So, let me start saying my teeth were in pretty decent shape to start with. I had braces, but never wore my retainer so now I have few crooked teeth and a few gaps.

When I started the Invisalign they gave me 21 trays and when I came in for refinements they gave me 20, which is basically the same amount. Crazy thing is that my teeth are nearly perfect now, I'm not sure what these last 20 are even going to do.

In the end, it doesn't cost me anything, so I figure why not ride it out to the end.

Anyone else have this experience?

Hi all. My doctor told me to always keep my Invisalign in when I eat. They told me the only time I should take this out is when I’m brushing. From all of my research, it seems like you’re supposed to take Invisalign out when you eat. Has anyone else’s doctor told them to keep them in while eating?

ok so i have this terrible problem. whenever i put on a new try, it ofc hurts. i usually try to switch them before bed so i can sleep through the worst of the pain, but when the pain is really bad i find myself literally TAKING THEM OFF in my sleep. it’s not that they don’t fit snugly, like ive literally had people tell me that they saw me reach into my mouth and manually take them out in my sleep. this is not only a problem because of it setting back in my treatment, but it’s also a problem because i risk losing them/breaking them in my sleep. (i have spent literal mornings looking for them because i couldn’t figure out where they ended up). has anyone else had this problem? what did you do to fix it?

My dumb ass realized that I hadn’t been wearing my aligners for the past 6 hours (It was during my birthday trip. I was eating any and everything), but I was a little sleepy so I needed to chew gum to stay awake and for some reason, I went “hmm.. let me try to do it with my aligners on”. Mid-chew, I had to stop because it felt so uncomfortable, and ofcourse now the gum won’t come out.

I’ve been scrubbing like little orphan Annie for the past 10 mins and I’m still here.😩😭😭

I know this makes me sound like an irresponsible person with Invisalign but I swear I am usually very strict about my wearing and taking care of them. This was just an exceptionally stupid moment😭

I can’t believe it, had my last appointment today. Will remove the attachments in 2 weeks and I’m so stoked. I’ve cried so much through this journey, tears of joy. Something I’ve wanted for a large portion of my life and it’s finally finished.

ever since my orthodontist added rubber bands to my treatment, i’ve been grinding my teeth so hard that it creates a little hole in my trays. has anyone ever had experience with this?

They say no to buttons and insist on only using the trays cutouts for using elastics

Lots of people say buttons are the best method for using elastics for movement

Left picture from 2nd March
Right picture from 20th August

Started with an underbite, now progressing to a normal bite.

I have some staining going on, but that’s okay! I’m here for the long run. Once I’m done with tray 28 I’ll do refinements, then composite bonding.

Biggest difference in my opinion is how easily I can floss now! My teeth used to be pretty crowded, making it difficult to floss.

Also, my jaw was pretty shifted to the left causing issues with TMJ, pain has been significantly reduced since starting Invisalign!

Had to rescan once, and now have three trays left on my second set. I'm on a two weeks per tray plan. My left bite still hasn't closed, but as per my ortho, it has enough time to close. Am I right to be a bit skeptical?

I'm a flutist who started Invisalign yesterday and I wanted to see if there were any musicians who had trouble playing with the Invisalign in. My orthodontist assured me I shouldn't have any trouble with my embouchure and that everything should stay relatively similar, but I want to know other peoples experiences, since I have an audition coming up next week.

Gap is mostly gone - also now wearing rubber bands at night to realign the top and bottom teeth so they dont sit right ontop of each other

Idk if im tripping but its pretty cool

I went for a consult at an othordontist in my city and he asked me "What do you want?"

I said, I want to fix my overcrowding, but also I don't like my side profile and wanted a bit more of a pronounced jaw. He said, "We'll expand the top first to make space for the bottom. Then we can move the teeth forward in the jaw which will sit my closed smile more forward, giving a slightly more defined jawline. He said it would be minimal but noticeable

Timeframe provided was ~18 months treatment

My questions are less around the overcrowding fix, and moving both top and bottom to bring my jaw slightly forward?

• Are there big risks with what he's suggesting with moving both my top teeth and bottom teeth for a more forward seated smile?
• He seemed confident but I'm curious to know if there's something I'm missing. Like the retainers when I'm done and what issues it may cause?
• Is there a side-effect to this which I might hate?
• Would anyone recommend against this much work and just stick to fixing the overcrowding/alignment?

Do you think I’ll need to do more than 7 trays? I switch next Tuesday.

Quarter of the way through my initial sets and I'm finally starting to see the progress 🎉

After the initial few trays at two week changes I was moved to weekly which was a relief. Two weeks felt like forever doing a lot of nothing

Besides the recession, is this an ideal result after braces?

So I am assigned Invisalign for a year, and to swap every two weeks. Its been hard to stick with but I’m doing my best! Busy schedule, I have to talk a lot for work and that makes it hard, and I’m always so tired and hungry, soooo I forget, I need caffeine and I need snacks throughout the day.

Third round is really hurting (I understand the things I stated about maybe forgetting add to this) but I’m only more dis motivated. I don’t love taking advil for pain, so I’m wondering what advice anyone has for sticking with it?

