Invisalign vs Fixed braces experiences.

[kkelly82]

Hi everyone. I’m 40 and have been considering getting braces to fix overcrowding for some time now. I’d like to hear people’s experiences of the good, bad & ugly of both treatments. My concern is not being able to sleep well with either brace in my mouth.

I have so far seen two dentist but don’t think I’ll be having the treatment with either of them. From what I’ve read since I’m now considering booking an appointment with an orthodontist instead. Would anyone else out there agree that it’s better to receive this sort of treatment with an orthodontist?

Finally, bit of a long shot I know, but if anyone has received this treatment at a dental surgery in Nottinghamshire and would recommend it, I’d really like to know.

TIA

@ovenproof thanks again for sharing your knowledge via direct experience. I was torn between whether a dentist or orthodontist would be best for Invisalign and you’ve helped me understand why seeing an orthodontist (which I haven’t done yet) would be best. I definitely wouldn’t want to see a very newly qualified dentist for something so complex!
Also thanks for confirming that it’s pretty standard to see an orthodontic therapist after an orthodontist- that’s put my mind at rest about that.

If you have a look on the Invisalign website you can see which orthodontists are platinum/diamond/gold providers and call them up and ask what they charge. My provider is doing them for less than half the price a London practitioner would charge as I waited until he was holding a promotion. You don’t have to go there very often and you could save yourself a lot of money.

Do you have any tips or anything you can suggest to keep the porcelain bits whiter?

@ohdearnotme It's not the porcelain bits that stain, it's the elastic bands around them which get changed every couple of months. Definitely avoid curry - I ate soup that I didn't realise had turmeric in it and they turned bright yellow! I do drink coffee and tea still but keep them milky/not too strong. They get a bit grubby by the end of the 8 weeks but not too bad.

I'm having Invisalign in Nottinghamshire with an orthodontist and wouldn't really recommend my place. I don't feel like I've had a lot to do with the orthodontist at all, despite paying orthodontist prices.

I'm on to refinements now but didn't get to speak to the orthodontist before those. The orthodontic therapist just asked me if I needed refinements, I said yes and an assistant then took photos.

As for Invisalign itself, I also thought I'd made a terrible mistake for the first few days but then got used to it and it's made a big difference to my teeth. They still aren't perfect though and I only have 3 aligners left. I'm hoping I don't have to go for more refinements after this. It's all taking a lot longer than I first expected, which I think is common.

@belimoo thats really interesting - quite a few people have said that they felt they’d made a mistake a first but then got use to it. I suspect that’ll find them quite uncomfortable/ annoying at first (although you never know!) so it’s good to hear this wears off after a few days.
Might it be possible for you to let me know through a private message which orthodontist you’ve gone with please? As I don’t know anyone local to who has had this done it’s hard for me to know who go and see and who to maybe avoid! TIA.

@LizziesTwin good suggestion - thank you. I did this and actually found a dental surgeon at my regular practice has just started doing Invisalign so he doesn’t yet have bronze, silver etc status. When you say you waited for your practitioner to get a promotion to save you money, what do you mean by this? Sorry - its all very new territory for me!

@kkelly82 It was probably about a week of feeling a bit miserable about it and struggling to eat and speak. If I hadn't spent a fortune I may well have given up at that point! I had a lot of attachments which was a bit of a shock as I was expecting to be able to take the aligner out and have a break when I was eating but I found it difficult to eat with the attachments at first.

It does get so much easier though and is definitely worth it for me so hang in there if you do find it tough at first!

I've sent you a PM about my clinic.

I rang and asked what their best price was and they said they’d be running a promotion in March which would be for less than their regular price so I waited. My big tip is to always ask if that’s the lowest price that’s possible when buying things - got £50 off my son’s bike yesterday.

@ovenproof sorry another quick question if that’s ok? Is there a difference between a dental surgeon and a dentist? Realised by going on the Invisalign website that there is a dental surgeon who is placed at my regular dental surgery who now does Invisalign.

@kkelly82 no difference between dentist and dental surgeon. Same degree

I’m 3 years into train tracks. My case was too severe for Invisalign so regular tracks or incognito braces were my only options, the latter would have cost 8k. I paid just under 3k for ceramic top and lower metal.

