Dental Forum

if youre really self concious about taking them out at work, you can do what i do.

since i have to take mine out at school, i bought a hand held mirror and i go into a stall to take them out. you still have to brush your teeth in public, and i admit at first, it was a little weird to be brushing my teeth in the bathroom at school, but i got over it. occasionally someone will look at me funny, but most people just assume i have really good dental hygene. it definately beats not eating all day.

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Originally posted by Jon:
Question for those who have had buttons removed: Do they file them off or is there a way they can pop them off without hurting your teeth?

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Originally posted by lemongrass11:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Fbkprincess:
[b]I was one of the people that didn't really research very much about Invisalign before I got it. It cost about $6000. I had a really painful experience with my first tray and I'm nervous about putting in my second one. I went into the ortho office and the compressor broke, so they wern't able to file down the attachments that were placed onto my teeth. I spent three days taking 30-60 minutes to put in my aligners and I finally got to the point where I didn't take them out for four days (disgusting, I know). I finally got brave and took the aligners out and they were so painful to remove. I finally had to call the doctor and they ended up filing down the attachments which made putting the aligner in a lot easier.
So after that happened, I went on a liquid diet and I haven't fully removed my top aligner (the most difficult and painful) for about a week. I eat and then partially remove each side to brush and then put it back in.
Now, it's about time to switch to my second set of aligners. I'm extremely nervous about this next set of aligners! Anybody have any advice? I know that they're supposed to be painful, but my first set was pretty much unbearable! Is there anything that would numb my mouth? I've tried Alavert and Advil and that's worked ok but I think I need something stronger (or maybe i just need to muster up the courage and pop it in ;-) ) . I'm really desperate to find something to make the transition into a new tray easier.
I have 16 upper and 16 lower trays with 10 attachments on the upper and 4 on the lower, so I can't imagine having to go thru this for another 8 months!

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Originally posted by Fbkprincess:
Thanks for all the support from everybody! I took my first tray out completely for the first time in over a week and it came out ok. So, I took some Advil and tried to get tray #2 in...PROBLEMS! Tray #2 didn't feel like it fit AT ALL! I fiddled with the thing for about a half hour before I gave up. So then I tried to put tray #1 back in my mouth and my teeth were in so much pain! I don't know if my teeth are just extra sensitive or what, but this whole thing clearly isn't working. I'm really considering getting regular braces and just sucking it up for a few months than deal with all these problems. I'm going into an emergency appt tomorrow with my doctor, so hopefully things go well and I'm not in too much pain!

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I don't understand what you mean when you say you took it out completely for the first time in over a week. Were the trays in for an entire week? I can hardly believe that.

I have to say with everyone's teeth problem, everyone is different. Some have worse teeth than others. With mine it was just alot of spacing and my back tooth are not straight.

The first set of tray were like everyone said the most uncomfortable. You do have the lisp and cuts on gum and side of mouth. They all go away and it's nothing over-the counter cant soothe. I didnt think my lisp would go away and was scared about that.

I am now on tray 3/10 - top, 3/13-bottom and I love it. I dont regret getting them, no one notices them and sometimes when I take them out, i kind of miss having them in. I've gotton so used to it already. I havent noticed a change yet but I know my teeth feel differently. My back tooth touch now when they didnt before.

My only real issues are cleaning - I use the old fashioned tooth paste and tooth brush but when I get into the 10 day or so, toothpaste doesnt seem to work anymore.

Another thing is going out to eat. Getting funny stares from the person next to you while brushing your teeth is weird. So I try to keep water in the car.

I had them in for over two weeks. When I first got them in, the ortho struggled for about 15 mintues to put them in. I took them out that night and struggled with them and had the same problem the next few days with a lot of tooth sensitivity. I went to back to the ortho and found out that they never shaved off the attachments, so there was a lot of extra material on my teeth, which made it difficult to get my aligner to sit right. After that, I struggled for another two days until finally I gave up and left it in for a week.

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Originally posted by jil:
I don't understand what you mean when you say you took it out completely for the first time in over a week. Were the trays in for an entire week? I can hardly believe that.

Also, if you tried the second trays after only one week the first trays were used, it's a big no no. Especially in the first trays, the teeth only start to get loose. If anything, I would keep them longer than 2 weeks, to give your mouth time to adjust. It's no wonder you teeth were in pain, there is only so much movement they can take at a time.

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Do you still have trouble taking them out? you need to take them out at least 2 times a day to brush and floss, or you can imagine the plethera of germs and plaque your poor teeth and gums are engulfed in.

It won't do much good to have straigh teeth if you end up w/ perio problems due to this whole thing.

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Originally posted by Fbkprincess:
No, I really had them in for over a week. Yes, it's really disgusting, but the pain was too much for me to handle every day. I ate soft foods, drank a lot of water, and it was tough.

I had them in for over two weeks. When I first got them in, the ortho struggled for about 15 mintues to put them in. I took them out that night and struggled with them and had the same problem the next few days with a lot of tooth sensitivity. I went to back to the ortho and found out that they never shaved off the attachments, so there was a lot of extra material on my teeth, which made it difficult to get my aligner to sit right. After that, I struggled for another two days until finally I gave up and left it in for a week.

