Compliance, Compliance, Compliance. Why Invisalign Compliance Is Key!

November 15, 2010 by admin 14 Comments

After all of the turmoil from losing my Invisalign when on holiday I was absolutely terrified about going to see my orthodontist. Not because he is particularly fearsome or because I thought he would lecture me- he’s a pretty laid back kind of guy fortunately, but because I thought he would tell me that I had done irreparable damage to my treatment.

The good news is that after a quick five minute check around my mouth he told me that actually, everything is perfectly on track!… Now, the thing is, don’t try this at home kids. That title you just read? It isn’t me nagging you. It’s me nagging myself. The only thing that stands between you and great teeth if you have Invisalign is compliance, and whilst I have generally been reasonably compliant with the need to wear my braces 22 hours a day, the holiday episode was not good. Not good at all. So don’t take my lack of Invisalign compliance as a sign it won’t hurt your teeth to wear them a bit less either.

So, in the interests of doing the right thing I would like to point out here that losing your Invisalign braces and having to skip two aligners isn’t just stupid, it’s really really stupid. I could easily have messed up much of the good work that has so far been done with my teeth. Invisalign compliance is everything and the difference between and average and great result with Invisalign braces. According to my orthodontist I am very fortunate not to have caused myself a lot more problems and put my treatment back by months. I think what saved me is that fact that although I skipped directly from set 5 to set 8 on my lower teeth, I actually wore set 8 full time for over a month whilst on holiday, only whipping them out occasionally to overindulge in red wine and other holiday extravagances. That month of enforced wear without being able to change my aligner seems to be what really gave my teeth time to settle down into their shiny, new, much shifted positions. Nonetheless, don’t do it!

As for my upper arch, regular readers may remember that I had just finished treatment on my upper teeth and was wearing my upper 6 aligner (before I lost it…) as a retainer. Having moved back to aligner number 5 as a substitute to the lost number 6 my orthodontist says that there is little point in re-ordering #6. Apparently, the movement from one aligner will be only 0.1mm whereas the cost to replace the lost tray will be the rather grand sum of $150. I’m trusting his judgement on this one and as far as I can tell my teeth still look as good as they did….

At this point I am free to get my crown done and finish my upper teeth. Having spent so much time and effort getting to this point I really want to find the best dentist possible to complete my smile, so I have been on the hunt for a great cosmetic dentist to do the job. If you know of one in Brisbane, Australia please let me know via the comments form. I am looking for someone that can make natural looking crowns that will match my other teeth perfectly, who will reshape my gum to make my gumline more symmetrical and someone that will put up with my endless questions and abject terror. Not much to ask is it?

Meanwhile, whilst I hunt for the right dentist I am planning to use nitewhite again now that my upper attachments have been taken off. I want my teeth to be as white as possible before I get the crown as once it’s in place I can’t whiten again or my teeth won’t match.

Invisalign complaince - picture of Anthony wiggle with over-White teeth

Invisalign compliance won’t make your teeth look like these, luckily!

Longtime readers will remember that I whitened my teeth very successfully at the start of my treatment, but after almost two years they are looking a little yellow again and really need a touch up. ( I was naive enough to think that whitening was permanent, but apparently not) Whitening is so addictive that I’m hoping I won’t be tempted to overdo it and end up looking like Anthony Wiggle!

(Apologies to those of you without children- suffice to say he’s a toddler superstar with highly over bleached, glow in the dark teeth)

I’ll leave you with a picture of my teeth as they are today. Hopefully this is the last time they will be photographed with the ugly crown to the left of my front upper teeth still in place. Despite how terrified I am about the process of renewing it I am really looking forward to seeing how my teeth look with a new, natural looking crown.

Anyway, thanks for reading, and thank you to everyone that leaves me such encouraging comments. It really does help to have all the comments and advice from everyone else going through the same process.

