My Invisalign Blog

My Invisalign Braces Experience

After Invisalign.. Clear retainers -Essix Retainers, Vivera or Fixed?

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When I first started Invisalign, the time when I would finally be wearing retainers seemed like such a distant prospect that I barely even allowed myself to give it a second thought. In my imagination, a day when I would have good teeth was a day that I dreamt about, but not one that I ever REALLY thought might come.

My friends, that day is here.

As I mentioned in my last post, my upper teeth have now been happily ensconsed in clear retainers for some time, and I thought those of you still on your journey to get that to that point, might like to see what the different retainers look like.

My orthodontist has chosen Essix retainers for me, and ever one to question his professional judgement, I did a fair amount of research as to what I think the most comfortable and unnoticeable clear retainers are, ready to fight battle if need be.

Essentially there are two main options when it comes to retention following adult braces. The bad news is that either way, you need to wear retainers forever. Not forever, as in, for ten years and then your teeth will grudgingly conform and stay elegantly upright in their new, more attractive positions. Nope, this kind of forever is really the forever kind. The kind of forever where fifty years of wearing retainers, followed by a week long slip up will still mean that your unobliging teeth will start to dance back to the position they were in before you trussed them up in Invisalign.

So, retainers fall into two main camps. Permanent retainers and removable retainers, both of them forever retainers.

When I first did my trawl around the various orthodontists seeking an opinion about my teeth, retention was something that was often mentioned to me. I was shown various pictures of retainers, and the types that different orthodontists preferred, and quickly came to a realisation.

Just as I’m not a fixed braces kind of a gal, I’m really not a fixed retainers kind of a girl either. I suspect that many Invisalign wearers feel the same. So an orthodontist that insisted on fixed retainers was never going to be an orthodontist that I could love, a preference that did influence my choice of ortho from the start.

The fixed retainers that I was shown were mainly along the lines of those shown below and were of a permanent wire connected to the back of the teeth that holds the teeth firmly in place, not allowing them to shift :

Clear Retainers Or Fixed Retainers

Clear Retainers Or Fixed Retainers?

The benefits of these retainers, according to the orthodontists that I saw, are that they are a set and forget kind of a deal. Once they are on, you don’t have to worry about lost or forgotten retainers, and your teeth stay in place as long as the retainer is correctly attached. The downside of such retainers is that they are fiendishly difficult to keep clean, and obviously, they ain’t that pretty when you open your mouth wide.

The good news, for someone as averse to metal in their mouth as I am, is that there is also the option of removable clear retainers, which are worn only at night. These are divided into the type that your orthodontist (or dentist) can make for you, and those that come from Invisalign themselves, known as Vivera. Both look, to all intents and purposes, very similar to an Invisalign aligner.

My orthodontist, when enduring his regular eight weekly grilling of a thousand of my stupid questions, told me that there are two reasons why he doesn’t use Vivera. Firstly, they simply weren’t available here in Australia at the time of asking and very similar ones could be made more cheaply and easily here. (A pretty good reason, I’ll have to concede) Secondly, he says that once you order your Vivera retainers from Invisalign your case is seen as effectively closed. He often has patients who decide not to proceed with a refinement or final tweak and then, several months later, change their minds. Using Vivera would remove from him the option of ordering another refinement free of charge, as they would be treated as a new case, with a correspondingly large new bill.

For those who are certain that their treatment is complete though, Vivera certainly sound like a great option. As long as you keep up your subscription to them you receive a nice shiny new set of clear retainers every three months. These can be made either in the shape of your last set of Invisalign, or, if you weren’t an Invisalign patient or if your teeth have been crowned or filled, can be made from a new molding. This gives you the reassurance that as long as the retainer still fits your retainer isn’t changing shape and that your teeth are actually stable and in the position that they were at the end of your orthodontic treatment. There is an interesting review of an orthodontist wearing Vivera here for those that are interested in this system.

In my case, my orthodontist favours another alternative for clear retainers, an Essix retainer.

