Invisalign

[Pandapenguin]

Hi mumsnet, not sure I am allowed to ask this here but does anyone have any recommendations for adult invisalign providers in London? Has anyone had it and been happy / unhappy / had positive or negative overall facial shape changes?

Thanks in advance for any advice x

I'd like to know this too.

Yep there are so many providers but hard to know who is an expert and who is not. I do know one lady who had the full on braces but she said she would NOT recommend her orthodontist with hindsight so what do i know 🤷🏻‍♀️

I would honestly recommend fixed braces over Invisalign having been through the process!!

Not from London but am at the end of the Invisilign process. If I could do it all again I'd have normal braces.

That’s interesting - why?

Interesting - did the invisalign not work? One guy i met (who i didnt like so not going with him) said some people end up doing fixed braces for a few months after invisalign to finalise. Is this your situation? Or has the invisalign caused issues with jaw alignment etc? I know this has happened to some people.

Sorry for all my strange questions about this!

I am also interested. My DD is thinking of invisalign- based in London.

I've had invisilign for almost 2 years now. They have worked but traditional braces would have taken half the time.

Plus no matter how much you clean the invisalign, they get gross.

@weebeasties crumbs 2 years?! Were yours bad to begin with or was this just minor straightening?

They were quite bad- i had a metal train track brace on three teeth, and a bit of the invisilign cut away so I could wear both braces at once. So after the bad teeth were pulled in line, the last year has been minor straightening but yeah, it's a long old process.

I chose invisilign for vanity reasons, and to be fair nobody ever notices them. But I'm not sure they're worth the faff when compared to normal braces. I don't regret getting them, just wish I had sucked it up and chosen the quicker option.

Sorry. Just out for dinner, will reply more later. Ditto to the above, took longer and my personality didn't suit them - if it was bothering me I would take them out....prolonging treatment. I wouldn't trust a teenager with them, or anyone who may be a bit ermmmm, easy on themselves?

I had fixed braces in my 30’s wouldn’t change it.
Did plenty of research as I wanted invisilign for the vanity aspect and convenience of being able to take them in and out. I could be wrong but I think it’s a gimmick and only suitable if you’re wanting to make minor adjustments.
With invisiglign I would have been left with overcrowding,a thin bone structure (they stretch the bone) and my massive overjet.
With the normal braces I know have perfect teeth that I love.

Just to offer the alternative. I went to the ortho for normal braces but she recommended Invisalign. I’m glad I did.
I thought I had prominent eye teeth but the truth is they were in the right place and my other teeth were leaning too far in! Invisalign pushes them out again in a way other braces couldn’t have.
I’d say find an ortho who offers lots and lots of different treatments and have a consultation.

I had Invisalign and don’t regret it one bit. Took 18 months all in but your teeth are moving with every tray so you can see the results all the time along the way.

I could take them out for nights out etc, pain was minimal and no one ever knew I had them in! I definitely wouldn’t have wanted to have fixed braces over them!

@thegamblers this is the type of thing im worried about. I know someone age 40 who had invisalign and her face / jaw looked completely different afterwards, in a bad way. Not saying i look great now but worried about trading one problem for another and having weakened gums / bone. Did your ortho tell you this re stretching the bone?

Thanks @canadian and @museummum i have a narrow smile so the angling teeth outwards was what first made me want invisalign. Good to hear success stories! I really don't think i could do the fixed braces - vanity vanity.

Lots to think about.

Hello Mumsnet - this is my first post!
Just found this thread and hoping to get some reassurance/advice from those of you who've had invisalign.
I've just started my treatment 6 days ago. Taking them out to eat and drink takes a bit of getting used to but it's ok and I'm constantly clock watching as I really want to get my money's worth and wear them for the requisite 22 hours minimum. Not sure about how I'll get on with Christmas approaching and all the socialising with food and drink, but hopefully I'll have relaxed a bit by then! The main issue I thought would have improved by now is the lisping when I talk. My orthodontist told me it would go after a day or 2 as my tongue gets used to the aligners being there but I'm still lisping all the time and it's a bit embarrassing especially at work (I work in the NHS and have to see patients, do visits to other hospitals, phone calls, teach/lecture) and although the aligners aren't visible the lisp is really drawing attention to them. I'm 50 so I don't think my friends and colleagues expect me to get braces at my age. (I'm worried that I'll be judged for being vain which is why I went for the invisible ones.) I'm sipping water as my mouth gets dry (again my orthodontist said to do this). I'm hoping the lisp will go soon and stay gone, but I'm worried it will return every 2 weeks when I change the aligners!

Anyone have any advice?

On the original question - I'm not in London but where I live (Wiltshire) my family dentist was trying to get me to have orthodontic treatment with him - he was offering both invisalign and '6 months smiles' - I was sceptical as I know the training an orthodontist has to do so went for a consultation with a 'proper' orthodontist and was really honest with him about the offer from my dentist (and of course he was cheaper). The orthodontist did a great job of convincing me that orthodontic treatment is not just about straight teeth but also bite and the arch and angles, rotation etc...so I would really recommend a properly qualified orthodontist.

The person I went with was a dentist with and added orthodontist qualification. He explained exactly what the Invisalign would do (stretch the bone to create space) he didn’t do Invisalign but did offer a treatment using the retrained trays also.

I had a rodents palate which meant that my palate was very narrow and my front teeth were very far over my bottom teeth. He told me Invisalign would not improve any of this.

The vanity thing didn’t bother me, the braces actually plumped your lips quite a bit which was a bonus and I lost a lot of weight which was another bonus.

The guy I went with told me if I’d gone with the trays and didn’t have teeth removed he would have lost sleep, he said he would have made me sign a disclaimer and basically just wouldn’t recommend it. With the fixed ones I was maintaining the bone density.

I suppose it depends how much work you need done. In the end I had 3 teeth removed and braces for 17 months. But after the first few weeks I could eat and talk as normal and after 6 months once the gaps were closed it just felt normal to have braces on. I have a fixed retained now and the tray retainer and I can’t speak properly with the tray in at all, luckily that’s only worn at night.

Just do your research.

@thegamblers so you would have had to have extractions for invisalign to work?

I don’t know why they were doing Invisalign without extractions. My mouth was very over crowded. I initially said I didn’t fancy getting teeth out so that’s what they went with.

The guy I chose to go with said they would do anything for a sale but he basically said he wouldn’t touch my mouth without extractions.

I think with the 3 extractions Invisalign wouldn’t have worked. I got my front bottom tooth taken out so might not have been the best for the trays.

Here’s my before, during and after. He put a wee fake tooth on for the first few weeks to get me used to it.
It definitely changed my face shape but should be worth it as I was at risk of my front bottom tooth falling out pre braces.

After

Wow @thegamblersmrs - that looks great. Did you have your teeth whitened or have veneers after the braces came off - they look really good?!

No didn’t have them whitened. They gave me a Home whitening kit once I finished but I was having ivf and now pregnant so didn’t really use it. They give your teeth a good clean when they come off.

I’m really pleased with the result. He said he could shape some of the teeth to look better but I wanted to keep some character.

With the Invisalign I think they spend a lot of tome chiselling the teeth to size to create the space.

I was delighted with the end result and the £2k I saved.

Wow @thegamblers your teeth look stunning afterwards - fab smile! Are you happy with face changes also? Sorry i keep whittering on about this but i have quite a long face so dont want it to get even longer