Do you recommend Invisalign?

[excitedbunny79]

Hi All

I've been for a consultation today and saw what my teeth could look like - it was all impressive, but the cost, whoooof, £3750. I hate my teeth, I always have done, I had braces as a child, but they didn't really work, so I'm seriously considering going for it. If you've had it done, do you recommend the results long term? If you're willing to share before and after pictures I'd really appreciate it, I had braces on for 5 years when I was younger, so I've got the fear that it'll all just be a big waste of time!

[bluedave]

My daughter had it last year. Her teeth weren’t too bad but now are absolutely perfect. For the first couple of days she had a bit of a lisp but that soon went and she never found it uncomfortable. She wears a retainer at night now to make sure her teeth remain perfect.

[Joshie1]

I’m a few months into wearing mine and have at least until next October left to go with them.
I’ve always hated my teeth too!
They are a commitment in that you can’t eat or drink anything other than water while you have them in and it is recommended you have them in at least 22 hours a day.
You need to clean your teeth and the trays after eating which can be a bit of a pain and if out an about, I try to give them a quick brush or at the very least a good rinse with water and brush as soon as I get home.
The attachments are a bit weird - not so much when the trays are in but when you have them out and are eating they can feel a bit weird.
Having said all that, I am already starting to see positive results though and am so glad I finally got them. However if I was younger, I think I might have opted for fixed braces like my DS has at the moment. Much easier to live with.
There is another thread running on the Dibb if you want to have a search for it. It might provide a bit more insight for you.

Oh, I am getting mine done through my DS orthodontist and I see him every 6 weeks so he can monitor how things are going.

[mitch84]

Yes I had invasalign about 5 years ago. I don't have before and after photos but it did really work well.

It hurt a bit after the new trays, and especially my first set, hard to get used to getting them in and out, but you soon get used to it.

My dentist recommended it for my top teeth as I had veneers I needed replacing, and he wanted the teeth in a different position to reduce chance of decay at the gaps, however my bottom teeth were very crooked, and that's what sold it for me, they are now beautifully straight.

I had to have a fixed retainer on the bottom teeth though when I was finished, as my bottom teeth were getting crooked again by the end of the day only using the night retainers. The fixed retainer is absolutely fine though, you just need to go for your scale and polish regularly.

The night retainers are a pain, and I have slipped in using them regularly 5 years in.

[sky13]

I'm currently a few months into Invisalign. Took me a couple of years of hemming and hawing about braces and Invisalign before I finally took the plunge earlier this year. My estimated total cost is probably not too dissimilar to what you were quoted.

I also had braces as a teenager but don't think they ever really fixed my bite and other issues completely (don't remember being happy with my teeth after treatment, but was a teenager and didn't know what I was expecting, and there wasn't much communication from the dentist who did my braces), plus I didn't wear my retainer so my teeth had also shifted.

This time I'm doing my Invisalign with an orthodontist. So far so good and I feel a lot more comfortable with her and with her communication and knowledge than I did with the dentist who did my braces as a teenager.

As mentioned above - Invisalign requires commitment and a bit of a lifestyle change.

The largest one is with eating and drinking. They recommend keeping trays in for 22 hours a day (I usually average more like 20-22 hours though). This means eating meals more quickly so I don't have aligners out for too long and completely cutting down on snacking. Also, I've had to change what I drink throughout the day, as for things like coffee I would either need to remove my aligners or take the risk of them staining.

I also now carry around a kit of aligner case, toothbrush, and toothpaste, so I can brush my teeth after lunch or after meals if I'm out. This means I brush my teeth a lot! On the upside, my teeth are probably in better shape now than they've been in the past...

Once I got used to these lifestyle changes it wasn't bad at all, and in fact it's been good for making me cut down on random snacking throughout the day! I even managed a WDW trip with them recently (did negotiate with my orthodontist beforehand about my wear time though, as I thought I probably would have difficulty sticking to the 20-22 hours in WDW during Food and Wine). No regrets so far, and I'm looking forward to the end results hopefully sometime next year.

There's a fairly active Invisalign community on Reddit if you want to see before and after photos - these seem to be posted fairly regularly there so it's been rather inspirational for me to see the results that people are getting with Invisalign.

[DisneySarah]

Following this thread with interest as I am in a similar position; had orthodontic treatment as a teenager but my teeth have moved back now. Just trying to work out if the £££ is worth it.

[Merryweather17]

I am nearly 4 weeks in and finding it ok, the not being able to drink other than cool water is a pain as my job can involve a lot of talking and it is tough not to be able to have a drink of choice when you want. The one thing to check up on is how much teeth filing you will need, they didn't go into this in any details with me before I signed up and having a huge (not really but it felt like it when I didn't have the aligners in) gap between my upper front teeth was weird! This has now mostly closed but it was uncomfortable and very odd to have someone filing your teeth.

[mitch84]

Just bear in mind everyone that if you had braces as a teenager and your teeth moved back, then it was possibly due to you not wearing your retainers.
You will be committing yourself to a lifetime of wearing retainers as otherwise your teeth do move back quite quickly, like I said my night retainers weren’t enough for my bottom teeth, and I had to have a permanent one fitted

[moosha]

Just adding my ‘review’. I didn’t have Invisalign, it was another similar company that went out of business a few years ago (can’t remember the company name but the braces were the same.)

I had a canine that was set back so from certain angles you could barely see it. I was really unconfident about my teeth and my smile because of it. When I was a teenager I had plate braces and had a back tooth removed to try and make space to sort it out but it didn’t work and I thought it wouldn’t be possible to fix it.

When I had an unexpected inheritance back in 2011 I went to a private dentist to see if an Invisalign type thing could work for me. It took about 18 months I think to get my teeth completely straight, and it cost about £4000. My dentist is great and I didn’t have any problems throughout the whole experience.

When I finished the treatment I actually missed my brace for a while. I found having to take it out to eat was a benefit as I stopped snacking and nibbling and lost weight too! It was a case of ‘can I be bothered to take my brace out to eat this?’ and usually I couldn’t .

At the end of the treatment I got a retainer and my dentist said to wear it occasionally overnight to stop my teeth moving back. I hardly ever do and when I put it in now it is very tight so I know they have moved a tiny bit but it’s not noticeable and my dentist doesn’t even ask if i’m still wearing it when I go for check-ups now.

I was worried they would go back because it was a big movement to get them straight but it’s at least 6 years since I finished the treatment and they’re fine. I never thought I would get compliments on my teeth but now people occasionally say ‘oh you have lovely straight teeth’ and it makes me very happy after hiding them for years. Getting my teeth fixed was one of the best things I ever did and I would definitely recommend Invisalign type treatment to anyone who is in a position to do it.