Like everyone else, I think I'm losing a bit of weight. I've had them in for about 5 weeks now and am down 3 lbs or so. Losing 10 lbs would be an awesome bonus!

I also follow a cleaning ritual. I soak mine in listerine in the morning and wash them with soap and water (use a toothbrush to scrub)twice a day. This seems to work well.

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Originally posted by BigDog3030:
Ok....week two of Aligner 1, and here are my thoughts.

Nobody can tell that i have them in which is why i got them. I have a pretty visible job, and at my age (35) im still relatively young for my position, so I needed something inconspicious.

Havent had too much pain, i feel a little pain when i take them out, which makes a little sense. As for taking them out and putting them in, Ive had no problem with this. The inside of my mouth was a bit raw for the first couple of days, but is fine now. I do experience the CONSTANT dry mouth, but am drinking water all the time. It is annoying, hopefully my mouth will get used to it.

Now here is where I have questions and concerns. My biggest is this...please tell me if anyone has experienced this....when I have them in, i get sort of a throat irritation, almost like a sore throat. Im always clearing my throat. I really find it uncomfortable. It immediately goes away when I take them out. Im assuming it is because of the kind of plastic used, but it is really bothering me.

If any dentists read this...please respond!!!!

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Here's something interesting: These last two sets of trays (6 and 7) have been the most painful, as far as tooth and gum soreness go. Even more so than the first set. Its not THAT bad, but my teeth and gums are noticeably more sore than they were with trays 1 through 5.

Someone was mentioning how they "hope they see results soon"... Well I hate to disappoint you, but you likely won't see much improvement for months, probably close to the end of your treatment, especially if your Invisalign is for overcrowding.

Each tray will move your teeth approximately 0.25 mm. That's maximum tooth movement per tooth. If you have overcrowding like myself, you first have to make room for the teeth to be straightened -- So your treatment for the first 4 or 5 months (or longer) may be just moving your molars backward (something which you won't be able to see in the mirror) to create room for the front teeth to move.

I've seen several photo series on the web which show pictures of Invisalign patients throughout their treatment. The main thing I noticed was that in almost every case you saw almost NO IMPROVEMENT until the last few trays. That was a little disheartening for me also -- I was kinda hoping to see drastic improvement after a few months. But here I am, over 12 weeks into the treatment, and my upper teeth "look" exactly the same as when I started. But I can feel the difference in tooth spacing when I floss, and my dentist can tell everything is going along smoothly.

The hydrogen peroxide works, and don't put off cleaning them because they can develop an awful smell.

You can file them down yourself with a nail file, but it really doesn't help that much unless you have filing talents. I tried it and failed, but the rawness around the tongue and inside cheeks fades after days.

Oh and tonight I am attempting to use the trays for bleaching (I start a new set tomorrow so if it discolors this set i don't mind), and if any of you are interested then I'll let you know how effective the trays are in this manner.

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Originally posted by Katey:
I just got my first set of aligners. I have to wear the top aligners for 12 weeks (6 sets) and bottoms for 18 weeks (9 sets). My top front teeth hurt so badly right now that I had to take them out so I can get some advil in my system before they go back in. I hope this gets better. I am also a little concerned about the kissing thing - I'm in a fairly new (month and half) relationship and I don't want this whole thing to be a turn off. I didn't expect to be dating anyone this summer and thought it would be a great time to fix my teeth! I just don't want these things to interfere with kissing and other stuff.

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Frankly, I am more than a little perturbed. It does not cost extra (for me anyways) as a second set is included if needed. My dentist told me that I would be getting around 2 or 3 more just to fix some little things. I went in today to get my new trays. Much to my disappointment, they had to apply 11 "buttons" or "attachments" or whatever to my teeth and I now have 10 trays for my top and 13 for my bottom.

I do not enjoy being blatantly lied to. 10 and 13 are two numbers DRASTICALLY different from 2 or 3. If he honestly thought it was only going to be 2 or 3 new trays then I can't understand how he is allowed to use invisalign on patients when he is that far off of the mark. I am about to leave for college and did NOT want to have to deal with this Invisalign stuff after I had left home. Btu there are more trays now than I had to begin with.

