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Author
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Topic: Invisalign Braces Cont'...How about a new thread?
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Raman
Junior Member
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posted 10-04-2007 07:32 AM
 
My mouth is already starting to feel wierd from thinking about this! I know it's just in my head and hopefully all goes well!!
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MichelleRR
Junior Member
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posted 10-08-2007 09:38 AM
Today is my last day with my first set of trays. I can't believe 2 weeks has gone by already! I am looking forward to putting in my next set tonight! Hopefully the pain won't disturb my sleep too much. I have a son who will be 1 in a few weeks and I miss out on enough sleep because of him!
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BalloonGirl
Junior Member
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posted 10-08-2007 02:40 PM
YAY, Michelle! I'm right behind you, just one week into my first set of trays. I noticed today that they are snapping into place much easier (not that it was difficult before), which shows my teeth are moving as they are supposed to. I find that if I am quiet (not easy for me, LOL) my tongue is not as sore as when I've been on the phone or otherwise socializing. It's getting better though. I get some attachments a few trays from now. I was grateful to be able to get used to the aligners without attachments--getting them in and out has been a breeze. A hint here for newbies: An up-close mirror really helped me to see the aligners popping off, working from the back molars forward. I could probably do it without a mirror now, but those first couple days, it really helped to watch closely what was happening as they came off my teeth. I've learned so much from this Forum---it's been GREAT!
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soozj
Junior Member
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posted 10-08-2007 06:33 PM
I've just had my sixth trays put on. I'm just wondering when you're supposed to notice a change in your teeth? I'm only having the aligners on for 8 months, and I've already done 10 weeks. I haven't noticed any difference and I'm getting worried, as I've read some other posts and a lot of people have noticed a difference after a couple of trays. I only had my attachments added on tray 3, maybe this is why they haven't moved much yet?
I asked my dentist and he said I won't notice a visible difference until the very end, but I don't see how this can be true, when your teeth are supposed to move with every tray. I'm worried that it's not working.
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BalloonGirl
Junior Member
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posted 10-08-2007 07:23 PM
Are you able to view your Clincheck? My dentist emailed me mine, and I can see the movement each tray will produce. Each movement (2 weeks) is nearly imperceptible---even several weeks may seem to make little difference. Can you compare your first trays with your current ones? If you set them side by side, is there any difference? Also, when you get a new set, do you feel pressure? And then do they get 'looser' over the 2-week period? If so, then they must be doing the job. My Clincheck shows the most movement on my 'problem' teeth toward the end of treatment. The first weeks and months are spent making room, widening arches, etc--which may be hard to see when you look in the mirror. My treatment is for about 8-9 months also. (17 upper and lower) I'm really new at this though, so maybe some who are done or almost done with treatment can encourage you as well.
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BadBoy
Preferred Member
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posted 10-08-2007 08:44 PM
Yes following along with a video of the clinicheck helps to know which teeth are moving for each aligner and you know what to look for and at what aligner stage the most visible changes (like a gap closing) are noticeable. In many cases the first aligners move back teeth and so you don't notice much until later.If you question after many aligners if your teeth have moved, save all your old aligner sets and try set #1 - it probably won't fit anymore because the teeth have moved so much. Saving all the aligners allows for comparing new ones with older ones too. I put each old set in a small plastic baggie and labeled each and stored them all in a shoebox for easy reference access.
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elle25
Junior Member
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posted 10-09-2007 07:13 AM
hmm.. my Orthodontist didn't mention a clincheck at all. She also said Invisalign collects the old trays, so I wouldn't be able to keep them.
Do you know if that's true?
thanks!I just moved to set 5 last night! quote:
Originally posted by BadBoy:
Yes following along with a video of the clinicheck helps to know which teeth are moving for each aligner and you know what to look for and at what aligner stage the most visible changes (like a gap closing) are noticeable. In many cases the first aligners move back teeth and so you don't notice much until later.If you question after many aligners if your teeth have moved, save all your old aligner sets and try set #1 - it probably won't fit anymore because the teeth have moved so much. Saving all the aligners allows for comparing new ones with older ones too. I put each old set in a small plastic baggie and labeled each and stored them all in a shoebox for easy reference access.
