Invisalign offered dental practitioners a $900 discount, and my dentist was honest enough to apply it to me rather than pocket it!

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Originally posted by Mari:
Can anyone recomend a good dentist or Ortho. in the Bay Area Ca???

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Where are you in Bay area? I have been to few doctors in sunnyvale, San Ramon and Fremont. You can email me in which area you are looking and I'll let you know about the doctors and the prices they quoted me.. You can email me at scorp3175@yahoo.com.

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Originally posted by Snoops:
hey ..
I am a 23 yd Old Male from Chicago with a few a disoriented upper teeth.
Planning to visit my ortho to get a try Invisalign.
Have a few concers though. It is really invisi- in nature...i mean is it easy to conceal my trays from the normal eye..
And also which doctor did u see in the chicago area.

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Originally posted by Derek:
Yes, efferdent does work.

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Originally posted by pharmgirl:
OK...DOES the Efferdent work? They gave me a little brochure trying to sell their sonic-cleaner-thingy for a HUNDRED bucks! It said that denture cleaners and mouth wash will dull the invisalign making them cloudy. When I get up in the AM I do drop them in a mouthwash/water mix until after breakfast, coffee & brushing.

If they were just B.S.ing to sell their machine, I will TOTALLY try efferdent! If I had to wear them for more than 2 weeks each, I might have popped for the $100, but I figure 2 weeks is manageable to keep them clean. Anyone else try efferdent?

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I was wandering if you'd found out where that orthodontist is who quoted £3500 for the invisalign treatment? I cant get a quote below £5500. I wouldnt mind, but when i first looked into a simlar treatment 4 years ago it was £1800!

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Originally posted by Ray:
Well.. Day 2 of wearing the aligngers... the hardest part is not snacking and drinking Coffee all day.... and it is really tough to get these off. Anyone have any tips on how easily remove the aligners? I am hoping it gets easier with practice...

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Originally posted by Jonathan:
I can't believe how many people actually listen to everything their orthodontist says like good little lapdogs or something, haha, it's hilarious. You do not take Invisalign retainers out to dinner or to the bars, plain and simple -- why would you even think of doing that?

I'm a week away from finishing my lower sets and more than half-way done with the upper, and I've had great results. Every time my orthodontist asked (she's Asian), "So you wear retainers all time yes?" I'm like, "Yeah, uhh, sure pretty much." Yeah right. I don't wear them when I'm working out, how the hell could you wear retainers when you're trying to bench press 200+ pounds or leg pressing 1,000 pounds? You can't! It makes me want to gag. I gave up on that. I'd say I've worn the retainers no more than 16 hours a day and as little as 14 hours a day and it worked just fine for me. I feel sorry for everyone who actually took that 22 hours per day "all of the time except when you're eating" nonsense literally. But whatever, to each his own.

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"Yes, it would be bad to change your aligners earlier than recommended. This is because bone can only grow/recontour so fast. Once you exceed that rate of growth, you will end up losing bone. If your teeth are moved too fast, you will likely experience generalized, moderate bone loss throughout your mouth AS WELL as root resorption, making the roots of your teeth unnecessarily shorter. Short roots + bone loss = extremely very bad combination. Short of immaculate home oral hygiene and a strict schedule of regular cleanings and exam, you may experience premature loss of teeth at an earlier age. In essence, you'll be shooting yourself in the foot. I'm assuming that you're undergoing orthodontic treatment to have straighter teeth for a more cosmetic smile, correct? Well, what good will all this do if you increase the chance of them to falling out in the future? My advice to you is for you to be as patient as possible. One of the benefits of Invisalign is that they are already near-invisible to the untrained eyes. Don't subject yourself to unnecessary risks by not following the recommended timeline."

My ortho is now advising me to continue wearing them as much as possible for the next year, and then overnight beyond that (like a standard retainer)

Again, my experience was really smooth and I highly recommend it, but don't attach yourself to the timelines and keep the end result in mind. Trust me -- it's worth it!