Whilst this might look fairly similar to an Invisalign aligner, in truth they feel quite different to wear. Whereas Invisalign seem finely crafted and take in the shape of every tooth and gum line, these seem more like Invisalign would be were they crafted by a five year old. The shape and the general appearance are the same, but the execution looks and feels altogether more clumsy. Peering closely at my clear retainer I can see that it does have the individual shape of my teeth molded into it, but that they are not as distinct as they would be on an Invisalign aligner and cover part of my gum as well as my teeth.

Whereas Invisalign feel that they fit very closely to the teeth, these feel larger and thicker in the mouth. However, that isn’t to say they aren’t comfortable. I would equate the putting in of my retainer each night as similar to putting on a pair of comfy old bed socks. Not the most attractive thing in the world, but comfortable and somehow comforting. Comforting too to know that these retainers can be made cheaply (well, relatively- this is orthodontics after all) and easily by any general dentist in a couple of days so losing them isn’t the issue that losing an Invisalign aligner might be. Also, they are doing a fantastic job of keeping my teeth exactly where they were when I completed my treatment, which has to be a good feature in a retainer.

In reality the right retainers will be down to personal preference, but as someone who loves the fact that Invisalign are removable, and just can’t face the prospect of a metal wire permanently fixed to my teeth, Essix clear retainers are perfect for me.

Which is a good job given the amount of time we’ll be spending together.

Which retainers will you be using or have you worn, and how did you find them?

Tooth Grinding With Invisalign & A little Toothache

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I don’t know what it is with my teeth at the moment, but I must be making my dentist a very rich man….

In the last few weeks I have broken a tooth, and had three bouts of toothache. I’m starting to wonder if tooth grinding with Invisalign is the reason.

Tooth Grinding with Invisalign dentist's chair.

Too much time in the dentist’s chair – Maybe due to tooth grinding with Invisalign?

In the bad old days when I never flossed and was so scared of the dentist that every visit required three days mental preparation, a sleepless night beforehand and the ever present temptation to run for the door and never set foot in a dentist surgery again, I could accept these minor dental inconveniences. An overbite I could fit a finger through? I was used to it. Two fillings minimum per visit? I expected it as a result of my no floss, high sugar lifestyle. These days however, I am a paragon of dental virtue. Not only do I overfloss, I brush fastidiously and.. well, ok, I still guzzle the diet coke… Nonetheless, as someone who now visits her dentist every six months religiously and her Invisalign orthodontist every six weeks, I thought I would be finished with the whole endless fillings thing.

In a funny way, perhaps I am. Three times in the last couple of months I have had dental pain. Once on the lower arch, and twice on the upper. Not just a slight twinge either- the kind of toothache that pulls you from your sleep, fuzzy, confused and irritable at 2am and doesn’t let you rest again the whole night. The kind where you just about function thanks to painkillers, but with one hand on your jaw and your tongue constantly worrying the offending area.

Painkillers for invisalign bracesFortunately for me I’m lucky enough to have medical insurance provided by an employer that means that routine dentistry (although not the big stuff, sadly) is reasonably affordable. So, not only have I been to see my own dentist, but after he failed to find anything wrong I trotted off to get a second opinion from another dentist who, after another examination and x ray agreed; my teeth look fine.

Despite these assurances I’m fairly convinced that my broken tooth (the one my dentist recently fixed) is the cause of the upper pain. Although nothing shows up on x ray, ever since it was fixed it has been VERY sensitive to heat and cold. My dentist’s explanation is that there is a little gum recession around that tooth and that that is probably the cause of the sensitivity. I’m not convinced.

I’m due to see my orthodontist in two weeks so will quiz him as to whether he agrees that this is a gum recession issue or not. I’m hoping that he’ll at least have some answers for me and that he will say that it isn’t anything to do with my Invisalign- the very last thing I want now is any reason to slow down or discontinue my treatment.

The only other explanation that I have, and this one seems plausible- to me at least, is that I am clenching or grinding my teeth at night. Ever since the start of my Invisalign treatment I have noticed that whenever my aligners are in my mouth I constantly reseat them on my teeth. This is particularly the case at the beginning of wearing a new set when they are tight, or at the end of the two weeks wear when they are loose.