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Jon
Preferred Member
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posted 10-09-2007 07:38 AM
quote:
Originally posted by elle25:
hmm.. my Orthodontist didn't mention a clincheck at all. She also said Invisalign collects the old trays, so I wouldn't be able to keep them.
Do you know if that's true?
thanks!I just moved to set 5 last night!
I don't think your orthodontist is correct. You should be able to keep your trays. You paid for them! I know my ortho has told me I'll be hanging onto mine that way if a few years down the road my teeth move a little I can put them back in.
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elle25
Junior Member
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posted 10-09-2007 07:50 AM
Thanks, Jon! That's what I was thinking... they're not cheap, I should be able to keep them!
quote:
Originally posted by Jon:
I don't think your orthodontist is correct. You should be able to keep your trays. You paid for them! I know my ortho has told me I'll be hanging onto mine that way if a few years down the road my teeth move a little I can put them back in.
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Pricey102
Preferred Member
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posted 10-09-2007 08:21 AM
day 3 tray 5. i never thought i would welcome the pain. my last two trays went on with no discomfort at all. not with taking them on/off. no pressure, nothing. i was getting a little discouraged. now with tray 5 my teeth KILL and i love it - i know i sound nuts, but i love it because it means something is happening and thats what this is all about. all the pain/discomfort is only going to bring you the results you have always wanted - or you wouldn't have invested the time or money in the first place. Hang in there and everyone - we are all in it together...On another note: I went to a wedding on the weekend and in the bathroom were these little baskets of toiletries. Hairspray, bobby pins, sewing kit and they had a big basket of toothbrushes. I didn't understand because there was no toothpaste in site. Well it turns out that they are individually wrapped brushes that have toothpaste right on them. All you have to do is wet them. Its the same technology as the face wipes that foam up when you wash yourface/ anyway i thought it was genius - and perfect for us invisalign users. Knowing the father of the groom (and that he was a dentist) I asked him if he could get me some and he gave me a box of 100. Now when i go out i can grab one and toss it when i am done. So cool! You should all ask your Ortho/Dentists about it!
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AnneC
Preferred Member
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posted 10-09-2007 10:23 AM
elle25 - I agree with Jon. That sounds downright absurd - will y'ask next time exactly what it is Invisalign would do with used trays? Keep them for posterity? Recycle them? In case you do lose a tray - or need to go back if not tracking as they should, you do indeed need to keep your used aligners. Some had reported their orthos asking them to be returned so they can keep them for those reasons I just suggested, BUT - fat lot of good that will do you if they're closed or you're away if that happens... Ask about viewing your ClinCheck, too -
seeing the actual movements & when to expect them really helps you to stay motivated to keep up the compliance of wearing them to the max of your ability. Tell her that's a good thing... Pricey102 - I felt the same way in regards to the pressure (never had much real pain, tho) throughout my entire treatment. It meant progress!
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courtwhit
Junior Member
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posted 10-09-2007 12:28 PM
Hey all, So my dentist wasn't too concerned about the missing attachements.But now I have a new question! I just put in tray 7 and I am in a LOT of pain. This is about the same amount of pain I was in with the first set! I can't take them out because the pain is unbearable when all of that pressure is released. I took some painkillers last night when I put them in but that obviously didn't do much. All of my other trays have not hurt this much (with the exception of the first one of course). Is this unusual? Has anyone else had this experience?
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BadBoy
Preferred Member
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posted 10-09-2007 12:34 PM
Yes you paid for all your aligners, they are yours not the doctors. In fact Invisalign recommends saving at least the last several used aligner sets in case you lose one or have to backtrack a few like some have reported needing to do here. I saved them all as a good historical record.The Clinicheck is supposed to be shown on the doctor's office computer prior to the aligners being manufactured so you can sign off on it. If you want something done differently thats the only time it can be modified. After that there is a way in the computer software they can export a view to a PC AVI video file which has one image frame per aligner stage. I got several video views for mine, front, upper arch, lower arch. Then using your own computer and a video player software that can step frame by frame you can see what each aligner stage is moving to prepare and look ahead, its very motivating to know that by a certain aligner a gap will close for example.
