46 Trays?

[greensky]

I am waiting for my Invisalign trays to arrive, and today I went to my orthodontist's website and saw that my clincheck had been posted. I knew my treatment time was estimated to be about 18 months but thought that probably included refinements so I was surprised to see my clincheck showing 46 trays. I had my top wisdom teeth pulled three weeks ago to make extra room and it looks like the first 12 trays are devoted entirely to pushing my molars back and my canines and front teeth don't start moving at all until after tray 20. It looks like my smile won't really look much better until close to tray 30. I was told by both my dentist and orthodontist that mine is a fairly easy, uncomplicated case of mild/moderate crowding... my teeth aren't bad, no real bite problems, just some crowding around the front which in the past few years has made me a lot more self-conscious of my smile. Anyways, has anyone else had this amount of trays? I'm wondering if its because my orthodontist seems to prefer moving my molars back to IPR. Obviously I'll ask my orthodontist about this when my trays finally come in, but its a bit frustrating to see that there will be 20 trays (and 40 weeks I guess) before I can see any changes in the front!

Thanks.

[lizzieg]

Hi Greensky

I envy you!! I have 64 trays - yes, 64.... My orthodontist told me my course would probably take about 12 - 18 months but the clincheck came through rather differently. The only slightly good news for me is that I have just discovered that I have 19 trays for my top teeth - and as I have 5 attachments - this means that I should be through with these this year.
I completely sympathise with you on the feeling that there will be no progress for a while. I am actually on tray 34 now and am afraid to say that I don't think I can see any improvement whatsoever. In fact, the bottom teeth have been pushed slightly forwards and look worse to me. My orthodontist has assured me that this is quite normal and that things will improve. I do hope he is right and I hope that knowing that there is someone else out there on a long journey too helps you.

[Rosieee]

Including refinements etc I have all up 37L and 51U....and my bottom teeth will be finished in 3 weeks wooohooo!

[Phantom Muse]

Congrats, Rosieee! Please post photos when the bottom teeth are finished!

[myhollywoodsmile]

So far I have had 34 lower and 26 upper, but I am now waiting for my refinements and expect that there could be as many lower again!

So don't worry, there are a lot of us out there. Think how great our teeth will look at the end!

[greensky]

Thanks for the reassurance guys! I start this week. Still not sure if I made the right choice in terms of treatment plan - it could have been a lot faster if I hadn't had my top wisdom teeth pulled in search of a 'perfect' result. My cousin's teeth are much more crowded and she is finishing in 9 months with another orthodontist. Oh well... hopefully I'll be happy in the end that I went with an experienced perfectionist!