If they would have told me this would have happened I would have not gone through any orthodontics in the first place since it is purely cosmetic. Being young and naive, I have this POUNDING urge to file off the 11 buttons on my teeth and say "Screw It" and completely cut off my treatment and am SERIOUSLY contemplating it. That is how angry I am about this entire experience.

I haven't started my actual treatment yet but I had my impressions, etc. done yesterday. I have been researching this Invisalign thing for several months, reading this web site and everything I could find on the subject. Also, I've been trying to decide on a provider.

One of the conclusions I came to after getting free consultations from 2 dentists (one with lots of Invisalign experience, one with very little) and an orthodontist, is that it really pays to go with the ortho. The dentist I went to who has a lot of Invisalign patients told me my treatment would be easy and I could anticipate it taking about 9 months. She didn't say anything about potential problems I might have. That sounded pretty attractive and I thought, "Great, this will be simple and quick". She charges a flat $4500.

Then I went to an orthodontist with a good reputation and a busy practic and who has done about 100 Invisalign cases. He was very thorough, described my specific issues in detail, warned me about potential treatment problems, and told me it would probably take around 18 months. He charges a flat $5600. I told him what the dentist had told me, and he said he didn't see how my issues could possibly be corrected in 9 months. Even his assistant said she thought that was unrealistic. I ended up going with the ortho because I felt he was giving me the straight scoop and that he wasn't just giving me a sales job. I'll pay more to have it done right with someone who can deal with any problems that may come up during my treatment.

The upshot of all this is that it really pays to have several consultations with different providers, and I say stick with the specialists.

By the way, I'm 47 years old, with a fairly visible job, and I'm no more excited about being out in the world with braces on than you are. It's never fun, but it's even worse when you anticipate one thing and another thing happens. I feel for you - good luck with the rest of your treatment. Believe me, you'll be glad when it's over and that you didn't wait to get your teeth straightened when you're in your 40s!

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Originally posted by Brian:
A little background information: I'm 18, about to leave for college. My Invisalign usage was purely for cosmetic reasons. I was given 10 upper and 10 lower invisalign trays a while back and they only had to apply one "Button" or "attachment" or whatever you want to call it. I wore them and should have been done around November of last year. My dentist told me there were some imperfections and that I should continue wearing some of them for more than 2 weeks. I completed all of my trays by March (which was very disheartening for me, when I thought I would be done in November). My dentist told me that My invisalign did not work correctly and that I needed to be recast for some new ones.

Frankly, I am more than a little perturbed. It does not cost extra (for me anyways) as a second set is included if needed. My dentist told me that I would be getting around 2 or 3 more just to fix some little things. I went in today to get my new trays. Much to my disappointment, they had to apply 11 "buttons" or "attachments" or whatever to my teeth and I now have 10 trays for my top and 13 for my bottom.

I do not enjoy being blatantly lied to. 10 and 13 are two numbers DRASTICALLY different from 2 or 3. If he honestly thought it was only going to be 2 or 3 new trays then I can't understand how he is allowed to use invisalign on patients when he is that far off of the mark. I am about to leave for college and did NOT want to have to deal with this Invisalign stuff after I had left home. Btu there are more trays now than I had to begin with.

If they would have told me this would have happened I would have not gone through any orthodontics in the first place since it is purely cosmetic. Being young and naive, I have this POUNDING urge to file off the 11 buttons on my teeth and say "Screw It" and completely cut off my treatment and am SERIOUSLY contemplating it. That is how angry I am about this entire experience.

