I still catch myself lisping from time to time, but it's usually when I'm tired and I get a bit lazy about speaking properly. You may just have to practice a bit more with the sounds that give you trouble. It probably doesn't sound as bad as you think it does!

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Originally posted by sandyjean222:
I'm on my second set of aligners, one-and-a-half months into treatment, and I still have a very noticable lisp. I'm wondering whether others also have this problem, since everything I've read says the lisp goes away after a few days. It's so bad that I won't wear them when I have meetings, etc. People are polite and tell me it's not that bad, but they definitely notice. My ortho says I just haven't figured out how to adjust, but I'm not sure what else to do!

Also, my ortho has me wearing each tray for 3 weeks, though it seems like most others are being told to wear them for 2 weeks. Is anyone else wearing them for 3 weeks at a time? They actually start to feel a little bit spongy after the first 2 weeks. Thanks!

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So far, so good. Removing and inserting the trays is very fast and easy - I did it in a cafe this morning and no one noticed. The pressure on my teeth is a bit weird, but not painful - in a way I quite like it.

They're not as "invisible" as I'd hoped. I'm sure that my colleagues have spotted that something's not quite right, from the way they're looking at me intently. And on my bottom gum, the edge of the plastic sticks out a little, like the edge of a plastic bag, which is distracting. But those aren't terribly bad.

I wasn't told about the attachments ("buttons") until I went in to get the moulds taken. And they still haven't mentioned "shaving" my teeth - which I've just seen mentioned on this site (although they did say that once I'd got my teeth straightened they might need to grind the tips down a little bit to make them straight - not sure if that's the same thing). Invisalign pump out a lot of literature, and IMHO there's no excuse for not telling you these things in the literature. In the field of medicine I expect the doctor to give me the facts I need to make a decision, and don't agree with the suggestion that we have to do independent research to find out any downsides.

The cost was a fixed-fee of £1,500 (US$ 3,000) in total. That was a special offer, and it's just gone up to £1,850 (but with the change in exchange rate that's still US$ 3,000). The treatment is in a very up-scale place on Harley Street, London, England (called Q-Clinic). Before I saw this place, I was thinking of doing medical tourism from London to the States - now I guess it might be worth doing it the other way. I suppose that how good they are remains to be seen, but the first tray fits my teeth really nicely, is easy to take in and out, and they did show me the computer imaging. Apart from not telling me about "shaving my teeth", so far so good!

They told me about a retainer being advisable at the end of the treatment. It's a rather stiff GNP 350 (around US$ 600). Would it be cheaper for me to get it in the States? I visit San Francisco a few times a year, and Tucson and NYC from time to time.

Cheers!

David

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Originally posted by davidrodger:

I wasn't told about the attachments ("buttons") until I went in to get the moulds taken. And they still haven't mentioned "shaving" my teeth - which I've just seen mentioned on this site (although they did say that once I'd got my teeth straightened they might need to grind the tips down a little bit to make them straight - not sure if that's the same thing). Invisalign pump out a lot of literature, and IMHO there's no excuse for not telling you these things in the literature. In the field of medicine I expect the doctor to give me the facts I need to make a decision, and don't agree with the suggestion that we have to do independent research to find out any downsides.

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Originally posted by gettingitdoneat41:
Sorry. I strongly disagree. Although I am not in a position to decide whether I would need attachments or IPR, I certainly am capable of understanding what they are (and I'm sure most people on this board are, too) and would like to know upfront if these were included in my treatment plan so I could make an informed decision about whether to go ahead or not. And not be surprised when they come up in the procedure.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by M75:
[B] I agree with you that we should be informed by our dentists of any aspect of the treatment but I'm also sure that 99% of us wouldn't be able to understand technical things such as attachments, shaving, and etc... Do you think that dentists would let you decide if your teeth have to be shaved or not or if you would like to have the attachments or not? They just do their job avoiding to have discussion with the patient about aspects of their work.

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Well, we have different opinions, but I think that the ones of us who are able to understand what attachments and shavings are and what they could cause know it because we got the information from the topics on this board or from other sources. As I said, I agree that dentists should inform you in advance about any aspect of the treatment but they simply don't do it! So, what I strongly recommend is to get the information before in order to be prepared in discussing with the dentist about these aspects.

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Originally posted by ZooeyGlass:
InvisalignGal,

My ortho moved me to a ten-day cycle after keeping me on a two-week cycle for about 8 months. I've been on the ten-day cycle now for about 14 months and everything has progressed fairly smoothly. I just put in aligner no. 60 (out of 70), both the ortho and general dentist are impressed there's been no need for a revision, and the general dentist hasn't detected anything anomalous with x-rays. I gather there's enough variation in physiology for there to be different cycles (my ortho has most on a two-week cycle, a smaller number on a three-week cycle, and a very small number of us on a ten-day cycle).

