I had Invisalign as an older adult. Took far longer than I expected (3 years!). I had braces as a teen, but the teeth shifted a lot as an adult. Guess they were much worse than normal. Some surprises for me:
The “nibs” (used to hold the trays in place) were placed on my front teeth. VERY noticeable. Talk to your dentist/ortho about were these will be located.
They had to use rubber bands on metal nibs for a significant time (like you often see with regular braces). Not fun. Dental wax helped me.
The ortho had to shave part of my teeth, evidently to prevent gaps along the gum line. I was uncomfortable with losing enamel, but my regular dentist did not see it as a problem.
I didn’t have any problems speaking. I noticed a difference, but no one else did.
Didn’t lose any weight (dang).
When the process is complete, you typically need permanent metal retainers (or your teeth will just shift back over time). I choose not to do that. I have issues with tartar buildup, so future cleanings would be much more difficult. My ortho was able to order a set of 20, that I will wear for the rest of my life at night – or at least for the next 20 years.
I was advised to soak the maintenance trays in hydrogen peroxide during the day. It keeps them clean, and prevents yellowing. Wish I would have known that for the regular trays. They can get gross by the end of the 2 week period.
I’m curious. I feel weird being an older adult sitting in. Waiting room. Also, no one explained to me all the limitations I’ll have to live through for a . Year.
My husband had them to correct a snaggle tooth. He ended up with a “hollywood smile” so they worked. However, he neglected to wear his retainers and they moved back (not as bad, but noticeable). So make sure you are diligent about after care!
One other note: when you go out to eat avoid putting your invisaligns in a napkin temporarily. Can’t tell you how many times we had to retrieve’s my husbands trays from the trash.
I had braces as a kid and did Invisalign as an adult about 4-5 years ago.
Invisalign is wonderful! They do take some maintenance and diligence in wearing them (remember with braces you have no choice), cleaning (soak in Peroxide), and taking them in and out for meals but you get very used to it. The result is amazing and I personally feel it’s easier on the teeth and mouth in general. If I had a big meeting or I time I was self conscious and talking, I would take them out.
I do caution about having a dentist administer this treatment. It is still orthodonture and should be done by a board certified, Invisalign trained orthodontist rather than a dentist.
Agreed…plan on always wearing your retainers at night.
Thanks @dentmom4 for your thorough response and professional input. The whole concept does make me nervous. But so does messing around with a mouth that is attached to such an accomplished musician by any method. Also don’t want to risk TMJ.
I have heard that many kids are now doing invisalign instead of traditional braces and at least some are only wearing them at home (say from after school until they wake up in the morning with a brief period out for dinner). It still works, but takes longer. I don’t know if this is true, but certainly plausible that kids don’t want to wear these at school.
My D is almost done with her treatment. Her dentist doesn’t use Invisalign but I can’t recall the name of the brand she is using. We didn’t do braces for her when she was younger as her oral hygiene wasn’t great. She did have a Palate expander when she was young which helped. I just spoke with her this morning and she said she hadn’t worn her tray for a week during her wedding and honeymoon and noticed a difference when she tried to put her tray back in. It was right and her teeth hurt for several days. She said I guess it shows me how important it will be to use a retainer for the rest of my life.
My other D had traditional braces when she was young but stopped wearing her retainer. She has asthma and a lot of allergies and breathes through her mouth a lot. Her front top teeth have really moved. She probably would benefit from Invisalign but she doesn’t want to spend the money.
My teeth are bad but I never had braces. I’ve looked into it a few times as an adult and my dentist recommended a consult with an orthodontist. I have all my teeth plus wisdom teeth so I know I will need teeth pulled. That is what keeps me from moving forward.
At my orthodontist consult, I was offered different levels of treatment.
A funny man, he described the full treatment as “Perfect. As in, you make the cover of the Orthodontist Journal. Bite perfect. All angles & arches perfect. Everything moved, sanded and straightened to perfection”
He went on to describe partial treatment as “A front-end alignment. Patient completely satisfied & happy with the results. Bite not perfect, but absolutely acceptable. Angles not perfect, but patient doesn’t even notice! NOT going to make it to the cover of the Ortho Journal.”
Just got some more info and learned my dentist only does about six Invisalign treatments each year. They were happy to give me a referral to an orthodontist in the same building who does about 100 annually, and gets great reviews online (albeit I always take that with a grain of salt but still helps). So I think it would be very smart to see the orthodontist instead. If I’m very lucky, she will have group discounts. The only downside will be sitting around the waiting room with middle schoolers.