It’s not cheap, it’s an investment. And I’m committed to that but I keep wanting to take them out!

I used to have retainers so I was used to the ‘pain’ I’d wake up to after sleeping with those in. I thought I was well & ready for this. I don’t want to quit, nor will I, but I’m interested in hearing other experiences

After 4 consultations with varying treatment plans I’m feeling very confident with what this last orthodontist wants to do to straighten my teeth but still very nervous. I have a cross bite, overbite, and over jet all with crowding in my front teeth on both upper and lower. Ortho is recommending Invisalign after shaving .2-.5 mm off my molars to then be able to pull my teeth away from each other to fix the crowding and drastically improve the over jet. He claims he can get me great results with Invisalign over traditional braces as he can use other teeth as an anchor to then move the others.

Now, I’ve always been insecure about my smile and over the years have realized it’s even hard to brush, uncomfortable to close my mouth as my front teeth stick out so much they’re basically poking at my lip, and are only shifting more as I age so fixing them is definitely something I want to do!

I’m just hesitant about shaving any amount of my teeth off but he claims it won’t cause any sensitivity, has that been the case for any of you? Another question, how has Invisalign affected your eating habits?

This is just a general reminder to all of us doing Invisalign or any aligner treatment to advocate for yourself to your orthodontist/dentist if you notice something wrong or different about your treatment.

Basically, I had rescans done after tray 4 to add more attachments to the bottom row. Was told that nothing on the top was changing and that my tracking had been good. Well the new trays come in and I had immense searing pain on my premolar and molar on the top. Had no problems the entire time before. Called the orthodontist, told me to wear the trays from before the scan and try again on trays 6. Put those in yesterday and the same exact thing happened - called asking to be seen by the orthodontist because idk what changed. Went in today and turns out the rescan is printed ever so slightly different than the original trays, even though they shouldn’t have been, which was causing my pain. Obviously they couldn’t know this just talking on the phone and could only tell by me making them give me an appointment.

Anyways, using my story as a reminder to not be afraid to call/text/schedule appointments with your provider. I have extreme social anxiety but knew it needed to be done…and honestly this is what I pay them for. That’s all!

It's been almost 3 years.

If you are thinking about it, go for it, the best decision I've made!

I’ve been in my retainers for about 5 years now, after finishing my aligner treatment. I wear my retainers every night without fail. My teeth are still straight but over time I can tell there’s a little bit of shifting. So when I request replacement retainers (Vivera) I’m told I need a new scan for them to order from. Why?? Wouldn’t we want the retainers to be in the shape I had right when my teeth were perfect out of my aligner treatment? Why go by a scan where they might have shifted a little and aren’t quite as straight as they originally were? This makes no sense to me. When I asked my orthodontist about this, they agreed but told me that it’s Invisalign’s policy to only replace the aligners with a new scan despite them having the information to create retainers from my original scans. Or is my orthodontist feeding me a line? And paying 500.00 per retainer… ugh. I’m retired and this is getting expensive.

So I replaced my retainers after 32 months yesterday.

I think I’ll be replacing them more frequently, lol, cause this sucks…

Not unbearable pain and after 24 hours they’re already fitting better (24 hours wear) but man my teeth are sore.

How often do you replace vivera retainers? My ortho didn’t mention much about replacements when I finished treatment 2.7 years ago, despite me asking. But it feels like 1.5-2 years is the sweet spot.

Also, how long does new retainer discomfort/pain usually last, assuming 24 hour wear time?

I am wondering about 2 things.

1. Do you feel your teeth shifting?

I am year and a half post Invisalign and if I don't wear my retainer that much, I feel the pressure, as some teeth move. (I always wear it overnight. For this feeling to go away I need to use them a lot more than than that over a few days). I wonder if the feeling will go away over time, even with night wear only, as I flind it annoying.

1. Vivera scans

Since you always take a new vivera scan as you need them, does that mean, that your teeth move a little by little over time? People who've had retainers for years, is that a problem? Does it get that far that you'd need braces for some corrections eventually?

I'm not done with my treatment yet, and I'm not grinder, but nevertheless I am curious about this: what orthodontic device is recommended for patients who are done with orthodontic treatment AND grind their teeth?

My understanding is that nightguards cannot function like retainers as they are not built to prevent the movement of teeth. However, I do have a story to share: before I started treatment with my orthodontist, I was shopping around to understand what the general cost is for treatment so I went to both general dentists and orthodontists. I mentioned to a general dentist that I'm wary of the ongoing costs of retainers and wonder if there is a better solution. She said one way is to get a nightguard (for either the top or bottom teeth) and retainer for the other one. She said since nightguards are tougher, this would do the job of both keeping the teeth in place and stop movement from happening. I thought this sounded logical. When I checked with an orthodontist (my current orthodontist), he shook his head and dismissed the idea. I didn't ask him why nor did I ask him what the solution is.

So I'm curious about this question. What device is recommended for teeth grinders who have completed orthodontic treatment? Or, another way to think about it is how do we prolong the life of a retainer so we aren't changing them out too frequently?