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Originally posted by Emily16:
okay i am going to my ortho this monday to get my impressions for invisalign. i already got the molding and the high tech x-rays. im really nervous. i don tdo well with having to have things in my moth for a long time. how long do the invisalign impressions take?

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Originally posted by gettingitdoneat41:
I seem to remember about 3 minutes for each. It's not that different than your initial molds, Practice some relaxation exercises beforehand and use them while the molds are setting. Find a phrase that helps you focus to get your mind off what's in your mouth.

thanks! i'll try to do this while im having them done!
i write back after i get them done and keep everybody posted about how i like the aligners...

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Originally posted by Emily16:
wait, also, does anybody remember how long it took you to get your aligners after you got your mold? i want my process to start and end as soon as possible. please reply.
thanks!
-Emily

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Originally posted by elezam:
I just got my invisaligns today. I have 10 sets of aligners for top and bottom. I just found out online that is the common treatment for invisalign express. I specifically told my dentist that I do not want invisalign express, I want regular invisalign. My dentist said invisalign determines if I go with express or not and that it isn't up to him, he charged me $3,500. Today he said I will have to come in every 3 weeks, for a total of about 8 months. Is that a normal invisalign treatment, or is that definitely an express treatment? Should I have paid that much for these? Are there certain cases which regular invisalign only requires 10 retainers? I need to know if I am getting ripped off Thanks for your help!

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Originally posted by bracespro:
I got my trays last year and am almost done. You can see my before/after pictures hre:

http://www.bracesreview.com

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Originally posted by missypapa:
i just got invisalign and am beginning to realize i was very uneducated about them before i dove in. i am assigned to have 26 upper and 10 lower. what happens when im done with the lowers but not the uppers?

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Originally posted by lozb:
Hi I'm from the UK and I'm using Invisalign. I got charged £3750 by Holborn Dental (in London) for both uppers and lowers. I'm using 13 lowers and 19 uppers, currently on tray 8. Definitely seen movement! They also threw in a free whitening kit, so my teeth are whitening at the same time!

I'm currently undergoing treatment in Coventry, 17 sets upper, 14 lower, £3000 total which seems a good deal from what I've seen on the internet

Give them a call, and use me as a referral, Lawrence Bain! My dentist name there is Graham Tinkler.

http://www.holborndental.co.uk/about_us.php

Alternatively there's http://www.clearstep.co.uk/ - which is supposedly the same, but half the price. In the end though I chose Invisalign purely because they've seen millions of clients, so I'd rather get this right the first time!

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I just got my first aligners yesterday, so I figured Id contribute the answers to a few questions that I didnt see answered in the previous 1000+ posts.

First some background. I am a 25 year old male and have about a 2mm diastema between the front 2 teeth. My parents both have naturally straight teeth. My dad has a large mouth but straight teeth, while my moms teeth grew in crooked but came together on their own due to her smaller jaw. I unfortunately had the combination of a big mouth with spaced front teeth. I was hoping until the age of 16 that they would come together on their own but they never did. My bite is fine so there was no necessity for orthodontics growing up and i was too stubborn to get them for cosmetic purposes. I grew up in NJ and am now going to grad school in Philadelphia. Ive though about getting this done since about 2003, and was 50/50 and my girlfriend at the time didnt care, so i forgot about it. I revisited the idea in 2007 but didnt the dentist said i would have to wear a night retainer for life which surprised me so I again forgot about it. Enter a new girlfriend who does care, and thats why I am getting it now.

I got 2 free consults. One with an orhodontist at my usual dentistry practice in Moorestown NJ and one with a cosmetic dentist in Philadelphia. I found the Philly guy through Invisaligns website as a premier provider. If I recall correctly, there are 3 premier providers and 1 elite in Philly. Although I didnt investigate there seemed to be a discrepancy as to whether the elite actually had a practice in the city. One of the premiers didnt offer free consultations, one my girlfriend had a bad experience with in getting a retainer made. So that only left the third premier provider for my second consult.

The NJ office and Philly office both estimated about 9 months of treatment at a cost of 5500$. Philly offered 5% off for paying up front. It was clear that the Premier Philly provider had handled more cases than the NJ guy, as he was much able to discuss what the process for my specific case would be with much more certainty. He also did some quick eyeball measurements and said i probably wouldnt need any IPRs (which he turned out to be correct about) and he also predicted the shape of my front teeth would leave a slight space between them at the bottom (which he was also correct about.) I chose the Philly guy based on my sense of his familiarity with the process and have been happy.

