My mouth feels a little weird. But comparing with traditional braces (which I had as a teenager) it's day and night. Very comfortable, and you can take them off to eat and brush your teeth.

Anyone has had an aligner? How long did you have it? Were you disciplined about keeping it on pretty much all the time?

Offsite Link

by Anonymous

reply 32

January 13, 2023 7:15 PM

Can you eat with your invisalign on?

by Anonymous

reply 1

April 26, 2022 5:34 AM

Can you sleep with your Invisalign on?

by Anonymous

reply 2

April 26, 2022 5:36 AM

Did we suddenly become Teen Vogue?

by Anonymous

reply 3

April 26, 2022 5:45 AM

[quote] Can you eat/sleep with your invisalign on?

Offsite Link

by Anonymous

reply 4

April 26, 2022 6:21 AM

Your glory hole supremacy will not be at risk since you’ve decided against metal orthodontics.

by Anonymous

reply 5

April 26, 2022 7:51 AM

Try getting head and neck set... it's character building!

We'll also sign you up for an orthopedic back brace, orthopedic shoes and coke bottle glasses.

All old school, of course, in this time of economic crises and rising costs.

Am I forgetting anything else?

by Anonymous

reply 6

April 26, 2022 8:13 AM

I had one. Worked as advertised. Not Invisalign but a cheaper option and it went just fine. I was good at keeping it on most of the time. Treatment took a few months.

Just remember you'll need a night-time retainer after your treatment plan ends - and that needs replacing semi-regularly. I think they want it replaced every 6 months but mine last much longer than that.

Good luck to you.

by Anonymous

reply 7

April 26, 2022 10:27 AM

Can't you put some bleaching gel in the trays for a 2-in-1 action? Teeth straight... and white!

by Anonymous

reply 8

April 26, 2022 10:38 AM

I wore them for 6 months. They were a pain in the ass. You have to take them when you want to eat or drink anything, and you have to brush and floss before you put them back in. They can also get very grungy, so you have to be diligent about keeping them clean.

I now wear a retainer at night. That's no big deal.

by Anonymous

reply 9

April 26, 2022 11:35 AM

This only works for slightly crooked teeth because severely crooked ones require at least three extractions and traditional braces

by Anonymous

reply 10

April 26, 2022 1:33 PM

They work very well. I wore traditional braces in my teens and I still remember how painful they were. It was hell to have them put on and every time they were tightened. Like most kids, I lost my retainer and over time my teeth went back to crooked and finally decided to do something about it and tried Invisalign. Had a great orthodontist and I got used to taking them out when eating which wasn't that much of a pain. They were pretty much invisible when wearing and you get used to them. My teeth looked great when I finished. I did have to get a permanent retainer for my lower teeth since they had the tendency to move, but that isn't a big deal. The ortho made a combo retainer and night guard for the upper teeth because of grinding. Yes, Invisalign is expensive but compared to traditional braces, a much better choice.

by Anonymous

reply 11

April 26, 2022 2:00 PM

Invisalign

Cost $3,000–$7,000

Treatment Time Worn for 20–22 hours/day. Overall treatment time varies by case.

by Anonymous

reply 12

April 26, 2022 2:13 PM

I start next week! Glad the pain isn't too bad.

by Anonymous

reply 13

April 26, 2022 5:30 PM

So, the first time with braces didn't take? How odd.

by Anonymous

reply 14

April 26, 2022 5:53 PM

R11: Similar story here. My teeth fucking hurt right after I got traditional braces. Every tooth was transmitting pain. The orthodontist and his staff didn't warn me beforehand. Assholes. I'd rather know what to expect. The tightenings weren't a picnic, either. It took several months of tightenings before there was no more discomfort from them. Like you, my teeth lost their alignment because I stopped wearing the retainer.