Top Ten Tips For How To Remove Invisalign Braces

June 29, 2010 by admin 71 Comments

Need help on how to remove Invisalign braces? Read on:

I used to have beautiful fingernails before I started wearing Invisalign. They weren’t long and glamorous exactly, but they were long enough, healthy enough and manicured enough to look feminine and as if I at least took a little care of myself.

No more. Since I transferred back to full time wear of Invisalign removing my Invisalign braces has transformed my previously healthy looking nails into broken, torn, ragged shadows of their former selves. It ain’t pretty.

I must confess that over the last week things have become easier, but my first week back in full time aligners reminded me just how difficult it can be to remove aligners at the beginning of Invisalign. I remember the claustrophobic feeling of terror as I clawed at my mouth in a restaurant bathroom the very first week I ever wore them.

Fortunately, having been through all of this before I know that in a couple of weeks removing these things will be as easy as taking off a T shirt, so there isn’t quite the same level of fear this time around. However, I thought it might be helpful to new users to compile a list of tips for how to remove Invisalign. Please, please feel free to add more tips via the comments form. Alternatively, if you think I’ve got them wrong, please set me straight!

How To Remove Invisalign Braces – Top Tips:

Make sure your mouth is warm.
Make Sure Your Mouth Is Warm

Trying to remove Invisalign after a very cold drink is harder. Don’t ask me why, but it’s true! Somehow the plastic feels less pliable. It also helps if your fingers and the inside of your mouth are drier. If possible, open your mouth for a few seconds before attempting to remove them. Yes you’ll look odd, but it’s worth it. (Don’t drink a warm drink with your aligners in to help though- it can distort them.)
Start at the back.
Start at the back and work forward

Lift the aligners off the molars on each side first, then gradually work towards the front. Alternatively some people find that it is easier to work from one side of the mouth to the other. The wonkier the tooth, the harder that section of Invisalign are to remove. Start by lifting off the easier bits and get to those bits last. The same is true of areas with a lot of attachments. Tackle those bits last. In those areas hook your fingernails under the edge of the aligner and lift it up and over the attachment or difficult area.
Try a paper towel.
How To Remove Invisalign – Tip 3 Try A Paper Towel

Lots of people find that thick paper towels increase the grip on the aligner. Taking either a paper towel or a piece of kitchen paper in your hand place it over the tooth, grasp the aligner firmly and pull off the molars. Do this also for the opposite side and finally the front section. Replace the towel as it gets damp. The increase in grip can sometimes make a huge difference.
Try surgical gloves.
Image wikimedia

Many Invisalign patients report that surgical gloves work the same way as paper towels to increase grip on aligners. Many dental assistants also swear by them apparently. In this case the thick rubber gloves that you use for cleaning your house won’t do the trick (urgh!) what you need is the very fine type that you buy in boxes of 50 or 100. These allow you to feel what you are doing, but still increase grip.
Use an aligner hook.
An Aligner Hook

Some lucky patients get these given to them by their Invisalign provider for removing Invisalign braces. However they are also available on Amazon here and here. Looking similar to a crochet hook but designed specifically for removing clear braces they hook under the edge of the aligner and lift it away from the tooth. They are especially helpful for people with attachments when they are first fitted.
Another implement:
Not authorised by Invisalign!

Before I even get started in this one I would like to point out that it is certainly not Invisalign approved and might well result in damage to your aligners. Other Invisalign users have however reported success with other implements such as crochet hooks and even the edge of a pair of tweezers. Bearing in mind that your Invisalign are expensive I would personally probably skip this method, but each to their own.
Give it time:
Wait Before Trying To Remove Invisalign

One thing that people tell you constantly when you first get Invisalign is that removing Invisalign braces gets easier with time. Of course, when people told me this I used to secretly believe that I would be the one exception to this and my aligners would be difficult to remove forever. Of course, what I soon realised is that quite literally every hour counts. If you try to remove your new aligners very soon after they are inserted for the first time it will be very difficult. Waiting even an additional hour could make it much easier. If you are ravenous and desperate to eat I can understand that you may be cursing me on reading this tip, but if there is any way that you can, stopping and waiting a while could make your aligners much easier to remove.
Change aligners in the evening:
Change aligners last thing at night

