tooth alignment - invisalign?

[nomad]

Hey everyone

I'm hoping some one can help me... I'm a little bit lost here...I don't know much about teeth :P

I've finally scraped up some extra cash, and I really want to change/fix my teeth. They're kinda well... disfigured :P (see pic below, cringe if you want to :P )
I've heard of Invisalign and it sounds good, but does it really work?
I'm 21, turning 22 in August..

My biggest issue is the tooth sticking out - top left on photo(it's even worse than the photo says)
but also have crooked over bight~ .75cm (top and bottom teeth are way out of line) , and gapped lower teeth.
Is there hope for me? please be honest.

i just talked to a friend who says he had to take his wisdom teeth out for invisalign to work(cos when they move the teeth around when they grow in and out) . is this true for every case? i have a lot of space for wisdom teeth (as i have naturally missing teeth :P )


Thanks so much for your help. any comments are greatly appreciated

[mariahfromchicago]

Have you considered ceramic braces, they are less expensive than invisalign.
My birthday is in August too!

[Stephanie]

hi nomad. Welcome to the forum.

If I were you, I would go with ceramic braces also. you are still VERY young and you will have them off in about 18 to 24 months i bet you...

Invisalign could work, but Im not confident in it for your case... Ceramics on the top and bottom go unnoticed and do good job.

You can probably get a full treatment for half the cost of invsialgn.

[Zoso]

Is there hope for you? Absolutely!! I've seen far worse bites treated to give really wonderful results!

Invisalign does work, but not for every case. There are things it does well, things it does successfully sometimes, but fails at for other people, and things it cannot realistically do at all. This means that some people are not candidates for Invisalign, and others who are borderline might end up with less than satisfactory results and need to go into fixed braces if they want things right.

I am not a dental professional, but it looks like you have a significant overjet (a lot of people get this confused with an overbite, but an overbite is when the upper front teeth close too deeply over the lower front teeth and hide them - sometimes the lower front teeth even bite into the upper gums!) - an overjet is when the upper front teeth are too far in front of the lower front teeth, so that they can't work together like scissors when biting into food. An overjet can sometimes be treated just using rubber bands with braces - and this is possible, though an advanced technique with Invisalign, so not all docs would do it, and it may not be successful. Sometimes an overjet can be corrected and give nice results by extracting teeth (usually premolars - also called bicuspids - they are the fourth and fifth teeth back from the middle) but for other people that would give a result that would not look good. And sometimes to correct an overjet requires surgery on the jaw.

The gap between those lower teeth might cause trouble for invisalign - closing gaps is something it does with poor predictability, because sometimes the teeth will just lean over into the gap instead of moving along to close the space. Attachments placed on the teeth (they are removed at the end of treatment, or sometimes sooner) to match little "bubbles" in the Invisalign trays can help prevent this, but it doesn't always work.

And of course, since I am not a dentist or orthodontist, there may be other issues I am totally missing picking up on.

My advice to you is to ask your dentist to recommend a good orthodontist, and head in for a consultation. And, especially if either extractions or surgery are suggested, consider also seeking a second opinion from another ortho. As Mariah and Stephanie have suggested, do consider fixed braces as a possible option - there are various types of bracket available today that are very discreet in appearance, including ceramics. (By the way, not all orthodontists will place ceramics on the lower teeth, since they are extremely hard - harder than metal brackets - and can pose some risk of chipping the upper front teeth as a result)

Oh, and I've never heard of it being a necessity to have the wisdom teeth extracted to have nvisalign. I am not sure where your friend got that impression.

Best wishes.

[Zoso]

Oops - should add: lingual braces - braces that are on the back of the teeth - are another very discreet option. But they are much more expensive, and not so many docs are trained in them as are trained in conventional braces.

[nomad]

wow!! thanks so much guys... you've really helped out and given me some bright hope :P

and thanks zoso! you've answered some questions i've had that I didn't even mention or could remember at the time haha!!! you rock!

hmmm ceramics sound like an option.. lookin at google pics it seems they make them translucent too.. which is good..
the lingual braces seem good too .. i wonder if they're effective as ceramics?

and rock on august !

once again thanks for your help. appreciate it.

[nomad]

and yea .. i went to one orthdontics a few years back to see about my "overjet" and they wanted to operate on my jaw :S .. which was a no way no no..

also, zoso who are you kidding you're not a dental professional ?

[Zoso]

I've seen it said by an orthodontist who offers linguals and by one who does not (Donald Joondeph - former President of the American Association of Orthodontists) that you can achieve the same results with lingual braces as with "regular" braces on the labio-buccal side of the teeth. There is some disagreement about whether linguals might be slower - I've seen some statements that they are and others that they are not. They are not offered by as many orthodontists, and (as mentioned above) cost more.

Head in for some consultations, and ask lots of questions. If surgery's been suggested in the past, be prepared that it may be suggested again. This is where you really need to ask a lot of questions. It's sometimes possible to correct an issue without surgery, but the questions there would be how good will the results look and how stable will they be? If a skeletal problem (a problem resulting from bone structure, rather than just from "placement" of the teeth) is treated using orthodontia alone, the results might not be stable; or if a similar case is treated with braces and extractions, then sometimes the resulting facial aesthetic is not good. Surgery's not as bad as it sounds (at least if your medical insurance will cover the costs ) but if that's a bridge you're not willing to cross, that is a decision only you can make. If the consultations are pushing that, and you're not willing to go that far, do ask about the feasilbility of a compromise treatment - one that may not correct everything, but will significantly improve both function and appearance; again though, be sure you understand what you would and would not get out of such a treatment. Good communication up front saves a lot of heartache down the road.

And I promise you, I'm not a dental professional, nor have I ever been, nor do I play one on television I am just a reasonably well-informed consumer.

Good luck to you!

[eatyourpeas]

She's (zoso) freakin' smart!!