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BadBoy
Preferred Member
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posted 10-09-2007 12:39 PM
quote:
Originally posted by courtwhit:
I just put in tray 7 and I am in a LOT of pain. This is about the same amount of pain I was in with the first set! I can't take them out because the pain is unbearable when all of that pressure is released. I took some painkillers last night when I put them in but that obviously didn't do much. All of my other trays have not hurt this much (with the exception of the first one of course). Is this unusual? Has anyone else had this experience?
Its not unusual, the pressure/pain will vary with each aligner set depends on which teeth are moving at the time and your unique teeth sensitivity. But as in the past it will pass after a day or two. I recommend extra strenght Tylenol, that worked best of various pain killers I tried during the few aligners with extra pressure. I could tell which teeth were moving the first day or two of an aligner by when I removed the aligner I could tap each tooth and the ones that felt sensitive or had slight pain then were the ones being moved. I could verify it with my clinicheck video files on my computer too and it matched.
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Jon
Preferred Member
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posted 10-10-2007 11:36 AM
Okay, just went to the Orthodontist and got my final 2 trays (9 and 10)! I have #9 in right now and it's actually not nearly as tight or as painful as I anticipated. My ortho said the trays are fitting great and are doing a really good job. I go back in a month to evaluate how my teeth ended up. He said if we are happy with the results, they will remove the attachments and take impressions for my (non Invisalign) retainer. They told me I will probably wear my last set for a couple more weeks while my retainers are being made to make sure my teeth are settled. If I'm not happy with the results, he said something about having Invisalign create a couple extra trays to fix some things. I'm doing Express so I don't believe this is a refinement. I didn't ask if that would be an additional cost to me, but he acted like this is something normal Invisalign would do. Anyway, we shall see.
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Teddy
Junior Member
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posted 10-10-2007 01:28 PM
Congrats Jon, thats great to hear you are almost done. One thing I'm curious about is, when you are done, and they take the attachments off, will wearing the last tray look weird? What I mean is since the trays have little indentations for the attachments, once the attachments are no longer there I wonder if it will look silly still wearing the tray. I'm just thinking ahead to the day I'm finished...if that day ever comes that is!
Does anyone know the answer to this?
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BadBoy
Preferred Member
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posted 10-10-2007 01:31 PM
Congratulations Jon!
What type of retainers are you going to get and were they an extra cost? There seems to be a wide variation in retainer costs, so I'd like to hear what others are having to pay for them.
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BadBoy
Preferred Member
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posted 10-10-2007 01:39 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Teddy:
One thing I'm curious about is, when you are done, and they take the attachments off, will wearing the last tray look weird? What I mean is since the trays have little indentations for the attachments, once the attachments are no longer there I wonder if it will look silly still wearing the tray. I'm just thinking ahead to the day I'm finished...if that day ever comes that is!
Does anyone know the answer to this?
I wore my last set of aligners for months before my refinement started and each one had a bump for an attachment for teeth that now no longer had the attachment on. It looked about the same as when the attachment was on the tooth, no real difference visually and the fit was still good. Of course aligners with no bumps looks cleaner and my refinement aligners had no attachments at all luckily as do the final invisalign clear retainers. After 2 weeks now wearing the invisalign clear retainers 20+ hours/day I can still feel they are stiffer and slightly thicker than the regular aligners and notice them a bit more than the thinner standard aligners. They acted like new aligners for the first few days with extra pressure, so they must have made a slight set of final movements like one aligner stage, but that pressure subsided after about 3 days and now they are holding the final positions well. I just notice them a bit more at times than I did standard aligners after 2 weeks of wear.
