More Than I Bargained for and a Shoddy Result

April 2013:
Well, I'm headed into traditional braces. This year+ of InvisAlign has been a bust. I'm told I'll need over a year in traditional braces and that I won't really be building all that much on what InvisAlign did to my teeth, which was mainly ruin my bite.

All I can say to those of you reading this and trying to figure things out, if orthodontists along the way have indicated that you are a difficult case, consider going to regular braces. InvisAlign can be a world of frustration and time/money waste unless you are a simple to moderate case. If your teeth need to be rotated alot or moved vertically...if you have bite (cross/under/overbite) issues, nothing beats the customization possible with traditional braces. Don't be like me and waste a year in InvisAlign treatment that leads to discomfort and misalignment.

After a year in InvisAlign my back teeth have been intruded by the aligners, so I've swapped one problem for another. I began this journey with a crossbite in front but perfect aligned bite in back. Now I have an open bite in back and inability to chew or grind with a better looking (but still not wonderful) front with an underbite.

All this adds up too...I wish I had gone with traditional braces. InvisAlign has been a nightmare.

My advice to give to those of you weighing the pros and cons of InvisAlign vs. traditional braces, if any orthodontist along the way has indicated that you are a complex orthodontic case, by no means should you bother with InvisAlign. Your results will most likely be better in traditional braces.

Also there has been much staining despite cleaning well and drinking/eating few staining substances.

Pumice has been used to rid the stains once but only worked a month or so before they were back again.

Having these aligners in is like having bleaching trays...for gray and brown and yellow colors.