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I do have some concerns and would like to know if anyone else has had similar experiences:

1. I had to have a couple of teeth "shaved" today. I speficially asked, "how much "shaving" would be done on my teeth? A millimeter?" The response was "oh no, not that much". When I got home this evening, I took out my aligners and took a look at my shaved teeth. I was surprised to find that one of the shaved teeth has a completely different shape and is definitely more than a mm. I was so upset, because it looks horrible. Not only does it look bad, it's sharp and rough. My teeth aren't terribly crooked and I would be just fine not fixing them if this is what I have to look forward to (I have quite a few teeth that are going to need shaving in future appointments). I understand that this step is necessary in my case to make room for the teeth, but I was NEVER under the impression that this meant the shape of the tooth was going to completely change.

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Originally posted by Elle:
I just got my first set of trays today. I'm having difficulty removing my trays, but other than that, no tongue or throat irritation. I do hope tray removal gets much easier--it took me about 5 minutes to remove my lower aligner

I do have some concerns and would like to know if anyone else has had similar experiences:

1. I had to have a couple of teeth "shaved" today. I speficially asked, "how much "shaving" would be done on my teeth? A millimeter?" The response was "oh no, not that much". When I got home this evening, I took out my aligners and took a look at my shaved teeth. I was surprised to find that one of the shaved teeth has a completely different shape and is definitely more than a mm. I was so upset, because it looks horrible. Not only does it look bad, it's sharp and rough. My teeth aren't terribly crooked and I would be just fine not fixing them if this is what I have to look forward to (I have quite a few teeth that are going to need shaving in future appointments). I understand that this step is necessary in my case to make room for the teeth, but I was NEVER under the impression that this meant the shape of the tooth was going to completely change.

2. Has anyone experienced any sensitivity after having buttons put on. I was brushing my teeth this afternoon with regular toothpaste (not whitening) and my upper back tooth where a button was put on is extremely sensitive. I've never had this problem before until today. It feels like the enamel was stripped off. This is just as painful, if not more so, than removing my bottom tray.

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Last night was my first time sleeping with my trays. They're actually not as uncomfortable as I had anticipated. Although, I still tossed and turned all night because I was still upset about the (in my opinion) overshaved tooth. This morning I took my trays out to have my coffee and took another look in the mirror and felt much better about that tooth--it's not as bad as thought--I suppose I was just caught off guard because I simply did not expect that much of my tooth to be shaved. However, throughout the day I kept going back and forth about my thoughts on that darn tooth. I finally called my dentist and asked him if I could stop by his office to take a look at my tooth. As you can see, I really needed a professional's opinion at this point just for peace-of-mind. My dentist took a look and did agree that it was shaved a bit, but told me not to worry because it looked as if this was necessary (not a mistake) to accomodate the overcrowding. He treats many patients that have had invisalign and does some minor cosmetic work such as giving the tooth a nice shape after the patient has completed their treatment. My dentist has reassured me--I feel MUCH better!

The shaving process was not painful at all. The word "shaving" sounds more painful than the actual process. I think the term they use in the in the ortho's office is "slenderizing".

Cleaned my trays with 1 part water 1 part hydrogen peroxide. I have also placed them in listerine while eatng dinner. I guess I'll do the trial and error thing and see what works best for me.

Really, though -- first they give you 10 pairs of aligners, then they make you wear them for an extra FOUR months (long enough for 8 more pairs of aligners), THEN they tell you they need to make some minor corrections so you need to wear THIRTEEN MORE?

Sounds like they screwed up with your treatment, tried to cover their mistakes by having you wear the trays longer (hoping your teeth would eventually match the aligners), and now want to give you all new trays to do what the first 10 trays were supposed to do.

Ah, that was my thinking when I began Invisalign: Change the trays sooner, cut treatment time by 30%! But, like the person above said, that can be a little dangerous.

Here's what I've learned: For most people, each new tray will move your teeth a maximum of 0.25 mm (per tooth, but not all teeth are moving with every tray). This tooth movement is complete usually within 72 hours, or three days. Most of us can agree that after 3 days the soreness and tightness of the tray is about gone. But with the tooth movement, the bone and tissue have weakened (they have to be in order for the teeth to move), and it is important that the bone and tissue have ample time to recover, repair, regenerate, etc.