Similar to tip 7 for how to remove Invisalign, inserting your new aligners at night has two benefits. Firstly it means that you get to sleep through the stage when they feel tightest and most uncomfortable. Secondly, by morning your teeth will already have shifted and the aligners will therefore be easier to move. Popping them in last thing at night, accompanied by a mild painkiller is probably the way to go if you think they will cause you trouble.
Speak to your orthodontist:
Speak to your orthodontist or dentist

Some orthodontists don’t put on the attachments until the third aligner. This allows you four weeks of perfecting your removal technique before the attachments are fitted. Once they go on it does become a lot harder, so this period of practice can be really helpful. Also, when your attachments go on ask whether you can wear the template for a day or two to get used to removing it before changing to the proper aligners. The template is softer and much, much easier to remove than a normal aligner. Also, I thought that it shifted the teeth a tiny bit too, so that also helps to make it easier when it comes to time to remove the actual aligners.
Relax:
It’s easier if you relax!

Remembering my first day in Invisalign I know that relaxing was a long way down a very long list of things that I wanted to do; a list that started with ‘Get these aligners out of my mouth and never, ever put them in again’. The truth is though that the feelings of panic and claustrophobia make the aligners much, much harder to remove. Taking a deep breath and trying to relax, even giving up and taking ten minutes before starting again can be the difference between success and failure.

Hopefully these tips will be helpful to someone else having difficulty removing Invisalign braces. As I said above if you have any other tips on how to remove Invisalign please feel free to share them via the comments section and I’ll update this page as and when necessary- thanks.

The Invisalign Diet

June 16, 2010 by admin 6 Comments

Here’s the thing. I loved my time of wearing Invisalign only at night. Loved it. I didn’t miss them one bit in the day, and would trot happily from my computer to the cookie jar and back without a single thought about brushing or flossing or flouride mouthwashes.

The only problem was that I got just a little too friendly with the cookie jar. Whilst in my last post I called this extra weight that I’m currently humping around my “Christmas weight” the truth is that I started putting a bit extra on at Christmas and then piled a WHOLE lot more on during my break from Invisalign. Nine pounds extra to be exact, and a nine pounds that I need to lose if I want to get my jeans back on before winter is over. (Australian winter is June, July and August)

The good news is that now I am back in invisalign and on the Invisalign diet that that entails I have a feeling that that weight will come off reasonably quickly. The bad news is that the reason I think that is because I am starving. There hasn’t been a moment in the last week since I got these new trays that I haven’t been sat at my desk, watching the clock and counting the hours until my next meal.

The Invisalign Diet!

There was a point last year when my mum came over to visit from the UK and I remember her declaring that I looked thin and that I had lost loads of weight. At the time I thought it was because of some medication I had been taking for my crohns disease, it didn’t occur to me until I stopped wearing the Invisalign that it was my braces that were keeping my weight down.

In past years I have tried Atkins, CSIRO, low GI; you name a diet, I’ve tried it. What I hadn’t tried before last year was the Invisalign diet. The funny thing is, that long term it’s turned out to be the most effective one of all of them. (Until you stop wearing them and make friends with the cookie jar!)

In three months my brother is getting married in the UK and every relative and friend that I have known since childhood will be there. Vain though it is, I would really like it if I could be both slim(ish) and have great teeth for that day. Let’s hope Invisalign can deliver on both fronts!

Other than the near starvation, the aligners aren’t giving me too many problems. The lower ones are very hard to get in and out because of the area with the gap and the wonky tooth. (see pic below) I am terrified of breaking my trays again so I now have to remove the lower ones very gingerly. I was contemplating an aligner hook, but as they aren’t readily available in Australia I’m not sure whether it is worth actually importing one all the way from the US. My fingernails are capable of doing the job, it just takes a little while.

Other than that everything is going well. I keep forgetting to take my little washbag with toothbrush, paste and case out with me, but that just means I can’t eat whilst I’m out so is almost certainly a good thing.