I don’t do this gently you understand, no delicate little taps of my teeth for me. Nope, I CLENCH my jaws together hard as if trying to bite through a fine layer of reinforced concrete, sometimes making my jaw ache and even my ear throb with the pressure. I’m not sure what the mental process is that makes me do this, it seems to be a subconscious thing, my brain devilishly working against my best interests when I’m not looking. I can only presume it’s some kind of reaction to having a foreign object in my mouth.

And it’s not all bad- according to a dentist I know, it will actually help my Invisalign to fit better and move my teeth more easily; almost like using “chewies” those small chewable things that some dentists hand out to encourage a better fit of their patients aligners. Nonetheless I need to stop. Tooth pain is not my idea of fun, and whatever is causing it, I want it to stop, NOW, please. My orthodontist claims that tooth grinding with Invisalign isn’t something he’s ever heard of – but I’m convinced Invisalign is the reason.

So, if you have a failsafe method of stopping yourself from clenching, grinding or otherwise doing things with your jaw that cause ridiculous amounts of pain in your teeth please, please, share it with me. I would like to find some way to outwit the subconscious part of my brain that is doing this, before my dentist comes to the inevitable conclusion that my almost weekly visits are not as a result of tooth pain but are the consequence of a secret crush on him…!

Fillings With Invisalign – My Broken Tooth

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There’s a little rigmarole I have gone through with every dentist I have ever visited. After they have completed my numerous fillings (there always seems to be something that needs fixing up in my mouth…) they ask me the dreaded question about “how often I floss.”

In most of my life I pride myself on being a truthful and honest person. I would rather eat my own arm than steal, I never ever lie to my husband (except maybe a teeny, tiny one about the price of my shoes, but that doesn’t count, right?!) and I am generally truthful and honest in everything I do. But somehow, before Invisalign, I was terrified to admit the truth to my dentist, that I rarely, if ever, flossed.

Fillings with Invisalign - a dentist's syringe

Are fillings with Invisalign possible?

So I would cast my eyes down, feigning a quick mental calculation, and come up with a hesitant “once a week, maybe?” whilst he would consider my face with a dubious expression and tell me how I needed to floss every day without fail. I would look concerned and nod my agreement and then go home to continue on my merry path of rarely flossing.

That is, until Invisalign. The moment I started wearing Invisalign, my ticket to a new, improved me, I diligently followed my orthodontist’s instructions to floss, if not every time I ate, then at least two or three times a day. So much so, that my ten year old daughter, in all her tween wit, has dubbed me a “flossing freakazoid”

All of this flossing has had its benefits. Since getting Invisalign I have had the least fillings of any two year period of my life. Namely none. My teeth look whiter and healthier and when my (very happy) dentist puts his camera in my mouth and shows me my teeth up on the screen I can literally see the difference. In fact, last time I saw him he asked me to thank my orthodontist for getting me to do what he had never been able to.

So my failure to floss has been cured, and everyone is happy.

That is until the other night.

There I was, virtuously flossing, smug and safe in the knowledge of my superior oral hygiene, when I felt a small crack and a tug, and felt something on my tongue. Fishing the ‘something’ from my mouth with the tip of my finger I could see not only that it wasn’t a piece of food, but that it was actually, gulp, a piece of my tooth. Not a large piece, more of a small sliver of one of my back molars. Fatter than a fish bone and worryingly black on one side.

One of the best things about Invisalign is that it is uniquely moulded to the shape of your teeth. However, at times, like when you are foolish enough to break a tooth with over-vigorous flossing, that can be a disadvantage too. I was filled with terror that fixing my tooth would mean that my upper aligner would no longer fit. I didn’t know how long it would take to mould and fit a new one and had visions that before it could be done my teeth would happily rearrange themselves.

Could fillings with Invisalign make my teeth go from this:

Mar ’11

to this:

2008 – Before Invisalign

It was Friday night when this happened, and with my husband out of town and my children safe in bed I thought that there was nothing I could do until Monday. Except that by the next morning it hurt.

So it was with a little fear that I walked gingerly into an emergency dental clinic first thing Saturday morning, two children in tow, each of them a little more thrilled than the other at the idea of watching the dentist giving me a “huge” injection in my mouth. I was also, truth be told, more than a little afraid of the cost; crowns aren’t cheap, and I was dreading being given bad news.

