Has anyone had a child have Invisalign instead of braces for overbite?

[Cascadia]

Hello!

Hoping someone might have some experience of this. DS needs some orthadentic work - he's got a slight overbite, quite a bad deep bite. The dentist has suggested we go for Invisalign. This would involve him wearing top and bottom retainer type things for 20 hours a day.

Advantages over traditional braces is that you can clean the teeth properly, eat and drink what you want and it's apparently more comfortable. Huge disadvantage is he'll have to commit to keeping them on pretty much all the time - you really just take them off for eating and cleaning teeth.

He's 11 - anyone else done this with a child this age? I'm worried he'll not be able to resist taking them off if they're irritating him.

How would he manage taking them out at school when eating having to thoroughly clean his teeth before putting them back in. You also can't drink anything when wearing them you can not drink coloured liquids.

It’s not difficult to brush your teeth after eating…?

I had braces for 6years, and if I could have had Invisalign, I absolutely would have preferred it. I was ‘brace face’ for years.

My son had the option of invisalign but even his orthodontist advised against as kids that young cannot be trusted to brush correctly and keep the invisalign in so we just went for braces and 18 months later perfect teeth. I will say my son was older and probably could looking back have been trusted but the braces worked out far better, less remembering of things really and cheaper. I would not get them if I were you.

This all makes sense but in this case the orthadentist has advised it. Actually one of her reasons was it's much easier to keep the teeth clean as they're removed for brushing. She also thought it might be more effective at shifting his bite.

I'm very torn on the whole thing. Seems like Invisalign will be more comfortable but I feel like we're setting ourselves up for a battle that wouldn't be there with normal braces.

Generally I would follow the advice of the dentist but in this case I'm a bit conflicted. Does anyone know if they're getting a bigger commission for Invisalign or something?

Totally depends on the child. We got DD these as she plays the flute and can take them out to play. She was very responsible and reliable, brushed her teeth in school, wore them enough.
We got the same for DS as we felt it was only fair and it was an absolute nightmare to get him to wear them.

Did they discuss pricing with you? As far as I know the NHS generally only offers metal braces, and you’d need to pay (££££) for Invisalign.

Invisalign is a branded product, so yes, the dentist would make a profit from selling it to you. I don’t mean to imply the dentist is lying to you, I have no idea what treatment would be best for your son, but just to answer your question about commission.

My DS had Invisalign First for 7months at a younger age than 11 (different bite problem) and he managed really really well. I was surprised how quickly he got used to them and how well he coped considering he was still in primary school. He had really good results with it.

That's useful to hear. I would say DS is very reliable as 11 year olds go - he's very good at keeping track of his things and generally quite tidy and organised. I mean it's so hard to know in advance but broadly I suspect he's more like your DD than your DS!

I would 100% get a second opinion. If child has a deep overbite, I'd be very sceptical that invisalign could be as effective as fixed braces because you can achieve more operative force with fixed braces plus they give consistent force 24/7 which if you are trying to achieve a big movement of any kind is much much more effective and stable.

I’ve heard of teenagers loosing them because they have to keep taking them out. Also I’ve heard that long term results aren’t so good and that traditional braces are better as long as teeth cleaning is done well.

We did for my 13 year old. 6 months wore them reliably v sensible . Well behaved child . Then has completely messed around - not worn enough and teeth have regressed . I wouldn’t advise from my experience - as I feel he has wasted our money .

DS had Invisalign aged 6 for a severe underbite. School were v supportive and he brushed his teeth after snack/lunch at the medical room. I think it depends on the child and how compliant/forgetful they are.