I also keep forgetting to put them back in quickly enough after eating- something I need to improve upon if I am to keep up the 22 hours a day wear. I expected difficulties with Invisalign – all of the cleaning and brushing and having to remove them to eat. Whilst all of those have actually turned out to be easier than anticipated it is the compliance that has been the hardest thing. For people thinking about Invisalign that is probably the thing that you should consider. I would never be put off by fear of pain or how they look- I haven’t found these things to be issues at all. I would, however, say to think very carefully before getting Invisalign if you don’t trust yourself to wear them properly, because although that isn’t such a problem at the beginning, it gets harder and harder to discipline yourself as time goes on. As the potential world record holder for the most aligners ever that is something I am really struggling with.

Still, the Invisalign Diet-it’s worth it for great teeth and a skinny butt, right?!

Invisalign Refinements- Is This A New World Record?!

June 8, 2010 by admin 9 Comments

My eldest daughter, being something of a geek like her mother, has a copy of the Guinness Book Of Records that she likes to leaf through every now and then. Nothing gives her more joy than the knowledge of who can eat the most doughnuts in two minutes, or which is the largest island in the world (Greenland, incidentally.) So, imagine how thrilled she will be next year when she sees my new entry as the person with the most Invisalign aligners EVER!

Longtime readers will know that my first run of Invisalign were 17 Uppers and 34 Lowers, which I breezed through with very little actual trouble despite my frequent whining. The last few weeks I have been patiently awaiting the arrival of my refinements, enjoying the newfound freedom to snack myself out of being able to do up my favourite jeans.

Whilst my upper teeth are almost perfectly straight now and just need a couple of tiny tweaks with these refinements, my lower teeth still have a long, long way to go. In particular there is one tooth that is growing across the bottom of my mouth that I have always known will be a problem to move. My orthodontist reminded me again today that there are no guarantees that it will move at all, it may in fact be somehow fused to the bone which could be the reason that it proved impossible to remove when my dentist tried to pull it out. I have a good feeling about it though. Call me an optimist, or feel free to call me a fool if you prefer, but I think it will move with the Invisalign. I have included a picture of it below in all its revolting glory. The squeamish amongst you should look away now.

At the beginning of my treatment my orthodontist explained to me that the plan for my teeth is that we should open up a gap in the bottom row to make room for my stray tooth with the first run of aligners, then with a set of refinements (another series of aligners), or if necessary some metal braces, pull it up into the gap.

Having completed my first run of 34 lower aligners to open the gap I thought that I would have a similar number or slightly less aligners to pull the wayward tooth into line. I imagined that the hard bit was over, and from here on it it would just be a case of gently nudging the stray tooth into its shiny new space.

Lord, was I wrong.

Not only do I have more aligners than on the first run, I have 54 new lower aligners, something that my orthodontist tells me is a new record, for his practice at least! Adding those to my original 34 means that my lower teeth will take 88 Invisalign aligners in total- presuming I don’t need another refinement!!

At this point, just for the new readers amongst you I would like to make one thing clear. I have an extremely complex Invisalign case. I knew that from the outset; my orthodontist made it very clear from the beginning of my Invisalign treatment that my case wouldn’t be easy and that if it all worked as he hoped that he would write a paper on it for the Invisalign medical journals. By contrast I believe the average Invisalign case takes a year or less, some people with very simple cases taking well under six months. To give this thing perspective I was quoted 2-3 years in metal braces by other orthodontists that I saw, which probably means that my Invisalign will work out to about the same timeframe when all is said and done. So please, don’t let the length of my Invisalign treatment put you off, if anything I think my teeth just go to show how much can be achieved with Invisalign even in such complex cases.