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Jon
Preferred Member
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posted 10-10-2007 01:41 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Teddy:
Congrats Jon, thats great to hear you are almost done. One thing I'm curious about is, when you are done, and they take the attachments off, will wearing the last tray look weird? What I mean is since the trays have little indentations for the attachments, once the attachments are no longer there I wonder if it will look silly still wearing the tray. I'm just thinking ahead to the day I'm finished...if that day ever comes that is!
Does anyone know the answer to this?
I wondered the same thing Teddy. I suppose it might look a little strange. I'll have to run this by the ortho when the time comes, but once I have the attachments off I want to see if I can reduce the wear time of the last tray to around 16 hours or so a day while I'm waiting for the retainers. I don't mind wearing them at work, but it'd be nice to show off the pearly whites when I'm out after work. I do know one thing...without the attachments they will be MUCH easier to take in and out!
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Jon
Preferred Member
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posted 10-10-2007 01:50 PM
quote:
Originally posted by BadBoy:
Congratulations Jon!
What type of retainers are you going to get and were they an extra cost? There seems to be a wide variation in retainer costs, so I'd like to hear what others are having to pay for them.
Thanks BadBoy! I believe the retainers I'm getting are just the standard Hawley retainers that most people get when they are finished with braces. They were just included in the total price of Invisalign Express and Ortho visits. I believe I will initially wear them as much as I can through the day and every night. Then gradually reduce wear time to night, and then maybe every other night or once a week. One thing I know for sure...I had regular braces when I was younger and didn't wear my retainer nearly enough and I am NOT making that mistake again. 
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piggy_pig
Preferred Member
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posted 10-10-2007 06:45 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Pricey102:
I went to a wedding on the weekend and in the bathroom were these little baskets of toiletries. Hairspray, bobby pins, sewing kit and they had a big basket of toothbrushes. I didn't understand because there was no toothpaste in site. Well it turns out that they are individually wrapped brushes that have toothpaste right on them. All you have to do is wet them. Its the same technology as the face wipes that foam up when you wash yourface/ anyway i thought it was genius - and perfect for us invisalign users.
My ortho's office has these and have given me several. They also work really well for brushing your aligners. They are much thinner than regular toothbrushes and fit inside the trays wonderfully!
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BadBoy
Preferred Member
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posted 10-11-2007 12:43 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Jon:
I believe the retainers I'm getting are just the standard Hawley retainers that most people get when they are finished with braces.
Please keep us updated when you get the retainers and tell us how they feel and look compared to the invisalign aligners.
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arch712
Preferred Member
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posted 10-11-2007 06:00 AM
Well I split my upper aligner last night. I was taking them out starting from the back, and I pulled slightly too hard and it split right between 2 teeth. Luckily I move on to my 4th set tonight. Time is flying now
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Mikihanna
Junior Member
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posted 10-11-2007 01:07 PM
quote:
Originally posted by BalloonGirl:
Are you able to view your Clincheck? My dentist emailed me mine, and I can see the movement each tray will produce. Each movement (2 weeks) is nearly imperceptible---even several weeks may seem to make little difference. Can you compare your first trays with your current ones? If you set them side by side, is there any difference? Also, when you get a new set, do you feel pressure? And then do they get 'looser' over the 2-week period? If so, then they must be doing the job. My Clincheck shows the most movement on my 'problem' teeth toward the end of treatment. The first weeks and months are spent making room, widening arches, etc--which may be hard to see when you look in the mirror. My treatment is for about 8-9 months also. (17 upper and lower) I'm really new at this though, so maybe some who are done or almost done with treatment can encourage you as well.
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Mikihanna
Junior Member
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posted 10-11-2007 01:10 PM
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Mikihanna:
Clearly I'm new at this...What I am trying to say is that I got my invisalign yesterday and my ortho didn't tell me or show me a "clincheck". I am not sure what this is-can someone fill me in? Also, I went to the Invisalign website and tried to log in using my patient number, but it said invalid number. I was thinking maybe I could view my clincheck on that website. My ortho gave me virtually no instructions so I am glad I found this site!! I am having a little discomfort but nothing remarkable. But I went to a meeting this a.m. and everyone was wondering why I was talking funny. Hopefully that will improve.