Is there any pain or even a little discomfort each time you put on a new Invisalign aligner? My dentist said that after they are straightened, your teeth will want to move to their original positions, so wearing a retainer is necessary for the rest of your life! The common belief is that you wear it for a set period of time and you're done, but that's not the reality.

by Anonymous

reply 15

April 26, 2022 6:32 PM

I am using the night-time aligners from a company called Byte. They are comfortable for the most part but I only wear them from 9 pm to 7:30 am everyday. I couldn't do the daytime aligners because a large part of my job is speaking so that was hard no for me.

According to my treatment plan, my upper teeth will take 21 weeks while my bottom teeth will take 23 weeks. I also ordered retainers but I can't remember how many.

To answer someone's question, my aligners came with a whitener I can use along with my aligners. I haven't used it yet because my teeth are still crooked. I don't want to draw attention to them until they are straighter.

SDC (the purple aligner company) fucked me over too many times. They never followed up with me about my aligners and didn't send a necessary form to my dentist until AFTER I cancelled my order! I'd been wearing my Byte aligners for 3 weeks when SDC called to let me know my aligners were finally ready. I wouldn't have had a problem with them if they had just communicated with me. Their customer service was useless but you couldn't contact them any other way.

Anyway, my Byte aligners also came with something called a Hyperbyte which is a mini-vibrator for your teeth. It helps them shift and is used with your aligner in just before bedtime. Total cost for aligners, retainers, Hyperbyte, and whitener was $3750. I can tell they are working.

by Anonymous

reply 16

April 26, 2022 6:44 PM

Question for anyone who has used these- I assume you sleep with them if they have to be in 20-22 hours a day. I sleep with a custom made night guard because of clenching. Does Invisalign help with that? And if you do clench badly enough to require a night guard, will Invisalign even work?

by Anonymous

reply 17

April 26, 2022 6:47 PM

I used Invisalign under my dentist supervision. My two canine teeth grew in behind my front four teeth ( poor parents who didn’t have dental care for their children as a priority) . The Invisalign straightened them out 98% but I still have to wear retainer at night. I am 57 and wish I had done this sooner. So don’t put it off .

by Anonymous

reply 18

April 26, 2022 7:04 PM

R17 it should help with both

by Anonymous

reply 19

April 26, 2022 8:45 PM

[quote]Question for anyone who has used these- I assume you sleep with them if they have to be in 20-22 hours a day. I sleep with a custom made night guard because of clenching. Does Invisalign help with that? And if you do clench badly enough to require a night guard, will Invisalign even work?

According to my dentist, oral surgeon, and endodontist, I am one of the worst grinders in my sleep that they've ever seen.

I did Invisalign to address a problem that arose from wearing nightguards for grinding. Subsequently, I've had a custom piece made and use the top Invisalign retainer.

Even after you "finish" the Invisalign, you must use retainers at night to prevent shifting. You should definitely check with you dentist regarding your grind pattern (the wear on your teeth will indicate how you grind) and confirm how much protection they provide. For me, there is no way using two Invisalign retainers would be sufficient.

by Anonymous

reply 20

April 26, 2022 8:56 PM

I did Invisalign & still use the last upper as an overnight retainer, 20 yrs later. It’s a bit cracked & looks disgusting, but works. I alternate it with a cleaner retainer my dentist made for me, though my teeth shift slightly when I use the latter.

by Anonymous

reply 21

April 27, 2022 12:11 AM

How is it different from a retainer?

by Anonymous

reply 22

April 27, 2022 12:12 AM

[quote]I did Invisalign & still use the last upper as an overnight retainer, 20 yrs later. It’s a bit cracked & looks disgusting,

While the recommended replacement of once a month is clearly excessive, you really need to replace it.