Of course, as with anything there is good news and bad news here. The great news is that my top teeth need only 6 more aligners and I’m pretty certain given where we now are that they will be pretty perfect at the end of that time. Realistically, these teeth are all I care about. In six aligners time (or less than three months) I will have great teeth to all intents and purposes, as the things going on with my lower teeth are things that aren’t actually visible and will not have much impact on how good or otherwise my teeth look to the casual observer. Below is a picture of my upper teeth before Invisalign in Dec 2008(on the left) and as they are now before my second refinements June 2010 (on the right). After these six aligners I will also change the ugly discoloured crown that you can see on the left next to my upper front teeth. I think at the moment that crown is actually one of the things preventing my upper teeth from looking as good as they can do, changing it for a new, whiter better fitting one should make a huge difference.

Fortunately I can say in all truthfulness that the number of extra aligners really doesn’t bother me too much. My orthodontist told me not to even ask how many more I have so fearful was he of my reaction. Still, there was a definite look of relief that washed over his face when I burst into peals of laughter as I peered intently at the little plastic bags that hold your Invisalign and tell you how many aligners are included in your treatment. The truth is I would much rather wear Invisalign for a bit longer and get a good result than wear them for less time and the final result not be so good. Of course, the bad news for my orthodontist is that he now has to put up with me for a lot longer, so maybe it wasn’t relief washing over his face after all!

After six more aligners I will have to wear only the bottom trays anyway, which as far as I am concerned are almost completely invisible. As I have said before wearing only lower aligners is really not very different than wearing no aligners. I tend to forget that I have them rather than be bothered by them.

One thing that I have realised however is that with a run of 54 aligners I will have to be fastidious about wearing them 22 hours a day if I want to keep them fitting perfectly right up until the end. I have struggled in the past to be as diligent as I should be as those of you that have read my post about a typical day with Invisalign are probably aware. This has meant that occasionally there have been tiny gaps between my aligners and my teeth -although fortunately they have never been enough to worry about or to impact on my treatment. My new resolution therefore is that not only will I wear them 22 hours a day I will no longer pop them in and out of my mouth all day to feast on diet coke and mini muffins as I have been wont to do in the past.. That way I not only will I have great teeth but I might also finally lose the “Christmas weight” that I have been carrying around for the last six months! Perfect teeth and perfectly fitting jeans? My husband might not recognise me!

Incidentally, if you actually have more aligners than me please let me know via the comments form. You can get to it by clicking on the the little black speech bubble at the top of this entry that tells you how many comments there are. I would love to know who the person with the ACTUAL record for the most aligners is. Is can’t really be me, can it?

Understanding Invisalign Price & Cost Issues

June 7, 2010 by admin 4 Comments

The doctor with the cheapest Invisalign Price is not always the best one for you

Woohoo! After 15 months I have finally finished paying off my Invisalign. Whilst the Invisalign have been almost completely pain free the bills have not been, so I am more than happy to see the back of them. Having said that I can tell you quite categorically that it has been worth every single cent I’ve paid -and I haven’t even seen the final result yet! However I get a lot of questions about the Invisalign price I paid, so I’ll attempt to answer them here.

The Invisalign Price I Paid

I have mentioned before that my Invisalign cost $6100, plus $200 for the taking of records and impressions. That amounts to approximately $5300 US or 3600 British Pounds at today’s conversion rates. I paid $1500 at the time of the first impressions, $1550 at the first fitting and then made 15 monthly payments of $220. I did however get around $2000 back from MBF, my health fund here in Australia. Still, even with that refund the bills HURT.

I didn’t choose the cheapest Invisalign orthodontist that I saw. That isn’t because I am too rich for the cost to bother me; with two children, two cats and a husband with a penchant for expensive gadgets, FAR from it in fact. It was just that when I was paying so much already I sure as hell didn’t want to have to pay it twice. Also, I am a perfectionist. So although I told my orthodontist that I was happy for my teeth to be better without being absolutely perfect, I really wanted them to be as perfect as they could be.