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BadBoy
Preferred Member
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posted 10-11-2007 03:38 PM
No you can't view your unique case clinicheck on the invisalign website. You have to ask your doctor to show it to you in his office on his computer. For your particular case, the clinicheck computer program there can be set to show from a variety of angles the animation image of your teeth starting with aligner 1 and moving thru all the aligner stages. Any attachments will show as red dots on the teeth that need them in the computer images.
Your doctor should have reviewed the clinicheck in detail and hopefully shown it to you for final approval prior to ordering the aligners to be manufactured.
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Skimboarder
Junior Member
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posted 10-25-2007 12:22 PM
Trying to see if these forums work now...
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BadBoy
Preferred Member
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posted 10-25-2007 01:17 PM
Looks like they finally fixed the forum here. Posting was not working for almost 2 weeks.
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Skimboarder
Junior Member
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posted 10-25-2007 02:52 PM
I know--I was missing my daily fix. I'm on my third set of trays, and things are going fairly well. I did decide to see a speech therapist to deal with the lisp, and I've already gotten some tips as to how to adjust my voice. I'm seeing my dentist tomorrow for my first check-up!
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jenny
Junior Member
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posted 10-25-2007 03:28 PM
I am meeting my ortho in a couple of weeks to discuss invisalign. I am getting married in May and want to have a better smile. I've hated my teeth my whole life but was too shy to be a "braceface" when I was younger(my logic made sense at the time...crooked buck teeth seemed like the lesser of two evils!)
Anyway I'm still thinking of going with porcelain veneers because i don't know how different they will look from November to May...
It sounds like people don't eat as much...maybe I'll lose that extra few pounds for the wedding too 
Anyway my main question is wether I should just get veneers (if I'm able) or do you think that the ivisilign will make a difference in 6 months? Also I'm a teacher so I have to talk a lot, any other teachers?
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lkw130
Junior Member
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posted 10-25-2007 03:35 PM
Oh man, I just got my trays [just the top, the bottom had to be redone] on the 13th, the day the forums were down! How could they? I've been in such withdrawal!Jenny, I would do whatever is best for your teeth in the long run...and my vote would be for invisalign. Also, I know a lot of people have minor speech issues, but I have had next to none [of course like I said I only have my tops so far].
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Geena
Preferred Member
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posted 10-25-2007 07:15 PM
Jenny -
Veneers require changing the surface of your tooth. If your tooth enamel is in good shape and you want to keep it that way, you really should try orthodontics rather than veneers. Veneers are a quick fix - not particularly a good one for your tooth health. If you're teeth aren't that crooked, a lot of movement could happen in six months with Invisalign or traditional braces!
JMO
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arch712
Preferred Member
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posted 10-25-2007 07:42 PM
Geez this forum was down so long, that I finished my treatment. Just Kidding.. I put in my 5th set today. All is going well.
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chris8796
Preferred Member
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posted 10-26-2007 06:38 AM
I would decouple the decision from the wedding. You'll have to live the next 50 yrs with these teeth, so do it right and explore the options. Invisalign is nice you can take them out for large periods of time for special events. I think within in a month it is second nature to most of us and it wouldn't be a large distraction/problem for the wedding. I think all of would say we wish we started this earlier.Good luck
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lilypad
Preferred Member
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posted 10-26-2007 06:40 AM
Wow! I've had my first problems with Invisaligm. I woke up Sunday to an extremely swollen and reddened gum over my left front tooth, Even had some bleeding which scared the crap out of me. I called the ortho and talked to the tech, she told me to trim the aligner so it wasnt touching the gum. It helped some, then the ortho himself called and said probably due to the fact since im closing a huge gap, the gum has to scar. Still reddened and swollen a bit. Gum has receeded a little, and it hurts.... SCARY.
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