troubles...

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#1 Post by **chrisd** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 3:22 pm

so i went to see a different ortho today. he does both invisalign and
traditional. i am not happy with what is going on with my lower arch.
he felt that i was not a great candidate for invisalign in the first
place, despite my teeth being relativelly straight from braces as a teenager.... WHAT!!!!!?
i am very happy with the result on my uppers. on
my last aligner for tops. he feels that at this point the only way he
is going to get my bottom arch, and bite, correct is to do braces.
that is top and bottom!!!
i had talked to my current ortho and he kind of blew my concerns
off. the ortho i saw today said he has a reputation for that kind of
thing, even though he is the most experienced invisalign provider in
the area. please help. any comments would be helpful.
i initially just wanted to correct a front tooth that was abutting
up against a top incisor. now i have a mess
chris

#2 Post by **invisagirl** » Thu Sep 01, 2005 12:59 pm

Hi Chris,

I'm sorry to hear about your troubles and conflicting opinions!!! Do you think the second ortho was putting the first one down unprofessionally? After all hindsight is 20-20. One of the consults I had when I was thinking of leaving kind-of went on and on about how awful my first ortho was and that turned me completely off. Also that orthos treatment plan was really extreme (pulling teeth and such).

I guess you have to ask yourself if you would be o.k. if you stopped treatment today or do you really want as close to a perfect result as possible. If your bite doesn't concern you or bother you now (your able to chew w/o problems and such) then maybe tell your current ortho that you don't want to work on the bottoms anymore and just finish the top. I would recommend sitting down with the current ortho and trying to work things out. After all you do get one free revision with Invisalign and it doesn't sound like Invisalign isn't working for you anymore (just the course of treatment wasn't agreed upon). Most of us who made the switch got to the point that Invisalign was just not able to complete what it started.

As for ortho fees (cause I remember you asked about that) I do have a happier ending to my story. I confronted the ortho about the lack of refund and they are now making the situation right. I'll receive a refund that is more inline to how much treatment I had left to complete in Invisalign.

If you have anymore questions or just need to talk, we're here for you!

#3 Post by **chrisd** » Thu Sep 01, 2005 3:16 pm

actually i really liked the second ortho. he is actually much more personable. he did not put down the other ortho, except to agree with me when i commented he was confrontational when i brought this all up. apperently he has a reputation for that. my general dentist confirmed that yesterday!
the new orhto simply felt that that my current ortho was chasing a cosmetic result (that he desired, i might add) without addressing the bite problems, and perhaps at the cost of making the bite a bit worse.
my lower fronts contact my the back uf my upper fronts, which has caused me to either hold my jaw to the side, or keep it open a bit.
my dentist and the new ortho feel that if the bite is not corrected or gets worse i will develop tmj problems. and everyone involved agrees that invisalign is not able to correct my bite problems.
so while i want a good cosmetic result, i want a healthy bite too. chasing perfection i guess. lol!! i think the only way i am going to get that is with braces.
and to be honest i am so turned off by the way that my current ortho handled himself i think i would prefer to leave even if he were receptive to all my concerns.
thinks for all of your advice, i really appreciate it
chris

#4 Post by **invisagirl** » Fri Sep 02, 2005 10:21 am

Boy Chris - Your situation reminds me so much of what I went through. In the end I didn't trust my first ortho enough even if he was willing to right the situation himself. I think in those situations its just best to leave their practice and start over with someone you can trust. Good Luck!!

#5 Post by **chrisd** » Fri Sep 02, 2005 4:07 pm

thanks for the advice and encouragment invisagirl. switch in progress, braces in my future;-) i am actually kind of excited about it
chris

#6 Post by **invisagirl** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 5:03 pm

That's great Chris!!

#7 Post by **chrisd** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 5:52 pm

how has it been adjusting to braces. do you have tops and bottoms? any elastics? what exactaly are they corecting? what has been the response to them? i am a new doctor doing my residency. i look pretty young to start with. i worry people will think i am doogie howser. lol
chris

#8 Post by **invisagirl** » Sun Sep 04, 2005 8:49 am

Hi Chris,

I currently only have braces on the top but the bottom will get braced in the next month or so.

I was really hoping the bottom wouldn't get braced till almost the end but no such luck. Because my bottom teeth are pretty much as perfect as there going to get, I have to be in a rectangular wire on the bottom before they start using elastics because otherwise I guess bad things could happen to my lower teeth. I understand the reasoning and that they have to work up to a rectangular wire but its still a bummer. So from what I understand elastics are definetly in my future to correct my bite but I asked my ortho and none of the bands will be in the front of my mouth, only on the sides.

As for the transition from Invisalign to braces I have to admit I had more pain/pressure with Invisalign (which was almost nothing). I even have powerchains and I have less discomfort than with Invisalign. The one thing that increased was the soreness I got in my cheeks from the buccal bands and my tongue got pretty sore eating due to the cleats. I used wax at night a few nights the first week and now I'm doing relatively fine (I cut up my tongue yesterday but it was my own fault. Sour candy is a bad idea when your mouth is still healing). I've had no lisping with braces, which I did experience the first day with Invisalign.

As for the response its been almost nothing. I told people I worked with what was going on so other than the first day they haven't said anything. Other people I know that knew I was doing Invisalign ask what happened but once they know they don't say anything more other than to sympathize. I've only had one person that was like "OH MY WORD WHEN DID YOU GET BRACES?" which was pretty funny. I had my 10 yr high school reunion last night and I thought people would mention it but no one did. The only bad thing was some people were going around and taking pictures and I didn't smile like I used to cause I don't want people to be remembering my braces for the next 10 yrs! I guess its a bigger deal to me than everyone else.

I look younger than my age too and I'm sure I look even younger now but I used to get carded if I went to a bar or bought alcohol so that's not going to change. I figure if people in stores think I'm an 18 yr old it's no big deal. I work with military folks a lot and I'd always have to prove myself before cause I look young so that really won't change either. I guess when you look young to begin with your used to getting mistaken for a high schooler so things don't change with braces.

I'm in braces to finish what the rest of my aligners would of done which was to bring my canine teeth into the dental arch (their almost there) and to fix my bite (which got wacky with Invisalign). Before Invisalign all my molars made contact with each other but after Invisalign only my 2nd molars and my pre-molars meet. Also because of the molar sitaution my lower teeth are experiencing more force on them and they now want to move. The goal of my treatment (besides fixing the canine situation) is to get my bite into a better alignment so more teeth meet when I chew and to get it to a place where my teeth will actually harden in there place so that I'll only have to wear a retainer once or twice a week unlike every night had I finished with Invisalign.

If you have any more questions feel free to ask!!!

#9 Post by **chrisd** » Sun Sep 04, 2005 9:32 am

thanks you have been such a help, and our situattions do sound quite similar. i knew i had some bite problems to strat and that is what i wanted to correct. after a few months and after talking with my ortho again and again (lol) it became clear he was straightening my teeth at the expense of making my bite worse. i want both to be as good as can be.
i have a second consultation withmy soon to be new ortho on the 19th (so far away, i wish i could get things moving faster) to discuss all the specific treatment details. i already know it will involve upper and lowers and elastics, but i dont know about timing and any other appliances etc.
i think having gone through invisalign has certainly made me more open to getting braces. kind of a warm up.
i too have my ten year reunion in november. should be interesting.
thanks again, chris