Best wishes!>

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Originally posted by eric:
I am currently on my 5th aligner, and I am very pleased with the process so far. I'll admit, my first aligner was the worst. It hurt for about a week, and taking it out felt like I was going to break a few teeth, but now, the worst part is just the first couple of days of a new aligner. On those days I try to keep them in as much as possible and that seems to help. I am scheduled to only have them on for 8 months. I was shocked as I thought it would take a lot longer. I think I will be very pleased with the process, and I hope that when everything is done I don't have to where one everyday so my teeth don't move!!

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HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAH!

Hilarious. Great replies, everyone!

I've had great success doing what I have done, and if something isn't broke, don't fix it. It reminds me of braces, they give you all kinds of advice about what to eat and what not to eat, I had braces once, the guy was an idiot though and I should never have had them that early, they were useless, and I ate whatever I wanted without problems.

And, please, I don't need to hear about working out from a girl -- no girl knows what it's like to work out hard. What girls consider working out is very light intensity compared to actual body building. Unless of course the girl IS a body builder, but that's less than 1% of the population, so unlikely.

My friends don't even really know about my retainers, my best friend does, but I don't wear the retainers that often when they are around because usually we're out drinking or whatever. You cannot wear retainers when you go out to the bars. That is a simple fact. There are two things they tell you, 1) Do not wear Invisalign when you are eating or drinking anything but water, and 2) Wear Invisalign all the time when you're not drinking of eating. Now tell me, genius, how can you wear Invisalign while you are the bar drinking? You can't. You're constantly drinking something, for a period of at least several hours, and therefore it wouldn't be useful or intelligent AT ALL to bring your retainers with you. Unless you're old and boring and never go out to the bars, in which case... good for you, you can wear them all the time, if you lead a completely sedentary life and don't go out to bars, then you should have no trouble.

I wear them as much as I can, which ends up being about 16 hours a day. There are days it is 18 hours, but that's not real regular I'd say.

I just think some of you are way too worried -- your orthodonist is going to tell you whatever works BEST. It clearly works BEST if you wear your retainers as much as possible, i.e. all the time. But it works fine if you don't, too.

I've had great success doing what I have done, and if something isn't broke, don't fix it. It reminds me of braces, they give you all kinds of advice about what to eat and what not to eat, I had braces once, the guy was an idiot though and I should never have had them that early, they were useless.

Jonathan...did you faithfully wear a retainer after that first treatment??

Unless you're old and boring and never go out to the bars.

Let's hope you don't end up old and toothless!!

I wear them as much as I can, which ends up being about 16 hours a day. There are days it is 18 hours, but that's not real regular I'd say.

And I change my retainers weekly, at the advice of my orthodonist. .[/B][/QUOTE]

So Jonathan, you're saying that your orthodontist says it's ok for you to wear each aligner for about 120 hours whereas the recommended time is over 300 hours....are you trying to get her into trouble? You didn't actually tell her, of course, that you only wear them roughly 16 hours a day....poor woman.

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Originally posted by Jay:
Jonathan...sounds as though you spend so long at the bar that it's a wonder you can see clearly enough to get the aligners back in properly!!

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Jonathan said.... "I've had great success doing what I have done, and if something isn't broke, don't fix it. It reminds me of braces, they give you all kinds of advice about what to eat and what not to eat, I had braces once, the guy was an idiot though and I should never have had them that early, they were useless."

Jonathan...did you faithfully wear a retainer after that first treatment??

Jonathan said...."Unless you're old and boring and never go out to the bars."

Let's hope you don't end up old and toothless Jonathan!!

Jonathan said ....I wear them as much as I can, which ends up being about 16 hours a day. There are days it is 18 hours, but that's not real regular I'd say. And I change my retainers weekly, at the advice of my orthodonist." .[/B][/QUOTE]