I also learned I will most likely need the buttons but no idea how many or how often until the full analysis is done.
Well, Marilyn, I was the only adult patient in ortho’s office today. The dentist and the tech couldn’t be nicer but I told them I have an awful attitude. I signed the form for payment before knowing about all the restrictions, like only drinking water thru the day and the amount of work devoted to dental hygiene. My next appointment is in a month, to be trained and get first set. I’m going to read the contract carefully and decide if I want to bail
Forgot to mention that while I wore Invisaligns I wasn’t snacking during the day. It was great for weight loss!! Now that I only wear them at night, well… not so great!
bookworm don’t bail! It will be great! I loved the results of Invisalign so much I bought stock in the company! I was amazed at how aligners could move my teeth just like braces and I continue to be happy with the results 4-5 years later!
EmpireApple, I’ll try. Yesterday at 9:00 was the only time the orthodontist had available at beginning or end of day. So, I had to rearrange my scheduled dental cleaning, which was suppose to be at 10:00. Now cleaning is at 8:00 during week, which means I have to move all my patient back 20 minutes.
So, I was finished at orthodontist by 9:30, so I could easily gotten to Dentist’s Office, and not messed up a full day next week. When I asked why they said the appointment needed an hour, when all was done in 15 minutes, the response was they could have been running late
Back from the orthodontist and I signed up. After photos and examination, I was given four options:
do nothing and deal with teeth breakage as it happens
night guard only, to help with deep sleep grinding
6 to 9 month Invisalign plan to get my teeth completely under control so no more problems
15 to 18 month plan for perfect teeth
I picked what was described in this thread as “front end alignment”, the 6 to 9 month plan. It’s a much shorter timeframe and considerably cheaper than what my dentist would do. With a senior courtesy discount and an 8% discount for paying upfront by check, I was satisfied with the cost. It includes four sets of retainers at the end of the process and a year of follow up as needed.
They were impressed with how knowledgeable I was so thanks cc experts!
@Marilyn . You may find at the end of the 6-9 months that while you like the result, you may want to continue to get that more ideal result. You could do additional trays or other short-term ortho treatment. I did 38 weeks of invisalign, but another 4 months of spring loaded retainers to get a better result (too many canker sores with the trays).
I got my first two sets of aligners yesterday. Wearing them is not an issue; no noticeable pain but I’m very used to having regular bits of aches and pains anyway. My gums are feeling slightly less stressed not having the crooked edges of teeth rubbing continuously. And I’ve been sleepy - not sure if that’s a coincidence? I can’t imagine the aligners can be responsible for drowsiness but I did sleep soundly!
The orthodontist showed me mockups of where the buttons will go in a month (after my first two sets). I also learned that I shouldn’t be concerned if my teeth feel loose and that one apparently problem tooth may have the root shift a tiny bit. Yikes. And they told me that they if at any point the teeth were no longer responding as expected, they would take new images and order new ongoing aligners. I got the impression that was because of the couple of potential problem teeth. Also, down the road I’ll be changing aligners every 10 days instead of 2 weeks.
As expected, my biggest problem will be eating quickly and less often. I feel pressured throughout each meal to hurry hurry hurry. I really don’t like trying to drink two cups of coffee in half an hour or so. I haven’t eaten out yet; will attempt that later this week. But they told me not to worry; we would adjust timing as appropriate.
I got an official Invisalign aligner case and an official Invisalign travel toothbrush with an insert tube for me to add my own toothpaste. What, no official Invisalign toothpaste?!
I am about 5 weeks in on my Invisalign. Like others here I end up taking them out in the morning for coffee/breakfast, at lunch and at dinner. My snacking has decreased but no weight loss. The aligners are tight for a day or 2 but I haven’t felt the need for pain meds, just Motrin before bedtime. I keep a toothbrush/paste/floss in my desk at work and brush/floss after lunch. Otherwise if I’m out I just go into the restroom and rinse my mouth and rinse the aligner with water. Not a big deal. I have left them in if just going for drinks because I stick to white wine anyway.
and an 8% discount for paying upfront by check, I was satisfied with the cost. It includes four sets of retainers at the end of the process and a year of follow up as needed.
and that one apparently problem tooth may have the root shift a tiny bit. Yikes. And they told me that they if at any point the teeth were no longer responding as expected, they would take new images and order new ongoing aligners. I got the impression that was because of the couple of potential problem teeth. Also, down the road I’ll be changing aligners every 10 days instead of 2 weeks.