Invisalign..so far so good!

Message

#1 Post by **Invisaguy** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 10:42 am

Hi guys, this is my first post. I have been coming to this site for a couple of months and finally decided to register and give my input as I have just got my invisalign put in. I am 22 years old and when it comes to my life with teeth it has been nothing short of a horror story. A not so brief explanation: I grew up in Ireland before moving to Chicago with my family at the age of 15. I have had bad teeth since I can remember and it started by me getting rammed face first into steel basketball pole playing at the age of 6. This incident knocked out 3 of my baby teeth and broke my two fronth teeth in half which just so happened to be my brand new adult fronth teeth! Needless to say I had to have them repaired but have had stains in the cracks between the real tooth and the composite repair. The dentist at that time told me that I would eventually need braces but did not want to do anything at that time concidering my age and such. So life went on and my teeth became more and more crooked (especially in the front). When I was 13 I finally started getting ready for my orthodontic treatment. It started with a bunch of fillings and repairs to my already repaired fronth teeth. Afterwards I had to have four extractions to make room in my narrow jaw. Then I had to get those wretched spacers put in my back molars for headgear that looked like bicycle handlebars! After the spacers did their work the headgear was put in. Folks..by far the worst experience ever! I remember trying to sleep with that god awful device wrapped around my head, not being able to turn on my side and dealing with the agony that it was putting on my back molars..good times! Anyways, I got through all of this and was ready to finally have my braces put in when my family decided to move to Chicago. My ortho did not want to do anymore work because of the hassles trying to communicate with an ortho in the US so I had to put everything on hold. Well the whole adjusted period of moving to a new country really had me put my ortho work on the backburner. Now that I am 22 it had been really weighing on me to finally have something done that should have been finished a long time ago. So I decided to set up a consultation with a fantistic cosmetic dentist. I am an IT consultant and the last thing I need is a potential client thinking their getting a presentation from a 10th grader so after voiceing this concern to my dentist he decided on invisalign. I had the moldings done 5 weeks ago after some filling replacements. The invisalign arrived quite fast taking only a little over 4 weeks. Today is my second day wearing them and to be honest they are quite comfortable. I have a class 2 overbite and slight crowding on the bottom. I also have an extremely narrow arch that accounts for the lower crowding issue and upper protrusion. They were a little difficult getting out at first but I already have a technique that works quite well so now it's easy. I have 48 upper trays and 21 lower. I have a long way to go and even after the invisalign I still have to have three crowns done! Two to replace my fronth upper teeth and 1 to replace a front lower that I had a root canal done on last year. This will all be completed as soon as my invisalign treatment is completed and for the first time in my life my teeth will be nice and all that work and suffering will have paid off. I have full confidence in my current dentist to complete a successful treatment using the invisalign, I have read some not so successful invisalign stories but after discussing concerns with my dentist he advised me that he has never had a failed case and would not begin treatment if he thought there was a chance of failure. He is also number 8 or 9 in the country on invisaligns website for mosed treated cases. I am really sorry for boring you guys with so many details, I guess I am just a little excited to be finally doing this. I will keep you guys posted on the success (or failure) of my treatment as we move forward.
Thanks for reading.

#2 Post by **rooroo** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 1:50 pm

Hey Invisaguy!

Let me be the first to say Welcome to the forums!

I'm glad to hear you have a great dentist working on Invisalign with you. I must admit, I found Invisalign quite comfortable for about a year and a half, then I got sick of them. Probably how most people feel about traditional braces.

So 48 uppers?! Thats more than I had. I think my arch was a bit narrow on the top too and Invisalign did a great job of correcting that. Just having my arch filled out made a huge difference in the appearence of my teeth.

Anyway, good luck. You've got a long 2 years ahead of you, but trust me, it'll fly by and all the sudden you'll be done!

#3 Post by **Invisaguy** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 10:08 am

Hey rooroo, thanks for the reply. Actually you may have eased one of my concerns with invisalign and correcting my narrow arch. I was worried that it might not do that part very well but if you had good results then maybe I might also. Today is my third day in them and I have experienced a lot of pressure but certainly no pain which is relieving. I already had to have a speed bumb replaced which I broke my first time trying to get my lowers out but other than that every seems fine.
Thanks for the welcome.

#4 Post by **rooroo** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 3:52 pm

Invisalign did only good for my teeth, it just didn't do quite enough good. You'll notice that the pain goes away much faster the further you get into treatment. Usually mine would be sore for 2 days, then feel "tight" for the first week, as in tough to get the aligners in and out, and then comfortable to loose for the last week. I would recommend putting new aligners in before you go to bed. Not much movement seemed to happen when I would put a new set in in the morning since I took them out for lunch and dinner and usually a snack after dinner. By putting them in at night, you get 8 hours of uninterrupted pressure, which means the next day putting them in/taking them out isnt such a pain. Glad to hear its going well so far though! You really will like them if you stay positive. And wear them all the time like your doctor says! Otherwise they won't work.