Metal Mouth Message Board

Hey all,

Its been almost two weeks since ive got my clear braces on the top arch (bottoms will be put on on my next appointment) put on.

I know I'm being very eager but after watching tons and tons of videos online, some people were in and out of their braces within a year and others much longer.

How long was it before you started seeing movement??

My orthodontist said my top arch should be done within 6 months (although im not sure) and bottoms will take longer.

Be patient. It could take 6 or more trays to notice anything. You will start to notice spacing between your teeth change first. I noticed my rotated canines rotating back into place first and that was 6 trays in. Its a very slow process.

Definitely noticing more space between each tooth when flossing at Tray 3. Especially next to the two spots I had IPR on the first day. I don't really notice any straightening yet. My mom did when she finally saw me 5 weeks in (tray 3) but I think with the aligner in it kind of masks the positioning a bit.

It took some time for my front teeth to move. They were heavily crowded and the ortho had to move my back teeth first to make some room.

There are a couple of treasons why you may not be seeing much movement.

1. Many treatments require space creation by movement of the back teeth first. During these stages, the front teeth may not be moving that much until there is space.

2. With aligners, each stage moves the teeth incrementally. When comparing the difference between each aligner, this may not be that significant.

3. Many Invisalign patients look at their teeth daily. The changes are more noticeable if you are not looking at your teeth as often. As in #2, if you compare your current aligner to your original one, you are likely to see how big the difference is.

Maybe it's just me but I started seeing a difference a week into the first aligner. Nothing other people would notice but molars moving back, crowding lessening, the ability to actually get floss between my lower front incisors. I''m on my second set now and have noticed differences in my bite as my molars keep moving back and the deep overbite is opening up (to the point where I have to be careful eating not to bite my cheek.)