Invisalign - how much did yours cost and was it worth it?

[WinkyTinky]

I'm thinking about getting my teeth straightened. I spent two years with a fixed brace when I was younger but have been back at square one for years, and now am wanting to sort them out. I've seen figures of £4000, but is this typical?

£3k. Worth every penny

3000, and I am not totally happy with the results tbh.

My teen daughters cost £4k a few years ago. Definitely worth it, her teeth look great and she didn’t have to have any teeth removed which they said she would with fixed braces.

@minny80 Did you get one of the predicted results pictures, and did it not match that in the end?

It's an odd one in my case because my teeth were not too wonky but slightly misaligned with respect to my face, if it makes sense. The teeth are quite straight now, but not as perfectly straight as the simulation, and still a bit misaligned. Also, the teeth that were "pulled up" with the attachment jumped back down the second the attachments were removed, so the lower arch line is a bit uneven. I still think there has been an improvement overall, but given the soul-consuming task of flossing and brushing my teeth a dozen times per day, I was hoping for something perfect at the end.
So, I guess it depends on where you are coming from:

• really wonky teeth making you self-conscious: you'll probably see and improvement and like the result
• looking for perfection: you'll probably be disappointed

£2.8k and definitely worth it.

I had very wonky and overcrowded teeth. They made me very self conscious, I hated all pictures of me. Plus it was hard to clean them the way they were overlapping.

They aren't perfect now - I was told before I started that they wouldn't be able to fully rotate my two lower canines so they aren't 100% right. But it's so much better than before, and as I say, I was made fully aware of the limit of the movement they could achieve. The rest of my teeth are fine, didn't have any issues with them not moving as planned etc.

It is a hassle though - the cleaning every time you eat or drink anything other than water. And you'll need a retainer at night for life.

I can't say how much as I live overseas and it's not comparable. I started in Nov 22 and haven't finished yet - we are at the final refinement stage and I am waiting for the new treatment plan. My original plan was 35 aligners. It's 100% been worth it - they're not Hollywood (or Turkey!) teeth, they are my teeth but a new improved version. I've had quite a lot of IPR and it's been a slog but I am pleased with the outcome, which is a lot like the predicted outcome in the original plan.

If you want a perfect result you need fixed braces again as they can do things eg like derotate canines that another poster was talking about , and have a much more stable result. They are also, mostly cheaper than Invisalign which has very high laboratory fees.

The clinicheck photos with Invisalign is only a computer simulation, in real life things do not always go to plan

However with all brace systems you have to commit to wearing retainers for life, otherwise teeth will relapse, more so with Invisalign and other retainer systems than with fixed braces

Hello - send me a DM if you want me to share my before and after.
mine actually turned out a lot better than it came out in the predicted results!
looked like I would have a gap in my front teeth but I didn’t..

honestly it’s the best thing I’ve ever spent all that money on!!

Oh and they thought it would take 18 - 24 months, but I was done in less than a year!

£4000 for DD. 100% worth it - her results were fabulous, treatment was far more pleasant/less painful than braces and they were truly invisible. Only close friends and family that she’d told about them actually knew

Just to show you my teeth - they're not too bad but I do notice them. The ones either side of the front two are rotated and stick out a bit. Would this not take much to straighten?

Impossible to say without seeing models of your bite , x rays and the lower teeth. You can't just move teeth in isolation they have to fit into the bite.

£4300 comp plan and whitening. 40+ trays in the original plan. Should have finished 3 months ago but instead started another 40+ trays with elastics. Being sent away with a bag of elastic bands doesn't feel very state of the art! Bit fed up of it now. Also the simulation looked great and like the arch was being widened slightly but my 'smile' seems narrower - and I now have lines on my top lip! I think Invisalign works best if you have gappy teeth rather than overcrowding and if you don't need to rotate canines. Also attachments are noticeable and if you have elastics they look like drool! Right now it doesn't feel worth the money or the faff.

3.5k
26 weeks on original plan, 8 weeks on refinement and another set of refinement because I lost my penultimate tray and had to wait a few weeks for scanning and new set. Entirely my fault. So under a year in total.

really happy and so glad I did it, they are not 100% perfect, I think it’s almost impossible as an adult to get perfect unless they are fake turkey teeth.

But the little imperfections are just what I see, objectively they are straight and look good when I smile. Far better than they ever did before!!!!

If you have the means then go for it!

This is a little bit like top row of mine, they turned inwards and the two front where sort of angled back rather than straight…

Generally I’d think you’d get a lovely result based on others I’ve seen and what my teeth were like but it is individual and it does have to take into account bite, smile width, gaps and all sorts.

go for a consultation, you really can’t know without speaking to an orthodontist, research a well reviewed local one - and make sure the parking is easily accessible because you do have to go quite regularly!

4k. I’m having mine done for dental hygiene reasons as I have a reduced envelope of function so keep chipping front teeth. So for me it will be worth it.

What I would say is

• the aligners are a pain in the ass to take out everytime you need to eat
• the attachments make me feel like I look like a snaggle toothed witch
• some people seem to get on really well with it and others not. I’m perfectly on track, despite not being a very good Invisalign rule follower. Some people in the face book support group are following religiously and still needing loads of extra courses of trays

@notprincehamlet more than 80 trays? How long did you wear each set for? I had 35 sets but wore them for two weeks each (apart from set 35, which I have been wearing since March 15th! Currently night time only, as waiting for elastics to realign molars)

I had Invisalign in my 40s. It took 4 years and cost 4k. They can't always predict how it's going to be or how long it will take as it depends on how your teeth move, the jawbone, etc. My orthodontist was a perfectionist who kept making me go back again and again. By the end I was thoroughly sick of it BUT I'm so glad I persevered. Totally worth all the money, work and aggro. I have a permanent retainer so I don't need to worry about remembering to put it in. You definitely need this when you've finished the treatment otherwise the teeth will just start to move back.

Crikey! It all sounds like harder work than I was assuming, but clearly worth it in most cases.

I'm seeing my dentist next week anyway, so will be asking him about it. It's a private dentist and he does Invisalign as well as other cosmetic stuff so he'll know all about it. I love him (for staying back late for me and saving me when I had severe toothache and needed an emergency root canal a while ago) and trust him to do it well, but just have to consider the costs and the time.

Thank you everyone for your input!

3.5k. Absolutely worth it. Completely changed my confidence

I paid around 4k, several years ago now for Invisalign Lite, only needed them for about 12 weeks. However, also needed composite bonding to one tooth to complete the look.

I am happy with the result. I do have fixed retainers on the back 6 teeth top and bottom. Also wear the night retainer 3-4 times per week.

Forgot to add - on first getting the Invisalign top and bottom, I lisped a lot! It took a bit of getting used to but I was nearly wearing the top ones only until that was completed, then the bottom. In the end I didn't need to do that and the lisp went after I'd become used to them!

I did way back. It must have been about 2006-7. It cost around 4K then IIRC. Results are not as good as I’d hoped in all honesty.

You are best off seeing an orthodontist who is a specialist in braces and offers all systems and who can talk you through the pluses and minuses of each system so you can make an informed choice rather than seeing a general dentist who is just trained in one or two systems.

This will be for life and is a hefty investment so best getting it exactly right.