Invisalign- tell me to woman up!

[SharyBobbins]

I had a consultation for Invisalign today and I'm in turmoil! I'm hoping some of you may have already had it or be in the middle of having it and are willing to help talk me off the ceiling!
I have an irrational fear of dentist so just sitting in the waiting room today had me in tears. I've been that distracted all day I've only just realised I've not had lunch (not like me at all!).
The thing is that I hate my smile. I try not to smile, not let people sit a certain side of me (my crooked top teeth are more noticeable on one side that the other). In every photo my lips are firmly sealed. I cry at the thought of living the rest of my adult life being so self-conscious. I want to be confident for me and for my little girl. That Jess Glynne song (Thursday?) makes me cry in the car. Despite all of that, having never even had a filling, I am terrified of interfering with my teeth when I don't "need" to. The dentist said I'd need them on the top and the bottom (which also made me upset as I thought the bottoms were alright). I'll need to wear them for 9-12 months in total. I think I can be disciplined enough to maximise their potential during and after with the retainer. But I'm getting put off as from what I have read they aren't really "invisible". The adhesive dots which they attach to your teeth seem to ruin that and given my front two teeth are the issue I imagine I'd need some on there. I keep swinging between thinking I just accept my imperfections and leave it to thinking that sorting my smile will genuinely improve my confidence and if I can then why shouldn't it. I'm also scared of being even more self conscious due to having plastic and random dots in my mouth 22 hours a day but on the other hand I'm so self conscious of my teeth anyway so I might as well be a tad more self conscious for the next year or so and possibly come out with some good results.
Can anyone offer any advice or experience?
Sorry for ramble. My DH isn't home yet and when I talked this through with my toddler she didn't care enough to offer any good advice

With braces there are some things you can't eat. You're supposed to avoid fizzy and sugary drinks also. At least with Invisalign you can eat and drink what you want when they're out. Also they look better which is probably the main reason. Maybe they've changed now but when I had braces with "clear" brackets as a teenager, they would get discoloured at the slightest thing

Interesting, thanks!

Tbh less sugary things wouldn't do me any harm

Clear braces I've seen recently looked amazing. Never noticed any discolouration, but good to be aware of.

Excuse the spotty chin and grimace. This is what my clear braces look like in.

See -barely there! I was surprised at those weird tooth dots someone posted before. They look really odd, whereas these just look normal!

Noooo, don’t do it! Awful things and they don’t work!

I am scared of the dentist and my orthodontist brushed over a lot of procedures that you need for Invisalign (and fibbed about the whole thing). It takes a bit of time to do the moulds for the braces and even longer to put the little grippy thingeys (I forget now what they are called). Even worse the grippy thingeys have to be drilled off at the end of the process (I hate the drill more than anything else). The trays were extremely tight on my teeth, and it took me 10 minutes to get them off each time, it felt awful. Even the orthodontist struggled, so I wasn’t doing anything wrong, my teeth were too crooked for this treatment.

The estimate of how many trays you need can be completely off. I had to abandon my treatment on no 7 as it forced my mouth open and this was impossible with my TMJ (which it was supposed to cure!), but DH did all of this 14 trays...only to be told he needed another 14 trays of ‘minor corrections’. His teeth are drifting off again and apparently he needs a permanent line brace to keep them in place (again the orthodontist outright lied about this).

Another middle aged woman wearing braces here - went for fastbraces as these would be quicker, cheaper and less hassle. Already after two months, I've seen a huge improvement so I'm very chuffed.

Have to say that these can be uncomfortable - I use wax (blue) to help but my mouth seems to have toughened up already as I don't seem to be using much now.

One of the things I found interesting about having braces is that loads of people ask me about these as they're thinking about doing the same.

Forgot to say that I have been told that if I don't get braces, my teeth will get worse which I could see as these have become quite crooked the past few years.