As a note, it seems most providers charge based on the expectation of whether treatment will last more or less than a year. If you want to price check with dentists who wont give a free consult, and already know from previous consults that your treatment is estimated at under or over a year, you can ask for that specific price quote. Otherwise they will probably say over the phone that it will cost between 3000 (express) and 6000(over a year) dollars, which really isnt helpful

Following the initial consultation it all went pretty quickly. I talked to my parents and decided to make an appointment for molds and got one roughly a week after my consultation. The molds were taken. Reading some of the older posts from 2006, the molding took 5-8 minutes each. mine took about 3 minutes each. luckily i got them both on the first try. also, i have read some posts here where people have complained in the past there is no point of reference for the bite between top and bottom. that has changed apparently as my guy took what looked like a caulk gun and put a layer of material on the bottom teeth and had me bite down to record the alignment between top and bottom.

After the molds, within a week the clinchek was in, which i had specifically asked to be notified and see before they approved it. i was surprised how quickly it came back, based on somethings i had read here. After the molds were taken I had asked for them to request it be done without any IPR shavings. If i didnt like the result, i could then ask to see a proposal with ipr shavings. the dentist said it would only take an extra 4 days to get a new clinchek with iprs, so no big deal to see both and compare. fortunately, the ideal case didnt require any ipr's so it was a non-issue. I approved the clinchek and the trays began to be made. I had asked for videos to be emailed to me, and they said they didnt know how, only how to send stills of before and after. well somehow by the time i got home, i had the movies in my inbox, so i was happy. perhaps they called an invisalign rep or something.

one week after the clinchek approval i got a call to make an appointment to get the first trays, that they would be in in another week. all in all this happened very fast. molds one week after consult, clinchek one week after molds, trays two weeks after clinchek. So in less than a month from my first consult, i picked up my trays.

Previously, not much has been said about how the buttons are put on, and thats my main reason for writing here. I had 9 buttons, all on at once. 3 top, 6 bottom. First they stuff the mouth with cotton to keep the teeth dry. Then it seems they rub something over the tooth, maybe for drying it, maybe coarsening the tooth, i couldnt tell. next a polymer is applied from a syringe, and then a small piece of the acrylic button material is dabbed onto that first polymer. this acrylic is then cured, presumably with uv or something. next, additional acrylic is painted into a tray similar to the invisalign trays, but more flexible. this tray is then placed on the teeth, so that the to acrylic spots match up, and then the acrylic in the tray is cured and bonded to the acrylic already adhered to your teeth. so to make it a little clearer (i hope) first a polymer is applied, then acrylic to the polymer, then more acrylic in the button shape to the first piece of acrylic. once all the buttons are cured, any excess acrylic is sanded down.

the tech then put in my first trays for me, and showed me how to take them out in the mirror. i then put them in and took them out, popping off one of the bottom buttons in the process. she then put on a new button. i asked what to do should a button come off, and basically the answer was dont go more than two weeks without a button. if it comes off within two weeks of my next visit, dont worry about it and just get the button when i come in.

i had some questions about cleaning that i wanted to ask but in all the excitement forgot. i should have written them down. one thing i did ask was about drinking at bars, whether to take them out or leave in during hours of beer drinking, and her advice was to leave them in and just brush and rinse after.

after leaving the dentists office around 5, i took the trays out because they were bothering me and i wanted to sleeep through the initial shock as suggested by previous posters. so without the trays for 4 hours, my tongue explored the buttons, which is almost as weird as having the trays in.

almost 20 hours later, the trays are still uncomfortable. i dont mind the pressure, but having this wierd thing in my mouth is annoying. the first couple days will likely take some willpower, particularly leaving them in after taking them out for meals.

having made it through the first 5 days, id like to provide some more comments. i have noticed that my teeth feel very sensitive on the bottom but not the top and that it only happened after lunch. i looked into getting orajel and was about to buy some sensodyne, but over the weekend i realized that apparently its due to me pushing the aligner around with my tongue and sucking at my teeth with it in. i guess im not quite used to having it in my mouth yet. and it only happens after lunch because after breakfast and dinner im usually running around or entertained doing something rather than sitting bored at a desk. ive found if i can just stop playing with the aligner for about 30 minutes, all the sensitivity goes away..

ive also noticed new spaces beside some of my teeth, opposite the directions they are moving, which is very exciting.

lastly, ive noticed that its very enticing to want to switch trays early, and its definitely good for the weak willed to only be given 3 trays at a time.

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Originally posted by DustinL:
i was wondering if anyone could tell me if their attachments where removed in the middle of their procedure or if they were left on the whole time.

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