The Details

OK, for those of you who want details on the whole process, here they are:

1) I'll be going through 16 trays each for my upper and lower teeth. Since each tray is to be worn for only 2 weeks, this means my treatment is only going to be for 16 x 2 = 32 weeks! That's less than 8 months total! I'll be done by April at the very latest! And I say "latest" because my treatment may be refined midway so that I may actually finish even earlier. That means I'll be WAY done before my brother's wedding in October 2007. S-W-E-E-T

2) The cost was $6500. My insurance picked up $1500 (luckily for me, it covered adult orthodontics, which isn't always the case), which left me with $5000 to pay. My ortho offered a good payment plan where I could save 7% (or $350) if I paid a lump sum upfront. We decided to go that route, because we knew we wouldn't be making that much over a year with that particular amount in any of our banking accounts. So, I wound up paying $4650.

3) Some Invisalign patients need to either get some teeth shaved/slimmed down on the sides to allow for movement (called IPR's, or Interproximal Reductions), and "buttons" glued onto some teeth to give the trays more leverage, but lucky me did NOT have to have either. Bonus!

4) Food cannot be eaten with the trays in. Trays should be left in approximately 21 hours each day (24 hours a day minus 3 hours for all 3 meals), only to be taken out for meals. Some people cheat with the drinking, especially since the trays are temporary and will be replaced in 2 weeks anyway. I'm not a coffee drinker, and the fluids I intake are usually clear-ish, so I don't really have an issue with that here.

5) The first few days of a new tray are usually the worst. However, the pain I've felt so far (knock on wood) has been really minimal at best. From what I gather, the sensation is NOTHING like the pain of having metal braces tightened. That was apparently something that hurt pretty badly, while the Invisaligns only seem to exert very gradual pressure that goes away pretty quickly and can also be eradicated with a simple pain reliever like Advil. Other areas of conern are tongue sensitivity to some edges. This can be alleviated with a nail file, if the case calls for it. Other people have just let their tongues get used to the trays for a few days, and any sore spots go away on their own quickly.

6) Trays are easily cleaned with Efferdent. A tablet a day keeps the plaque away! Efferdent is very cheap - it's just embarrassing to buy at the store when you're not even 33....

Below are some pictures of the trays themselves.

Here's both trays, top and bottom:


Here's a side view of both trays:


Here's a closeup of one of the trays:



Hope that clears up some of the questions you may have had. If you have any more, let me know and I'll edit the post to include the answer!