I won’t lie, the journey has been awful I underestimated the pain big time, but there was a lot to move around in there and I’m late 30’s with stubborn teeth apparently. BUT I’m in my final stages now of midline correction, which may not actually work I’m told… regardless I’m rather impressed with what the ortho had a achieved and would recommend going for it to others.

That’s what my dentist keeps telling me but the brackets are definitely stained! I know because he’s put 2 new ones on and they are relent white compared to the others.

I have to say, my actual brackets have never stained either. The bands do though. I wonder if there are different types 🤔

I used to be good and avoid staining foods but I lost interest and eat what I want now lol

How long have you had them in for? Mine are kind of light grey now compared to my 2 new ones.

3 long years… hold on I’ll post a progress pic, I think they look the same colour

So this is my day 1 to today. Awful, but anyway… lol

hit the wrong username there… 🙄

I went to an orthodontist who steered me away from Invisalign as he didn't feel I would achieve the results I wanted with them. In went for lingual braces which are fixed to the rear of your teeth. I am five months in to a potentially two year programme but I can see results already. It has cost me just short of £8000 and at the end I will have permanent retainers but also the retainer gum shield which is il have to wear every night. Pain wise I have had a couple of weeks of discomfort but I am used to them now and my hygienist tells me my gum health is perfect because I had to buy an electric toothbrush after having the braces fitted and absolutely everything gets stuck in them.

Yes yours are still white. I wonder why mine aren’t. I just took a pic of mine but my teeth look too grey and yellow, I can’t bring myself to.

I wonder if there are different types of the ceramics. I did just have my bands changed yesterday, my bands were in an awful state lol
Now just hoping the ortho can sort my midline out and get these bloody things off!

I think there must be. It’s so obvious which are the new brackets on my teeth.

Your teeth look so good. How much longer have you got? Mine are off in 2 weeks, yippee!!! I’m celebrating by going out for a curry with shitloads of turmeric!!

Has everyone used Invisalign not the copies of Invisalign like Smile Direct? I was wondering if the cheaper copy is any good?

Aw 2 weeks that’s fantastic! Quite right! , I have already planned the celebratory curry I’m going for when mine come off, can’t wait.

Im really not sure, initially they were to be on 18-24 months and here I am 39 months later…
He said if what he’s doing now doesn’t fix my midline I may be out of options, so I’ll see what he says in 6 weeks I guess. I’m not happy with how they are at the moment, but they are a long way away from how they looked at the start, as you can see 😳

As @ovenproof mentioned, the Invisalign I had 9 years ago has caused irreversible gum damage and I imagine if I took the fixed wire retainer off they’d move again.

I had it through my (very professional and thorough) regular dentist and it was unfortunately miscalculated. After the treatment was complete, my smile just wasn’t as it was supposed to be and it turned out I’d have needed weeks more treatment at my expense (I’d already paid £5k) plus some extension work to fill gaps that had appeared due to how they’d moved. I actually think my dentist filed down my teeth too much when prepping them.

They were unnervingly wobbly when I “finished” treatment too, so I opted for the fixed wire retainer. I can only get the smallest orange silicone interdental brush in my bottom teeth and the gums are just peeling away from the teeth. The top ones have gaps between them that whistle when I talk and you can see the wire between them.

Whilst not hideous right now it kills to think I spent all that money to acquire more problems and I do wish I’d gone to an orthodontist. The gum specialist I saw said I’d need gum treatment in future and said quite gently that unfortunately none of my teeth are even sitting straight.

I don’t think I could face any more treatment and I’d find it hard to trust another dentist with big promises. I looked into making a complaint but it’s actually all there in the waiver you sign, you just don’t think it’ll happen to you.

@MarcelEtCeleste I’m so sorry to read about the problems you’ve incurred since having Invisalign treatment through a dentist but I do thank you for taking the time to share your experience. I guess I’d hadn’t really appreciate the problems that can be created by having Invisalign through someone who is not a specialist (I was only focused on what I hoped would be the desirable outcome of straight teeth!). Based on this, I’ll continue to look at the availability of orthodontists in my area.