So imagine my joy when the dentist told me that although the ‘something’ (which I handed him, carefully wrapped in tissue paper, and secreted inside an Invisalign case) was a piece of my tooth as I feared, he thought he could fix it with a filling and that he hoped he could do it in such a way that my Invisalign would still fit.

Twenty minutes later, face numb and with my mouth vaguely dribbling, it was time to try and refit my upper Invisalign. The dentist offered to do it for me and after 30 seconds of his rubber gloved fingers vainly scurrying around my mouth, pushing and pulling at my aligner he handed it to me in defeat. Vaguely panicked and without a mirror or any sensation in my numbed cheek I immediately and joyfully popped it into my mouth, slotting it into place at the first attempt. Bingo.

So, all is not lost if you need a filling with Invisalign, and to the joy of my dentist, the flossing can continue. Just a little more gently this time….

Invisalign, straight teeth and opposable thumbs

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After two years in Invisalign I can safely say that I thought I was pretty much the world expert in swiftly removing my braces. Not only could I whip them out one handed, I could do it with my eyes shut, upside down and with my left hand tied behind my back… or so I thought.

Not for me one of the Outie Tools (#aff link) rubber gloves, paper towels or any of the other methods that help newcomers struggling with their Invisalign.

The last few days though, I have discovered that there is one tool that I have been using; one that I took entirely for granted and without which, removing your Invisalign is a fraught, tear stained, frustrating, frantic, claustrophobia inducing ordeal.

Ladies and gentlemen… I give you… the opposable thumb….

That sorry mess you see in the picture? That my dear readers is the thumb of my right hand. Sore, infected, inflamed, impossible to bend and therefore entirely useless as an Invisalign removing tool. Thanks to a course of very strong antibiotics it is starting to improve…but it still hurts. A lot.

I’d like to tell you that it was a snake bite, wrestling a crocodile, or some other such adventure that many outside Australia assume form the fabric of our daily lives. Sadly, the truth is somewhat less exotic. My sore thumb is, in reality, a consequence of  ‘a terrible cheese grater incident ‘ Need I say more? Devilishly dangerous things, cheese graters….

I know, I know, I have another thumb. But here’s the thing. It turns out that although I am a fiend at removing my aligners with my right hand, with my left, I am entirely useless. Whatever the little action is that I have so painstakingly perfected with my right hand, I simply can’t do it with the left.

The good news is, however, for those of you that have just started wearing Invisalign, that I can share that the key to quick and easy removal is all in the thumb. I believe, judging by the amount of pain when I try and do it at the moment, that my technique has been based entirely on hooking my right thumbnail under the edge of the aligner and flicking it up before grasping it with my hand and pulling it off.

On a much happier note, my teeth are looking good. I still haven’t had the top crown replaced. Primarily for the want of the (deep breaths) $3500 that the first dentist I found wanted to charge me. For one crown. However, I have now found another dentist whose quote is “only” $1600 and who my orthodontist recommends so I am currently steeling myself to put myself through that. You’ll be the first to know.

As you can probably tell from the pictures below my teeth are still improving, little by little. The gap into which my funky lower tooth will hopefully slide is getting closer and closer to being ready- not long to go now until we can start trying to move it in. After two years I’m so used to my Invisalign that I really don’t notice them any more; the difficulty that I face now is that because my teeth already look good from the front and all the action is at the back, it’s harder to find the motivation to wear them as many hours as I should. The photo of my teeth pre Invisalign, and the fear of going back there helps though. It really helps.

Mar ’11

2008 – Before Invisalign

 

On a final note, I’m sorry that it has been so long since my last post. What with Christmas, and then the huge floods we had in Brisbane in January (my house wasn’t flooded thankfully, although my neighbours weren’t so lucky) as well as the fact that I am currently studying full time as well as doing the usual parenting stuff means that I have been a little overstretched. I have lots to share with you though, so I promise to be far more prolific over the next few months! It’s nice to be back….

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

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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.
Invisalign Compliance - image of teeth

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.