A dentist posted somewhere on this website, saying that if the bone and tissue don't fully recover, then you end up with bone LOSS. Less bone density equals some potentially bad stuff -- loose teeth, maybe lost teeth, and in the end your perty new Invisalign-corrected smile is vulnerable to returning to "not so perty" very easily.

So yeah, technically you could switch your trays every 4 days and cut your treatment time by about 70%, haha. But, IF you made it to the end of the treatment with all of your teeth, you're likely due for a heap of trouble for years to come because the bone holding your teeth is like swiss cheese...

With that said, I've theorized a couple of times in this thread about the subject, and I think that the "2 week" thing is generalized -- every person is different as to how quickly their body recovers from injury (which is basically what's happening to your teeth). The dentists will instruct a patient to wear his/her trays LONGER, but never do they say it's ok to wear them less. This is definitely understandable because if I were a dentist I wouldn't put my neck on the line just for you to be done with your treatment faster -- "better safe than sorry".

Ah, that was my thinking when I began Invisalign: Change the trays sooner, cut treatment time by 30%! But, like the person above said, that can be a little dangerous.

Here's what I've learned: For most people, each new tray will move your teeth a maximum of 0.25 mm (per tooth, but not all teeth are moving with every tray). This tooth movement is complete usually within 72 hours, or three days. Most of us can agree that after 3 days the soreness and tightness of the tray is about gone. But with the tooth movement, the bone and tissue have weakened (they have to be in order for the teeth to move), and it is important that the bone and tissue have ample time to recover, repair, regenerate, etc.

A dentist posted somewhere on this website, saying that if the bone and tissue don't fully recover, then you end up with bone LOSS. Less bone density equals some potentially bad stuff -- loose teeth, maybe lost teeth, and in the end your perty new Invisalign-corrected smile is vulnerable to returning to "not so perty" very easily.

So yeah, technically you could switch your trays every 4 days and cut your treatment time by about 70%, haha. But, IF you made it to the end of the treatment with all of your teeth, you're likely due for a heap of trouble for years to come because the bone holding your teeth is like swiss cheese...

With that said, I've theorized a couple of times in this thread about the subject, and I think that the "2 week" thing is generalized -- every person is different as to how quickly their body recovers from injury (which is basically what's happening to your teeth). The dentists will instruct a patient to wear his/her trays LONGER, but never do they say it's ok to wear them less. This is definitely understandable because if I were a dentist I wouldn't put my neck on the line just for you to be done with your treatment faster -- "better safe than sorry".

One - should I be pretty close to done and looking normal?

as for taking a 2 week break between trays... personally, i wouldn't. especially so close to the end.

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Originally posted by Invisalign:
Okay, now I'm worried! I think I'll be getting my trays right before Thanksgiving. I had no idea they were "that" difficult to remove. yikes! I suppose I should be happy that most likely I'll lose weight.

I'd like to ask everyone, how long did it take between the time you had your invisalign molds made and receiving your trays? Did anyone get rejected at first. They took my bottom mold twice because the tech said if it wasn't perfect, it would be rejected. This meant redoing the mold and sending it in to wait another 8 weeks.

Can anyone tell me what a "button" is?
Nervous,
Debi

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Originally posted by Eric:
Yah, it may be that the the dentist put them on incorrectly, since he was training someone on invisalign and she was the one that actually attached the 'buttons', not my normal orthodontist.

Now that it's my second day, the tray's are much easier and less painful to remove, so that nice. One new development though is my tounge is constantly rubbing against the bottom edge of the bottom tray, and making my tounge feel really raw. Anyone else having this problem? (its rubbing against the back of the front teeth, not the sides which i've been told is normal)

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Originally posted by Judy:

My dentist gave me a guitar pick and it really helped get the aligners over the "button" on my front tooth.
A button is a dot of resin (or something like that) that they may place on a few teeth to help the aligners stay snug and move the teeth. I have two buttons, but you may have a differnet number based on your treatment plan.

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