Well Invisalign does work. Some people aren't good candidates for it though. That's why you need to go to an actual orthodontist who has experience with them. No moulds were required for me, they use a scanner to make a 3d map of your teeth with what looks just like the suction thing a dentist normally uses. I thought that was pretty cool, I was used to the unpleasant experience of taking moulds from having braces. Also, everyone needs to wear a retainer after treatment to keep teeth from moving back. Some get a permanent one put on, this applies to traditional braces too.

I want braces. Simply can't afford them. They all seem overly expensive.

@NowYouListenToMeFella do you mind me asking how much? Compared to Invisalign

Jaz - in my case, the difference was a grand

Nowyoulisten your teeth look amazing!

Buzzpeak for me it's a confidence thing. I hate drawing attention to myself and for me getting braces is a massive deal emotionally (I know that probably sounds pathetic coming from a grown woman) as my self esteem is at rock bottom. I want to be able to straighten my teeth as discreetly as possible.

Booboo I'm sorry to hear you've had such a negative experience. The dentist I saw has been doing Invisalign for 14 years and is a gold practitioner so I'm hoping he knows what he is doing. He's already warned me about the corrections which might be needed at the end and was very clear that I would need to wear retainers of a night or risk my teeth moving back in to their current position. I will ask him about how difficult the "dots" are to remove though as what you have said about them is worrying. Thanks for sharing your experience.

@Jaz32 I'm in Ireland. Was quoted €4500 for top and bottom clear train tracks and €4700 for Invisalign. So not much of a difference really. I'll probably just stick with the top arch only as bottom teeth are fine. The top arch train tracks are €2800.

Shary thanks. I only got them on March 19th and can see movement already. Will have them for 18th months. Was back at the orthodontist yesterday and had the wire changed. In and out in 15 minutes.

I haven't had any mouth ulcers or pain with them at all. I was really nervous about it but it is going way better than expected.

I dithered for years about getting them. Thought people would be wondering why someone my age has braces. Genuinely very few people have noticed that I have them at all.

Any other questions please ask.

I'm in the middle of Six Month Smiles, they are clear fixed braces and I'm really pleased with the results so far. They might even come off early I'm told. I will have a fixed retainer after. £3000 including whitening after for upper and lower braces. I didn't need it but they do 0% finance too apparently. There are Groupon codes too I've heard. I thought Invisalign was a bit pricey and was going to take a long time, I also thought I'd probably want to take them out lots.

Top pic is 19th March and bottom pic is today. So just over 7 weeks.

How do you decide between braces or Invisalign? Do you go to your dentist and they refer you to an orthodontist?

God those clear train tracks are brilliant. I was always put off by them as I worked with a woman just last year whose "clear" ones were very noticeable.

Sadly I doubt you're in the Wesht. Probably only get something so nice in the Big Smoke!

nowyoulistentomefella bloody hell thats amazing! Are yours clear braces or Invisalign?

Why I had a long discussion with the orthodontist about train tracks and Invisalign. Did a lot of research on both after my consultation. The deciding factor for me was I didn't want to be putting the Invisalign in and out while eating or drinking. Plus having to get used to new ones every 10 to 14 days. I'm sure other people find it grand but it wasn't for me.

Elspeth I'm in Cork the real capital 😉

Ineed they are train tracks.

Ah the Peoples Republic!

Nowyoulisten the difference already is amazing!

That difference does look great. That's one of the fab things about braces. You start to see the difference straight away. I found that with respect to friends some are into teeth and some aren't. Some never notice anything and wonder why you did it. Others are jealous and go and get theirs done too.

My teeth with invisalign in

My dentist said to me before I started Invisalign that as well as giving me straight teeth it would cure my fear of the dentist ... and it has. I'm nearly at the end of my treatment and I need to have a few additional cosmetic bits done (a filling, a crown, edge bonding) that would have have been a really big deal to me before, but because I've been in and out of chair so much during this process it's not scaring me at all. Good luck OP!