Really worried

[oceanscape]

I've been wearing my first set of trays for nearly 3 weeks and will get my attachments added next week.

Lately I have noticed that my back left teeth no longer "meet" when my mouth is closed. The back right teeth do. So either the top and bottom teeth at the back right have somehow moved closer together, or my back left teeth have sunk further into the gum so are now further apart. My mouth feels really "uneven"!

I am SO worried - is this serious, or just a natural and expected part of treatment? I sure hope it is only temporary because it makes eating uncomfortable and it is not nice to not be able to close your teeth together properly. They were fine before I started invisalign!

[MCOMarkhamOrthodontist]

Your bite may change constantly as in any orthodontic treatment. Intrusion of back teeth is a common "side-effect" of Invisalign. An experienced Invisalign doctor takes this into account while formulating your treatment plan. Keep in mind that this does not show up on the Clincheck.

Speak to your doctor about your concerns and how he/she plans on addressing it if the problem persists.

[ChicagoJohn]

My bite has changed a little bit with every tray so far. Sometimes it's way off, and sometimes it seems to come back into place again. My dentist claims that it'll get back to normal on my last tray. I hope he's right because it's hard trying to chew food with a bite that's off. Currently I'm on 10/15 upper and 7/7 lower and similar to you, my back left teeth do not meet at the moment. Also, when my teeth were still very crooked, my front teeth never touched. Now they do since they are getting pretty straight and it's hard for me to not accidentally bite down on them too hard because they've never touched before in my life.

[Invizzle Rizzle]

My back teeth would touch fine, it wasn't perfect but they touched. My mid line is off, my lowers are compacted, but the back molars touched. Now, I'm still early in the treament, but after two weeks my back teeth do not touch so I can understand your frustration. Let's give it some time and like the Dr said, "An experienced Invisalign doctor takes this into account while formulating your treatment plan."

[oceanscape]

Thanks for the advice. I spoke to my ortho about the uneven bite and he said I will likely have to live with it until treatment is complete!

I'm really upset and just hope that some of the subsequent trays improve it a little. Right now I am pretty much restricted to chewing on my left side - and even then I feel like I am not chewing enough any more. Such an annoyance - wish I'd been warned about this before commencing treatment!

[Phantom Muse]

No matter what sort of braces you choose, the bite can get worse before it gets better. I had no bite issues - they had been solved when I had braces as a teenager - but I still had to deal with an "unusual" bite for a portion of my Invisalign treatment. It will get better!

[Invizzle Rizzle]

So, is it due to the trays thickness that is making our bite more open? When treatment is done wil the absence of trays resolve this or what?

[Phantom Muse]

It is impossible to bite down fully while wearing the trays (as I am sure you already know!), and the bite can shift around while in treatment.

It is possible to "open" a bite while wearing Invisalign (or plastic retainers) because of the lack of contact between the teeth on the two arches. My daughter has a "gentle" bite, and the plastic retainers she was wearing after getting her metal braces off were causing her bite to open. She switched to Hawley retainers and all is now fine. The ortho caught the problem right away, and watched for one month to see how her bite was responding to the plastic retainers. He then reduced retainer wear, watched again for another month, and then made the decision to switch to Hawleys. In other words, the bite changes are gradual and can be remedied. Keep reminding your ortho of how it is feeling at each appointment, and if changes need to be made, that can happen. Her ortho did mention that it was not so common to have such a gentle bite as my daughter has. If she had a stronger bite, she'd probably have had no issues.

I wouldn't worry too much, though. The bite is in transition during treatment, not just the teeth!