The plastic becomes deformed, so you're actually probably pushing your teeth OUT of alignment by using one for such a long period of time.

by Anonymous

reply 23

April 27, 2022 12:27 AM

I really appreciate the honesty from all the posters who've used various teeth-straightening solutions. Like you, my sisters and I all had conventional metal braces back in the day, with the retainers and headgear that were needed post-removal. We were good about wearing them and everything was fine until about when we turned 55-60. Everything started to shift, for all 4 of us, and go back to our 12-year old problems. We all discussed the options, including Smile Direct and Invisalign, so it's good to hear that others had the same problems and how they resolved them. I may be an eldergay, but I was proud of my smile and want to keep it.

by Anonymous

reply 24

April 27, 2022 1:15 AM

Thanks to everyone who answered about the night guard issue. I found it interesting that the poster above said wearing one shifted his teeth out of place. I am pretty hardcore about wearing my nightguard every night. It will be the very rare situation where I go to sleep without it. But when the pandemic started, I found myself napping at odd times during the day and being up late at night, and pretty much having two periods of sleep per day many times. When I'd nap, I wouldn't wear my night guard because I typically soak it with a denture tab to clean it every day.

I've noticed that a couple of my teeth on the bottom, one in front and one towards the back, have started to shift, and I wondered if it was because of all the naps without my night guard. Now I make sure whenever I sleep, I wear my night guard but yikes, maybe it's that?!

by Anonymous

reply 25

April 27, 2022 2:07 AM

OP here.

R14, I had conventional braces when I was a teenager. It straightened my teeth nicely, but I was never asked to wear a retainer after I was done. It was the 80s, so maybe retainers weren't a thing back then.

40 years later, my upper teeth have only shifted a little, but my lower teeth have started to shift quite a lot. So my dentist recommended Invisalign and warned me that this time I will wear a retainer until I die.

by Anonymous

reply 26

April 27, 2022 5:35 AM

[R14]. It is not odd at all. Yes, when the braces were removed, my teeth were straight. But when you don't wear a retainer which I didn't because I lost it like most teenagers, your teeth are going to move back to where they were before braces. I did Invisalign and very pleased with the results. Wearing a retainer "for the rest of your life" sounds more dramatic than the reality. Most people grind their teeth and require mouth guards which is what I use for my top teeth retainer. So no different. The bottom retainer is considered "permanent" but I can't see it and I can't feel it and I never have to take it out. The only drawback is that you have to use "super floss" for those bottom teeth held by the retainer, but that's a minor inconvenience.

by Anonymous

reply 27

April 27, 2022 2:48 PM

[quote]I've noticed that a couple of my teeth on the bottom, one in front and one towards the back, have started to shift, and I wondered if it was because of all the naps without my night guard. Now I make sure whenever I sleep, I wear my night guard but yikes, maybe it's that?!

r20 here.

Actually, I grind so hard that the nightguards I was wearing created uneven pressure and caused my teeth to shift. I've since switched guards that evenly distribute pressure (it's much more complicated than this, but that's the gist of it).

It wasn't NOT wearing guards that caused the problem, but wearing guards that didn't evenly distribute pressure across ALL my teeth no matter what position my jaw attempts to clench.

by Anonymous

reply 28

April 27, 2022 5:44 PM

Interesting. Thanks, R28. I am definitely going to address the problem the next time I go to see my dentist.

by Anonymous

reply 29

April 27, 2022 5:59 PM

Had them a number of years ago. Straightened my teeth in a way braces as a teenager could not. I don’t remember how long I wore mine, but I’d got all three (free) revisions, in which you get a new set to wear for a prescribed period. Was pretty good about wearing them as directed, I think I was told i could extend wearing a set if my teeth weren’t quite settled into them because I sometimes went without them for longer that recommended throughout the day.

Pro tip…pay for the Invisalign style retainers and wear them forever. My teeth are still in position after many years.

by Anonymous

reply 30

April 27, 2022 6:13 PM

^^wear the retainer at night, not all day. ^^

by Anonymous

reply 31

April 27, 2022 6:15 PM

So you wear it at work? Doesn't it look weird?

by Anonymous

reply 32

January 13, 2023 7:15 PM