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Originally posted by jil:
rahana316, I also have 10/13 top/bottom. I was relieved to hear that because my dentist has predicted it's going to take a year. My problem is crowding and it has improved nicely. My top and bottom teeth used to match perfectly, which is why I was apprehensive about starting that treatment. I am half way through, and now top and bottom don't match at all. The teeth in one side of the mouth barely touch, and on the other side they don't touch at all. The main reason is that one of the bottom canine was pushed out so much it prevents the upper jaw for closing all the way through on the bottom jaw. I hope it's going to improve along the way. Right now chewing is impractical. I can still eat anything I want, but it's hard to cut the food to really small pieces.

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Originally posted by MichelleRR:
I haven't started my trays yet. I should be getting my first set in about 2 weeks. I am a little nervous because I have never done anything like this before, but I am very excited to know that I am on the road to straighter, prettier teeth. It will be so nice to be able to show my teeth when I smile for pictures!

Wish me luck!

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I am only going to have 13 upper and 13 lower, which is only 26 weeks of treatment. I am glad. I thought it would be longer!

Good news is he moved me from three weeks per tray to two and a half weeks per tray (and says that if i keep progressing in the same direction it will probably go down to 2 after these three trays). Bad news is on tray 9 I get 5 more buttons bringing my grand total to 15 from tray 9 till the end. Thats just great.

I decided to get invisalign to address spacing in my teeth, especially a large gap between my top two front teeth. I'm in my mid-20s and never got braces when I was younger. I received my first tray from my dentist (who has had a decent amount of experience with invisalign and does a lot of cosmetic work in general) this past Friday. The first day or two went well, although I definitely felt a lot of pressure on my teeth and jaw area.

By Sunday, however, my tongue and cheeks were completely cut up, and quite inflammed. I had to take a 6 hour break just to feel comfortable eating soft foods and spitting, etc.

I went to see the dentist on Monday, who said he's never seen as much inflammation and irritation in his years of practice, and neither had his new assistant who's had invisalign experience for 7 years. He didn't think there was any health issue, but did say that it would probably take me some time to get used to the trays in my mouth. He suspects I'll need to develop callouses before the irritation goes away. He also polished the edges of the tray.

However, by Tuesday, my tongue was so sore and inflamed, and quite large. I especially had two painful areas on each side of the tongue. I also had a white line (maybe this is a callous?) all along the sides of my tongue and a similar line on the sides of my cheek.

I decided to give myself two nights of rest, and the inflammation has gone down (with the help of lots and lots of advil). I feel like I have a lisp now, even with the the trays out of my mouth. I still feel like my tongue is a bit too big for my mouth.

In general, I'm really nervous about how I've reacted to the trays. I don't want to cause any permanent damage to my tongue, teeth, OR my speech. Any advice? It's hard for me to think sensibly about what I've gotten myself into, especially when I've become so conscious of my tongue!

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Originally posted by haruka:
Hello everyone! i just got my first tray this monday. i am still trying to get used to the attachments, especially one on my lower tray.
my question, after the first 3 days, my front teeth have a bit of crowding so the attachments are still holding onto my trays but i find it's too easy to take off the tray from the molars. does anyone have attachments on their molars? or am i just asking for more pain?

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The dental wax helps, although I hope I don't have to keep using it since it's yet another thing to add to the invisalign routine.

I do have a lisp (mostly because of the still swollen tongue), but I do think it's getting better. Today is the first day I took them into work...I haven't had to speak much so far, but we'll see how it goes since my tongue and cheeks get more cut-up when I speak.

Now one of them was definitely there at some point because the surface of the tooth is rough like it gets when one breaks off. But one the opposite side, there is no such tell-tale sign. In fact, that one tooth is not symmetrical with the one on the opposite side. I know this is hard to explain, but my teeth are crowded on the lowers and need to be pulled outward towards my lips. Every tooth is symmetrical and has been pulled outwards but this one. I'm not seeing any sign that this one has even moved. I can't get in to see my Ortho again until Saturday.

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Originally posted by courtwhit:
Question: has anyone ever had their Ortho fail to put on an attachment that was needed? I just started my sixth tray and last night I was cleaning it and as I looked at it, I realized it had two spaces for attacments that I do not have!

Now one of them was definitely there at some point because the surface of the tooth is rough like it gets when one breaks off. But one the opposite side, there is no such tell-tale sign. In fact, that one tooth is not symmetrical with the one on the opposite side. I know this is hard to explain, but my teeth are crowded on the lowers and need to be pulled outward towards my lips. Every tooth is symmetrical and has been pulled outwards but this one. I'm not seeing any sign that this one has even moved. I can't get in to see my Ortho again until Saturday.

I'm REALLY mad. Safe to say I am going to need a refinement, eh? My Ortho is very experienced and it blows my mind that this happened. Isn't this one of the reasons why I see him twice a month? To catch this kind of stuff? I just saw him two days ago and this was completely missed.

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