POSTED UNDER Invisalign Reviews
Invisalign-- Poorer and in Need of Real Braces After Two Years
UPDATED FROM lw47777
3 years post
What my teeth were like before I started
lw47777September 8, 2015
$5,500
Just an update to show the "before" teeth. I started the whole thing because my bite was so off in the front I was chipping my front teeth, so it was braces or dentures, and I want to have my own teeth forever. I see above that I didn't remember the price of Invisalign correctly, I was off by $300.
UPDATED FROM lw47777
3 years post
I'm Done!!!
lw47777September 8, 2015
It's September of 2015 and after nearly four years, I am done with the braces and have only four more months of daily retainer wear before I can wear retainers only at night. It's been a long haul.
To recap: I don't recommend that anyone see a dentist for orthodontics. Find reviews and carefully choose an orthodontist and let him decide which method will work best for your teeth.
The total price, all said and done is really scary. It was $5200 for Invisalign, which failed. It was $6000 for self-ligating braces. Add the additional $4800 for veneers (four front top incisors) and $400 for gingivectomy (so my gums match and my teeth look even) and subtract the $4500 that my insurance paid, and you still have enough for a good used car.
My veneers were done by Nicholas Papageorgiou DDS, PC in Ashburn, VA. I highly recommend him. He is very careful, and his staff are pleasant and thoughtful people. I highly recommend White Orthodontics in Sterling, VA as well, and I couldn't be more pleased with the results of the braces.
I am including the photos, and I hope they're in order when they appear.
If anyone has questions about the experience of getting braces put on or removed, or the process of getting veneers, leave me a comment. Neither experience involved pain, and the self-ligating braces move so slowly, they never made my teeth sore.
To recap: I don't recommend that anyone see a dentist for orthodontics. Find reviews and carefully choose an orthodontist and let him decide which method will work best for your teeth.
The total price, all said and done is really scary. It was $5200 for Invisalign, which failed. It was $6000 for self-ligating braces. Add the additional $4800 for veneers (four front top incisors) and $400 for gingivectomy (so my gums match and my teeth look even) and subtract the $4500 that my insurance paid, and you still have enough for a good used car.
My veneers were done by Nicholas Papageorgiou DDS, PC in Ashburn, VA. I highly recommend him. He is very careful, and his staff are pleasant and thoughtful people. I highly recommend White Orthodontics in Sterling, VA as well, and I couldn't be more pleased with the results of the braces.
I am including the photos, and I hope they're in order when they appear.
If anyone has questions about the experience of getting braces put on or removed, or the process of getting veneers, leave me a comment. Neither experience involved pain, and the self-ligating braces move so slowly, they never made my teeth sore.
Replies (0)
UPDATED FROM lw47777
2 years post
A little more info
lw47777February 17, 2014
Prior to Invisalign, my teeth were crowded, I had a crossbite and overjet on my lower incisors, but my bite closed properly and I did not clench my teeth while sleeping. It's the clenching that caused the posterior open bite. Because I couldn't close my bite, my dentist referred me to an orthodontist after struggling to try to get Invisalign to try to make it right for me. After two years of Invisalign, my teeth sort of look straight, but there is still overjet in the lower incisors and the lower molars lean toward the inside of my mouth instead of going straight up and down.
The ceramic self-ligating braces are much more comfortable than Invisalign, which always made me feel like my teeth were suffocating and gave me terrible dry-mouth. I no longer wake up with cotton mouth and have to get a sip of water in the middle of the night. If I had it to do over, I'd have gone straight to an orthodontist for wire and bracket braces. If I had, I'd be done now, instead of contemplating going to my fortieth high school reunion in braces. (It won't stop me. People seem to deal with it fine.)
The ceramic self-ligating braces are much more comfortable than Invisalign, which always made me feel like my teeth were suffocating and gave me terrible dry-mouth. I no longer wake up with cotton mouth and have to get a sip of water in the middle of the night. If I had it to do over, I'd have gone straight to an orthodontist for wire and bracket braces. If I had, I'd be done now, instead of contemplating going to my fortieth high school reunion in braces. (It won't stop me. People seem to deal with it fine.)
Replies (2)
PreOrtho
February 18, 2014
Ugh, so sorry it didn't work for you and left you with an open bite. I'm developing one too, so I'm going to ask my ortho about it on the next appointment. I do think Invisalign can fix overjets, as I've seen after photos of cases from my ortho. I have an overjet as well, and it's supposed to be fixed, but if it isn't, I have the alternative of braces, so I'll look out to see if there is any improvement as I'm moving along. Thanks for your review -- it's a great reminder.
lw47777
February 18, 2014
It fixed a small amount of the overjet, but it does it by intruding the teeth, not by fixing the shape of the jaw. So that has to be repaired by the self-ligating braces I'm wearing now.
PreOrtho
February 19, 2014
Oh, yours is a skeletal overjet?...Mine is a dental overjet, caused by thumbsucking when I was little and tongue thrust pushing the upper teeth forward. So the solution, according to my ortho, is pulling the teeth back, like in a squeezing motion.
lw47777
February 19, 2014
That's good, that should work out fine with your current treatment. If I'd been smarter, I'd have seen an orthodontist instead of a dentist like you.
February 18, 2014
Hi! I am sorry you didn't get the results you were looking for with Invisalign! I can't speak about the over-jet, but I have a cross-bite that has been corrected with Invisalign. I also have the issue of teeth not touching with the aligners out but have read and been told that will correct itself after a bit once out of the trays. Luckily I don't have much issue chewing! I have some chipped and misshaped teeth that my dentist will have to work on for me when I am done. The straighter my teeth have gotten the uglier they are closeup with all the jagged edges! :) Good luck with your braces... I hope you get the results you are looking for!
February 19, 2014
If you need to wear Invisalign every night as retainers, I wonder if the open posterior bite will have a chance to correct itself? My jaw didn't have room for the crossbite correction, and they were misaligned all along my jaw on that side.
Replies (0)