Invisalign on top, Damon braces on bottom?

[Vaultwit]

I'm hoping to get some input from those who are more knowledgable in the subject than I am. I want to get Invisalign for my upper teeth, and Damon (preferably clear) braces for my bottom teeth. Is this generally an unacceptable combination, or will orthodontists go with it if my mouth allows for it?

My upper teeth are straight and fine for the most part, with just one of my front two teeth just slightly crooked.

My lower teeth, on the other hand, are quite crowded and the canines somewhat rotated.

My bite seems fine too. No underbite, no crossbite. My overbite, from what I understand, is pretty much normal.

[boodles8]

I've never heard of this happening, but I would suppose it could be done.

Two questions: 1) Have you seen an ortho yet? If not, even if your teeth "look" pretty good, they can still have a lot of problems in the bite which requires a lot of movement. That possibility aside, these are the folks who can answer your question.

2) Why not do Invisalign on top AND bottom? Just wondering.

[Vaultwit]

[quote="boodles8"]I've never heard of this happening, but I would suppose it could be done.

Two questions: 1) Have you seen an ortho yet? If not, even if your teeth "look" pretty good, they can still have a lot of problems in the bite which requires a lot of movement. That possibility aside, these are the folks who can answer your question.

2) Why not do Invisalign on top AND bottom? Just wondering.[/quote]

Thanks for your reply!

1) No I have not seen an ortho yet, I have a consultation scheduled for next week. But I want to get as much input/opinions from others as possible beforehand. At this point, I'm just trying to find out if there's some unwritten law in orthodontics that says Invisalign on one arch and braces on the other is a big no-no.

2) If I CAN get Invisalign on both top and bottom, I would do that without hesitation. However, my bottom teeth are pretty wack and I'm pretty certain that Invisalign won't work (unfortunately).

[sirwired]

I don't see why it couldn't be done, but I'm not sure the cost would be less.

That said, if your lower is pretty messed up, it's unlikely Invisilign would work on the upper, but those decisions are of course best made by an orthodontist.

I also though I would mention that you should pretty much ignore bracket brand when searching for orthodontists. Ormco markets Damons pretty heavily, but despite what the website and brochures tell you, they aren't that different from any other self-ligating bracket and/or broad-archform archwire system. And other than their reduced size and lack of rubber ligatures, self-ligating brackets aren't that different, from a patient perspective, than conventional brackets. (Don't believe claims about faster treatment time or a magical reduction in extractions... studies not sponsored by bracket manufacturers don't support those claims.) Each bracket type has pluses and minuses.

Self-ligating brackets are nice, but speaking for myself, I wouldn't pay extra for them, and it wouldn't be a factor when selecting a treatment plan / orthodontist. (I was put in 3M Victory's, which are 3M's flagship conventional bracket line. I was a surgical patient, and the larger surface area of conventional brackets provides better bonding strength; this is a big plus during surgery.)

[Featheryy1221]

I've never heard of having invisalign just on the top either and I'm not really sure that it's ever been done.
My brother has invisalign currently and he had crooked teeth at the bottom.
Really it just depends on how severe your case is. I'd wait to see what your ortho thinks of your bite and if you'd be a candidate for invisalign first. My brother was a candidate for it, but I definitely wasn't. Also you have to be extremely good about wearing your trays when you're supposed to.

If you do go for Damons or if your ortho uses traditional braces, sometimes they won't do damon clear or ceramics on the bottom teeth, so you might be stuck with metal. Which really doesn't matter, as no one sees people's bottom teeth as much. Just keep that in mind.

Good luck with your consultation!

[Vaultwit]

I appreciate everyone's responses!

Just to clarify, in case anyone was thinking this, the reason for wanting Invisalign just on top is NOT to try to save money.

I want Invisalign on top for appearance purposes. Regardless of what I get on the bottom, I really want Invisalign on the top unless the orthodontists tells me that it is absolutely impossible. If I can get Invisalign on the bottom too, fantastic - best case scenario. But in the case I cannot do Invisalign on the bottom, I want them at least on top.

In fact, I am willing to pay more if that let's me get Invisalign on top, as opposed to brackets on both top and bottom. So if anyone is thinking, "Why would he waste money getting Invisalign on top and brackets on bottom, when it's cheaper and easier to get brackets on both?" it's worth it to me, again, because of appearance reasons.

Hope that clears some things up!

[Featheryy1221]

The clear/ceramic braces really aren't that noticeable from a distance. They aren't as noticeable in photos either. No matter what people up close will be able to tell you have some sort of braces on or Invisalign tray in.
If you're worried about people commenting on your appearance with braces, no one will say anything negative (if they even bother to say anything about it at all). No one really cares.

[h322404]

I just got Invisalign up top and metal brackets on the bottom :). I spoke to two orthodontists and a cosmetic dentist. All three agreed I could do Invisalign up top with a different option at the bottom. However, all three also said it would be a more expensive option than going one method for both arches.

You can see my more detailed post here: http://www.archwired.com/phpbb2/viewtop ... 11#p451727

[cs2thecox]

Don't forget about linguals being an option too - they're even better than Invisalign from an appearance point of view as you don't have to spit them into a napkin every time you want to eat or drink!

The speech thing really isn't an issue after a few days (and plenty of wax). AND no-one can see when they have food stuck in them though!

You often need a more specialist ortho though...
There's also a separate board for lingual braces, I just thought I'd throw it in to this discussion too.

(I have linguals...)

[Lalaloo]

I agree with cs2thecox, if the cost doesn't represent an issue, go with linguals. I have stb lingual brackets, they are really small and, of course, totally invisible.
I've got them on november last year and I have used wax just 2 times since