Invisalign Teen for an adult patient

[Ayee12]

Hello. I just got my first set of trays today. I noticed that my chart said that I have Invisalign teen. (I'm 27) The aligners have these little blue dots on them, I believe they are wear indicators. I meant to ask the ortho why but was wondering if anyone else had them. Also they said my treatment is 20 trays is this typical?

And finally, has anyone had attachments placed on their front teeth? I have seven in all but the two on my top front teeth are really annoying . Thanks a lot!

[Adam]

Hey, I'm 27 too, but don't have the 'teen' versions. Maybe you have a small mouth? Not trying to be funny there, but could be a reason?

Also I have 7 attachments all on the sides though. My treatment is 16 top and 19 bottom, so sounds about right, but then again it depends how much work is needed, some people have them for a lot longer

[LizzyM]

I have an attachment on my front tooth. It is annoying to begin with but now I don't even notice it. Believe people when they say that you notice it more than anyone else.

[KellyG]

I'm 25 and I have invisalign teen as well. Each dentist has their own reasons for choosing it. I asked mine about why I got the teen version. She told me she does it for everyone because the teen version gives you extra trays for free if you lose one. And the "adult" one costs if you lose one. But that could be wrong too.

[Zoso]

Kelly - I'd read about the free replacements (up to six) on Invisalign's site, so that sounds about right. It also speaks about the system being "designed to compensate for the growth of new teeth and molars" - I wonder if any of you are having not fully erupted wisdom teeth included in your treatment ...

Adam - as Invisalign trays are custom made for each person I wouldn't think mouth size is a factor in the choice.

As to attachments - I totally agree with Lizzy's wise words!

[MCOMarkhamOrthodontist]

Invisalign Teen is basically the same product as regular Invisalign with a few differences:

1. Compliance indicators
2. Torquing ridges to aid in torquing upper front teeth
3. Eruption tabs to allow for eruption of teeth of teeth that may not be fully erupted in teens
4. 6 free replacement aligners

These 4 items address what Align Technology believes were barriers to teens receiving Invisalign in the past. The cost of Teen to your provider is a bit more than the regular product, but most practitioners are not charging more for it. As stated above, the additional cost of Teen Invisalign becomes worth it as soon as you need to replace more than 1 aligner (you might even order a few of your last set as retainers).

If you require additional torque of your upper anterior teeth, your orthodontist may have chosen this product to help with that movement. A bit of inside info, but Invisalign is really pushing this product so there are currently incentives for providers with a higher volume of Teen cases.

All in all, you are basically receiving the same product... but the cases are blue and orange instead of blue and red .

[Zoso]

Thanks for some great info! (All orthodontic considerations and financial incentives apart, maybe it's just that these docs prefer orange to red I'm kidding, of course!)

[myhollywoodsmile]

Thanks, that is useful. I don't have teen (I'm not even sure it is available yet here), but I have two daughters who might need it before too long..

[MCOMarkhamOrthodontist]

Our office was part of the Teen pilot project to help develop research for this product. They seem to believe this is going to take a huge share from traditional braces and are going very heavily on the marketing. One of the other major concerns with teens is oral hygiene. There is an argument that oral hygiene is better with Invisalign... this may, however, be confounded by the fact that current Invisalign patients are the ones who are compliant with instructions anyways.

It was available to selected providers only in North America until recently. I believe there was a world-wide launch at the beginning of March.

Patient selection based on malocclusion and ability to comply with a removable appliance are still key to successful treatment. The bottom line is that at this time, most malocclusions that could be treated with the regular Invisalign product are the ones that can be treated with Teen.

I will be doing a short webcam video on Teen at the end of this month when we get our Premier Provider designation so stay tuned!

[Zoso]

One of the other major concerns with teens is oral hygiene. There is an argument that oral hygiene is better with Invisalign... this may, however, be confounded by the fact that current Invisalign patients are the ones who are compliant with instructions anyways.

I should have thought though that if (some) teens are not as good as they might be when it comes to oral hygiene in fixed appliances, it might not be unreasonable to expect that (these same) teens might be expected to be less careful than they ought to be in terms of adhering to not eating and especially not drinking what they ought not when wearing the aligners ... I also wonder if those teens who might be poorer than necessary with regard to oral hygiene in fixed braces would have the self-discipline required to wear aligners as necessary. Of course, I am known to be cynical.

[Coop22]

I have attachments on both of my top front and both bottom teeth as well. I don't enjoy having them, but they are far less noticable than you think. I have 22 top trays and 14 bottoms in all.

Good luck with your treatment!

[KellyG]

[QUOTE=Zoso;7422] It also speaks about the system being "designed to compensate for the growth of new teeth and molars" - I wonder if any of you are having not fully erupted wisdom teeth included in your treatment ...
QUOTE]

Zoso,

At least for me, it doesn't have anthing to do with my wisdom teeth. As I had all of them pulled several years ago. But it could be in some cases.