I have some decisions to make, please help me out.

[mattf2686]

Alright here's my deal. I'm a 23 year old male who has always been stubborn when it comes to my teeth. My I-Teeth are pretty far out of place (they need to come down quite a bit and also rotate).

Now I had another consult with my dentist today and i was APPROVED to do invisalign, but there are a couple of stipulations... to get my I-Teeth to come down properly, i would have to wear rubber band attachments on my I-Teeth that would be clearly visible every time i opened my mouth.

My dentist suggested that i wear TOP braces only for 6 months and then do Invisalign EXPRESS.

OR

I could do the Invisalign full cycle that would be something like 22 trays with the rubber band attachments the entire time.


Has anyone on here ever been faced with this decision? What did you do?

What would you feel would be the best option for me? Although i've been leaning towards the 6 months of braces option i have always been completely against braces.


Any thoughts from you all would be greatly appreciated.

[Zoso]

I'd go the first route were I you. The canines are going to be very hard to rotate with Invisalign, and you are therefore much more likely to have a successful outcome by using fixed braces for at least part of the treatment.

As always though, I'd also suggest seeking a second professional opinion. ANd I'd also advise just a little caution about orthodontic treatment from a general dentist, unless he has extensive experience in orthodontics, and can show you previous cases that he has successfully treated and that are similar to your own.

[myhollywoodsmile]

I agree with everything zoso said. I would definitely seek a second opinion and I have to be honest, I would never let a general dentist loose on a complex orthodontics case if I were the patient. I am naturally quite cautious though!

I have seen pics of rubber bands on Invisalign and they do greatly increase the visibility, but everyone has a different threshold for what they can tolerate.

[Sunny]

I definitely agree with the opinions above, get at least one more opinion, maybe two more and most especially visit an orthodontist or two, as these people have additional training with regard to tooth movement and placement.

I work for three orthodontists and one is a premium invisalign provider. He often used braces at the beginning or end of a persons treatment, especially if they have a more difficult case. By difficult, I'm thinking cases with bite challenges and teeth that need major rotation. This type of treatment achieves results that are better than if the person just went with invisalign, the teeth are usually more stable and the with having braces for the most difficult part of the treatment, the time is usually reduced.

Good luck doing some more research and making the best decision for your bite and smile!

[Adam]

Well I never knew Invisalign could come with rubber band attachments! I'm worried by having to switch to metal braces on my final appointment (tomorrow). It was the main reason I went with Invisalign, and now looks like I could be faced with it. But if they're no concern to you, I would think the first option would be the better, as it could be you do the second route and still need wire braces at the end anyway.

[Sunny]

Elastics have been used with invisalign for a while Adam and they achieve good results were needed.

Good luck with your appointment tomorrow and if you do need brackets, don't be worried, coz it'll only be for a short time to make sure your final results are the best!

[Adam]

[sorry for the thread jack]

Thanks Sunny - I'm not to worried about the appearance, it's more that I suffer with bad ulcers, so anything like wire braces which could irritate my mouth and cause more is not really something I'd look forward to :s

[Zoso]

Wax wil be your friend, Adam. Don't be shy to use it as needed, and always keep it in place until at least a couple of days after all sores seem to have healed. Be sure too always to stay very well hydrated, as this will most certainly help reduce the chance of sores - dehydrated oral tissue chafes up much more readily than a nicely hydrated oral mucosa.

Beyond that though, have you ever looked into why you are more ulcer-prone? Could it be dietary? Deficiencies of any of a certain subset of vitamins and minerals (zinc and vitamin C are two that come to mind, I think) can lead to being more prone to ulcers. How acidic is your diet? This can sometimes impact how prone you are to getting mouth ulcers, and most definitely makes them hurt more when you do get them. It could also be that you are taking some sort of medication that makes you more prone to them (your doctor could advise) or perhaps you have some sort of systemic condition that is making them more likely - again it may be worth asking your doctor what he thinks.

But, back to the original discussion: if visibility of fixed braces is a concern, there are plenty of really good ceramic brackets on the market today that make for a much more subtle aesthetic, and I would imagine that many or most orthodontists offer such an option. As to the aesthetic of Invisalign with rubber bands, yes that you are being treated orthodontically would be more apparent than with Invisalign alone, but it's still not going to be as apparent as fixed braces, particularly if the fixed braces had metal brackets. But with that said, though (as Sunny says) elastics have been being used with Invisalign for quite some time by now, it remains a more advanced use of the modality, and not al Invisalign providers are going to be as experienced in this, so that is certainly something to bear in mind.

As we have mentioned above though, rotation, particularly of the "round" teeth, is something that can be more challenging with Invisalign, and the large roots of the canine teeth make this particularly true when there is significant rotation of the canines to be accomplished. I'd be surprised if this were something that would be attempted without attachments, and a lot of Invisalign users find that they feel these make the treatment more conspicuous in and of themselves. Just something else to bear in mind.

[Sunny]

Adam I was also very prone to mouth sores, in fact I had them every month and in my case it was considered to be hormonal and something I just had to cope with.

I wasn't suitable for invisalign and the orthodontist I chose to treat me, felt confident that with his approach, I could at least control any mouth sores that were 'braces' related. He asked me to start rinsing my mouth once a day with warm salt water from our second meeting. This was six weeks out from getting braces, but he was so sure about it helping, I did exactly what he asked. Then when I got braces he recommended using warm salt water daily for the length of my treatment, plus if my mouth did get sore, to increase the rinses to 5+ a day. I've been doing daily rinses for nearly four years and I've had a few times when I've done the 5+ times a day for a few days ... and the most incredible thing is ... I've not had one mouth sore since that second meeting with my ortho.

Both my dentist and my doctor are amazed ... and both very happy for me!

Keeping well hydrated is a huge key to helping your mouth cope, plus good hydration is great for your whole body. I also found the ceramic brackets much easier on the inside of my mouth, while the metal ones were a bit smaller, this also caused them to be more pokey and took a little longer to adjust to. Although it didn't take me long to adjust when my brackets were changed to all metal ones ... but I'm pleased I didn't start my treatment with them.

I just hope I don't get mouth sores once my teeth are naked ... but I can't wait to find out!

Hope your appointment went well!

[Punkin]

I'd go the first route were I you. The canines are going to be very hard to rotate with Invisalign, and you are therefore much more likely to have a successful outcome by using fixed braces for at least part of the treatment.

As always though, I'd also suggest seeking a second professional opinion. ANd I'd also advise just a little caution about orthodontic treatment from a general dentist, unless he has extensive experience in orthodontics, and can show you previous cases that he has successfully treated and that are similar to your own.

I agree. My canine has not rotated the way it should have; it's moved back inline with the rest of my teeth, but it's still rotated slightly. Refinements will fix that (hopefully), but I've had these in for a year and a half now. I didn't have elastics (my guess would be it wasn't an option when I started, but I don't know for sure). I know when comparing the types of braces, traditional bracket type braces were considered, but there would have been a large amount of elastic use, which wasn't what I wanted.

But, yea, get a second opinion, from an orthodontist, but if it comes to the same choice, I'd go with the first option, I think.