My Invisalign Blog

My Invisalign Braces Experience

An Invisalign Braces Update- More Invisalign Before and After Pictures..

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Those of you who are long time readers will know that my top teeth are finished…kind of. I am wearing a retainer only at night these days on my upper arch, waiting until my bottom teeth are finished. At that point we will tweak anything on the top that needs it at the same time as we do any tweaks or refinements on the bottom arch. I have also decided to wait until all of the bottom teeth are finished before I get my upper crown sorted. This is partly due to financial constraints (nearly $2,000 for a new crown means I want it done only once) and partly me putting it off because I’m terrified! If you don’t know my full crown saga, suffice to say it is the ugly yellow looking tooth, right next to my top front teeth. The scariest thing is that before I whitened my teeth earlier in my Invisalign treatment it matched my other teeth perfectly!

For my bottom arch I am now on aligner #2,734. I kid, but it sometimes feels like it… In reality I am now on #21 of my 54 lower Invisalign refinements. There were also 34 in my original run that I wore before I started on these refinements. That means of the 88 lower aligners that make up my treatment in total, I am on #55… unless I lost count. Whichever way you look at it, that’s a LOT of Invisalign. (Although I should point out here for new readers that my teeth were essentially a jumble sale before I started Invisalign. A misaligned, misshapen, discoloured mess of a mouth…)

Take a look for yourselves at the differences….

My teeth don’t actually change that much visually these days, all the action is at the back where we are opening up a gap for a tooth to move into. My orthodontist warned me from the start that this would take a long time, and he was right. Looking back at where I started from though I think that every one of those 55 aligners has been worth it…

Invisalign Before and After Pictures – after 21 aligners:

Invisalign Before and After pictures

Invisalign Before and After Pictures – Before Invisalign

Invisalign Before and After Pictures

Invisalign Before and After Pictures – Teeth July 2011

Invisalign Before and After Pictures - Overjet before Invisalign

Invisalign Before and After Pictures – Overjet before Invisalign

Invisalign Before and After Pictures

Invisalign Before and After Pictures – Overjet July 2011

 

Incidentally, apologies for the colour on these photos. You’ll have to take my word for it that my teeth really aren’t that yellow in reality. Honestly!

How many Invisalign do you have? Can anyone beat my record of 88?

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….

Invisalign Braces Update: A Big Reveal….

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Hi there again,

I’m not sure whether it’s been vanity or just a general unease at revealing too much of myself, but I haven’t really posted many pictures on this blog of how my teeth look now in the context of my whole face. Hopefully this post will remedy that!

You’ll have to believe me when I tell you that I selected this first picture very carefully- in reality I am far more wrinkly than you can see here! This picture was taken whilst out and about so I am actually wearing my Invisalign braces although you can’t see them in the picture…

after Invisalign july 2010

This second picture (much more wrinkly- yuck!) shows my teeth in profile and how they are now lining up quite nicely. As you can see I no longer look nearly as “goofy” as I did before Invisalign.
bec teeth 1

Just to give a little contrast, this is a picture of me full face, before Invisalign. If you look closely you can see how my front teeth stick forward…. It’s no wonder this is my only wedding photo where you can see my teeth!
wedding pic

And of course, just to remind me why I started this whole thing… Here are my teeth in all their close up glory just before I started Invisalign….
before invislalign teeth2

As I’ve said before, when I see my teeth as they were then I am only amazed that I ever left the house at all!

Invisalign Refinements- Is This A New World Record?!

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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

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Invisalign price issues

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?

Invisalign price differences

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!