Metal Mouth Message Board

I never posted a pic of what my teeth looked like before Invisalign. This was because I couldn't find any. After going through all my junk at my moms house, I found a few pictures that I think show as best they can what my teeth looked like before Invisalign, and after that are a few pics of after Invisalign while in braces and the progress I've made over the past 6 months. I think this really shows how good invisalign can be, and also shows where Invisalign shouldn't be used. Maybe this will help some people in making the decision between Invisalign and braces.

First, two before pictures:




Here are two photos of what my teeth looked like towards the end of my Invisalgin treatment, the first about 6 months out from the end and the second within a month or two of the end of treatment. I'm pretty sure I'm wearing the aligners in both images. Please excuse the tongue, but it was a really good picture of how my upper arch looked. I think I was being a smart *** for the camera.





Now, a picture the day I got braces, so essentially at the end of the Invisalign treatment. Also remember with this pic that I had spacers in for a week so it somewhat rearranged things.


And the most recent pic of my treatment:


So I really hope that helps some of you make the decision. Invisalign worked great for me and I would have been happy with the treatment had it not been for a stubborn tooth. But after going through having traditional braces I realize that my teeth would have never been "perfect" but they sure were darn close.

Thank you for posting the pictures!!! I really am glad to see how the invisalign look and what they did for you!!! Your teeth look so nice! I am going today for my clincheck and am very nervous to see what they have in store for me. Thanks for your willingness to share how it worked for you! I hope to recieve good news today!

congrats on all your progress and thanks for posting the pics as inspiration for those of us less far along. i had braces as a teen and now am revisiting treatment in my twenties with invisalign. i only had a few minor issuses and a bit of relapse on my lowers to work out.
what types of movement did the braces achieve? from trhe pics it looks like they have moved your central incisors up and your lateral incisors down. that is one of the issues that we are trying to correct with invisalign. where the aligners not able to do that for you, or didnt you try?
thanks chris

I think most of what Invisalign did for me was widen my arch. My upper molars were really bowed in on my left side. Both sides were really bowed in, but the left worse than the right. And the lower molars were somewhat the same. So Invisalign moved those out and inline with the rest of my arch. Then they just tilted the upper incisors in and the front 6 of my lower teeth out to make some room. Sorry, I'm not good with teeth names so I hope that makes sense.

They wern't able to pull teeth further out, or down, which the braces have been able to do. They did try with invisalign but I think thats when I started having problems with the aligners fitting. Then a lower incisor wouldnt turn, and some other teeth wern't quite where the ortho or I wanted. So into braces I went. The braces have been able to fix the teeth not wanting to come down/up more. Everyone is different though, so maybe your treatment will be better!

The teeth not wanting to come up/down is not the reason I went into braces though. It was the lower incisor not turning, which bumped into my upper incisor and made it difficult to eat. THe ortho didn't want to leave my treatment like that, and neither did I. He offered to contact Invisalign about refining trays, but he also said he'd do braces at no cost to me and really pushed the braces. I took his advice as he said he wasn't sure Invisalign would correct the problem, where he knew braces would.

Anyway, thanks very much to both of you for your comments and support. I'm so glad this site is here. It calmed so many of my fears and has made the whole experience much more... I almost say enjoyable. Good luck to both of you with your treatments.

thanks for the reply, it is encouraging to hear how others have done. congrats on only having 1 month to go. you must be so excited. just out of curiosity how did they attempt to pull down those lateral incisors with invisalign. i have an attachment on each in hopes that it will work. i hope that it works!!
chris

The only thing they did was speedbumps, the little cement attachements most of us get at the beginning of treatment. Also wearing aligners for an extra week to two.

I think my hopes that I've only got one month to go are a little optimistic, it'll probably be another 3 months, which will make it 9 months total tratment in braces and 2 years 9 months total with my entire orthodontic treatment. Of course I'll have retainers after the braces come off, but from what I've read they're very similar to Invisalign so I should get used to retainers quickly.

Much luck on your treatment too! I hope Invisalign does well for you!

How did they remove your attachments once you were finished wearing your invisalign trays? Thanks for your help.

They remove them the same way they remove brackets for braces. Since that doesn't help one bit they use a tool kind of like a pair of pliers. It applies pressure to the glue in such a way that it causes the glue to crack. Then they use a little tool much like the first but with a ceramic bumper on one end to scrape most of the glue off your tooth.

It doesn't hurt at all since the teeth they usually put the speedbumps on are the least sensitive teeth. If your teeth are sensitive it might hurt a little but only when they first break off the speedbump. After that it doesn't hurt at all.