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A Cracked Invisalign Tray…

April 15, 2010 by admin 5 Comments

Disaster strikes!

I don’t know whether it was because of a little over exuberance in removing my latest aligner, brought on by the thrill of being so close to the end of treatment (tray 31/34), or if it was the result of a few too many “adjustments” to my tray with a nail file, but I have managed to crack my #31 Invisalign tray.

Long time readers will remember that there have been a couple of occasions, particularly earlier in my treatment, where I had very slightly cracked one of my Invisalign aligners. Fortunately after a quick consultation with my Orthodontist it was decided that there was no harm done and I could keep wearing them. This time things were just a little more spectacular. Rather than a hairline crack as my previous ones have been, this aligner is split so that one part of it hangs limply from the other like a floppy, broken limb.

At the moment all the focus of my bottom tray is on opening up a gap sufficiently wide to allow my wayward tooth to move into it. This means that each tray shows a big change from the last one and it has been a struggle to get each new aligner in over the teeth that are moving the most. The aligner also has a slim piece of plastic now at this point rather than a tooth hole, and it is here that it cracked.

As it was number 31 that cracked and I am so close to the end of treatment, my immediate hope was that I could put in tray 32, perhaps wear it for a little longer, and still complete treatment as scheduled. My teeth had other ideas.

A cursory examination of set 32 showed that it was significantly different from set 31- so much so that it was hard to believe the change from one to another. So I knew that it would be a struggle- particularly as I had cracked #31 the first time that I wore it. Still, I was determined, and fairly sure I could get the tray in, one way or another.

Set 32- the unbroken aligner!
invisalign aligner set 32

After about 2 frustrating minutes of huffing, puffing, wriggling and generally trying to jam my teeth into set 32 I realised that it wasn’t going to be easy. A closer inspection showed that there was a fundamental problem. One of the movements that set 31 must have been designed to achieve was to rotate the lower tooth next to the gap. Whilst this might have not made much difference if the tooth in question did not have an attachment, with an Invisalign button in place it meant that the bubble on the aligner to fit on the attachment was nowhere near the attachment itself. There was simply no way of fitting the aligner onto my tooth.

To cut a long story and a little telephone tag short, after a rather frantic call on my part, my orthodontist called me back to tell me that he has decided that rather than ordering a new #31 aligner- which could take some time given that we are in Australia- he will simply do a refinement to get my teeth to where we want them to be. We are so close to almost finishing this run, and he already knew that refinements would be necessary, that he has decided on balance that this is the best course. This will also allow him to look at the problem of widening both my arches further and so will hopefully solve two issues in one fell swoop.

The only delay now is that I need to wait for my orthodontist to have a long appointment free so that he can take more impressions of my teeth as they are now. He doesn’t have any for two weeks which means that in the meantime I need to wear set #30 lower for 22 hours a day and set #9 upper of my refinements as a retainer at night. This is fine, other than that sometimes it is hard to remember to put the lower one back in after eating, without the upper one needed too.

Nonetheless, I am happy to say that after my initial angst I am not too concerned about this temporary hiccup. I think it may turn out not to delay my treatment too much in the end, and might actually move me towards getting my upper arch perfect more quickly. No doubt it is all part of life’s rich Invisalign journey! Onwards and upwards..

Filed Under: Invisalign crack, Uncategorized Tagged With: adult braces, clear braces, invisalign braces, Invisalign crack, invisalign dentist, Invisalign orthodontist, invisible braces, orthodontist

Invisalign Headache & A Quick Update On The Invisalign Crack

March 12, 2009 by admin 7 Comments

Thanks to everyone for all your recent comments, it is great to see that people are actually reading this.

As I wrote in my last post I have a small crack in tray number 6, but had decided to ignore it. To cut a long story short, this morning I gave in to my conscience and called the orthodontist. I am paying so much that I really don’t want to compromise this process.
Invisalign Headache

Invisalign Headache

The good news is that he said that as long as the tray is still wearable and hasn’t completely broken I can just wear it. I think this is probably because I am in Australia, and all my trays are sent from the Invisalign production factory in the US. Consequently if we waited for a new one it might take weeks to arrive. I’m not sure the advice would be the same if I were a patient in the US, for example.
Anyway, I am happy to wear it, I feel that it is still doing it’s job as there is significant pressure on the teeth in question and the crack is very small. If it breaks I have to call him again. So, for the next 2 weeks I will be removing that tray very gingerly. I feel better however just for having called.
As an aside, 48 hours in, the trays are still very tight- so much so that I have had a mild headache for the last 2 days. I have noticed this Invisalign headache several times. It seems that when the trays are tight they give me a headache, particularly on the first day. The painkillers help, but I think it’s similar to when you clench your jaw and give yourself a tension headache, the Invisalign replicates that by putting pressure on your jaw. The aligners are gradually loosening, but still feel significantly tighter than other trays have at this point. Hopefully that means my teeth are really working hard this set and will soon be nicely aligned and straight.

Filed Under: Invisalign crack, Invisalign headache, Invisalign updates Tagged With: adult braces, aligners, australia, invisalign, invisalign braces, Invisalign crack, invisalign dentist, invisalign pressure, orthodontist

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Ex model, mother, English & Australian. 2 daughters, 1 dog, 2 cats, 2 rabbits, a horribly expensive beauty habit and an obsession with straight teeth.

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