Why The Cheapest Invisalign Price Isn’t Necessarily The Best

Given that Invisalign are expensive – and I know that I have written about some of this before, long time readers might want to skip the rest of this post!- I just wanted to say a few things about the costs of Invisalign for those that have not yet chosen their orthodontist or dentist. When you are considering spending several thousand dollars you want to get the best deal possible. Nobody wants to spend more than they have to – let’s be honest, most of us will be sacrificing a lot to be able to afford braces. However, as I have repeated several times on this blog, if there is any way you can avoid it please don’t choose your Invisalign provider just based on their Invisalign price.

Some people getting Invisalign will have only very simple cases. For them, it may not matter whether they look for their provider based on price alone. For anybody with a more complex orthodontic problem like myself, choosing the right provider could be vital. It can honestly mean the difference between good teeth and great teeth. Given that whichever orthodontist you choose will be rearranging your teeth, filling your mouth with moulding gunk, and even possibly filing away parts of teeth occasionally, it’s important to choose the right person for the job.

Having said that cost is something that most of us can’t afford to ignore altogether, so I thought I would run through the things that influence how much your Invisalign are likely to cost.

What Influences the Invisalign Price Your Orthodontist Charges?

Your Invisalign price may be different if your dentist uses Invisalign Express or Invisalign Teen

The first thing that determines the Invisalign price is which Invisalign system your orthodontist uses. Invisalign Express is a system of Invisalign used for only the simplest Invisalign cases. Generally Invisalign Express cases take less than 10 aligners and are for minor spacing issues. Full Invisalign is used for cases other than the very simplest cases where more aligners, more complex movements and possible refinements are required. Invisalign Teen is an Invisalign system aimed at teens who may still have erupting teeth or who may have issues with Invisalign compliance.

Where you live will also have an impact on the cost of your Invisalign. In areas where the dentist or orthodontist will have higher staff and rent costs the Invisalign price will obviously be more. Also, in areas where there are not many Invisalign providers there is likely to be less price competition and therefore more expensive Invisalign.

Another factor is whether you choose an Invisalign dentist or Orthodontist. Orthodontists in most countries are more specialised in tooth movement than general dentists, often having completed several more years of training at university than general dentists. This means that orthodontists sometimes (but not always) charge more for Invisalign.

Invisalign dentists and orthodontists sometimes also vary their Invisalign prices according to their Invisalign experience. Some providers offer a lower Invisalign price when they first start out with Invisalign, increasing their prices when they become highly experienced. This isn’t always the case though- please don’t take higher prices as a definite indicator of more experience. If you need to know which are the most experienced Invisalign providers where you live, the Invisalign website for your country has more information.

Check What The Invisalign Price Includes

You should check what your Invisalign costs include. Find out whether the cost that you are quoted includes everything- including any refinements that you might need if you are not happy with your teeth after the first run of aligners. My orthodontist offers three runs of refinements, but some providers offer less than three included in the price. Some providers also offer whitening and other extras whilst others charge for it. Make sure you know exactly what you are paying for and exactly what extra costs could crop up during treatment.

Get Several Quotes

Finally, I would suggest seeing several Invisalign doctors to get quotes and opinions before choosing who to go with. In my experience they can have very different ideas as to what to do with your teeth and how complex and costly the treatment needs to be. You will also get a feel for their personality and whether they are somebody that you would feel comfortable talking to and asking questions of during your treatment. Also, check with any orthodontist or dentist that you choose that they have completed cases like yours before and ask to see before and after pictures too if they have them.

If you are concerned about whether the quotes you have are reasonable for your area of the world have a look at the realself website. It shows the prices paid by people all over the world, often with reviews of their doctors too. I found this site invaluable whilst looking for my Invisalign orthodontist.

In the meantime, I am off to enjoy my final few days of night time only braces wear. My new aligners are due in this week at which point I will be back to 22 hours a day wear. I’ll post an update and some pictures when I get them…but for now I’m off for a leisurely coffee and some very sticky chocolate cake whilst I still can!

My Invisalign Blog

My Invisalign Braces Experience

Compliance, Compliance, Compliance. Why Invisalign Compliance Is Key!

Top Ten Tips For How To Remove Invisalign Braces

The Invisalign Diet