a noticeable lisp during the first day or 2 of each tray, and found myself salivating and even spraying saliva quite a bit (this did get noticed...)
I had the attachments (I think around 8 in all, none on the front teeth so hardly noticeable) fitted after week 2; this was easy & they never caused me any real issues.
I was supposed to wear elastic bands (only at night) from about week 20 onwards but I confess I found them so fiddly and difficult to put in that I more often than not didn't bother. They were intended to help correct an overbite (which I still have) but for me this isn't an issue at all as my goal was straight teeth & a decent smile.
The rest of the program went very smoothly with regular checkups etc, I was very surprised (and pleased) at how quickly the results begin to show.
I drank tea, coffee & all kinds of alcohol whilst wearing the trays & didn't notice any huge discolouration over the week - however I'm a social smoker and highly recommend taking them out to smoke as it makes them taste like an ashtray...
After 39 weeks/trays I had an appraisal with the doctor & we both agreed the results were excellent & no more trays were needed; I then signed up for a follow-up package which included the Vivera retainers (3 sets) which I'm currently wearing every night (and sometimes during the day as I've observed the teeth start moving back very quickly) and a Zoom home whitening kit (cost around $900 total). I also had some cosmetic work done to fix chipped teeth and re-contour uneven gums at the same clinic - this was covered by my insurance.
I'll upload the 'before' and 'after' photos (taken at the clinic) below; I'm amazed at the difference in less than a year from beginning to end (but also horrified with the amount of weight I've put on judging from the pictures...
I'm happy to answer any questions - all in all a great experience from my perspective.
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