Hello!
So as some of you know I recently got invisalign, I'm on my 5th brace
out of 35 and I can already see a difference.
This blog post won't apply to all of you but it may be helpful for any of you
who are about to under go or are considering under going the invisalign treatment...
The things that they may not tell you!..
Let's jump into it!
1.
The braces smell... they really, really smell! I'm so happy that you change to a new brace every two weeks.
It's a bit like really bad breath, you brush the braces and your teeth after every time you eat, which can be several times a day but they still smell! You can soak them as much as you want or scrub them but they're just gross and you can never fully get rid of that weird tinge of smell to them! When cleaned very well it's faint but it's still not pleasant.
I found this complaint a lot online and my dentist just said 'well they are in your mouth for 22 hours a day', so if you're hoping for a proposal or going on a hot date then I'd wait until these are done with!
2.
You may start sleeping with your mouth open... and dribbling for that matter! I never slept with my mouth open prior to getting invisalign but since I got them I have caught myself falling asleep with a wide opened mouth, my family have also commented on this... it's such an attractive treatment to under go!
3.
They can really hurt! I was told uncomfortable but I guess that means I was lied too, when I first got them they were fine for an hour, then I could feel the pressure on my teeth, then came bad tooth ache and swollen cheeks, mouth ulcers, cuts on my gums ect.... I'd invest in strong painkillers or cocodamol and some numbing gel ... 'anbesol' was the one I used, very cheap but wow did it numb!
4.
They can move your wisdom teeth if they're not fully through the gum! I got my wisdom teeth when I was 8! .. so young that I don't remember the pain but I remember the dentist saying I must be very wise... ha!
However they have only grown half way of what a normal tooth would look like, they haven't grown anymore in over ten years... once I had my first brace I had very severe tooth ache, little did I know that when it moved the teeth in front of my wisdom teeth it would then push it up and out my gum further, this has left me with wonky wisdom teeth over the months and they are not covered by my braces as they were only half teeth before!
This was incredibly painful, don't be alarmed if they seem to be appearing from your gum once you get the braces, it doesn't last long, a week at most.
5.
You may need brackets on your teeth, funny shaped ones at that!
no one mentioned to me that you could have the clear retainers smooth or get brackets on your teeth, I just expected smooth ones... little did I know that using the brackets cuts down the wear time and puts pressure on certain points of your teeth.
They look ugly with the brace on and you can see them but without the brace you can't detect mine (you could at first as I'd just whitened my teeth and the bracket material colour is a natural tooth colour)
I didn't just get square brackets ,I got two tear shaped brackets on the front of my fang teeth to put pressure on the front to push them backwards and not inwards, they're horrible looking but as I said, once you take your braces off you can't see them at all really! ( the lumpy brace is the only ugly bit, thankfully you can take the brace out!)
6.
you will go through toothpaste and mouth wash like no tomorrow! I now brush my teeth around ten times a day including flossing and mouth wash and tongue brushing, and I also brush the braces every time and soak them in mouthwash for a few minutes.... this is VERY time consuming and especially annoying if you are eating out or staying at a friends etc.
The other downside to this is the cost of your dental products, I have had my braces for two months and I've gone through more than 5 bottles of mouth wash and 5 tubes of toothpaste.
You will also need to buy floss and several extra toothbrushes as they get worn out quicker.
7.
fragile teeth or what I call 'jelly teeth'.
I didn't realise this until brace number two but they put so much pressure on your teeth that when you take them out your teeth feel super strange and un supported, this makes biting something hard... I feel like my teeth will snap!
I explained this to the dentist and he said it's just the lack of pressure making them feel weak, but it is horrible, I find myself eating softer food, drinking a lot of soup or sucking food into mush like a baby just to avoid chewing!
8.
Be careful with what you eat and drink!
I'm a bit of a rebel when it comes to drinking with my braces in, they say only drink still water with them in but I don't want to take them out every time I have a sip of my red bull and brush my teeth to put the braces in because then I want another sip... I do however use a straw, this prevents staining of the braces in the front, although I wouldn't risk drinking ribena with them in!
the very back tooth on both sides of my top brace does get a slight brown tinge though if I drink pepsi so it shows where abouts it hits the teeth, I don't mind this as you don't see it but they do stain so be careful.
On the topic of staining, the brackets stain also, you take the brace out to eat but the tiny fixtures on your teeth remain, I made the mistake of eating curry the first night I got them and it dyed them orange! I also have drank red wine and eaten a blue lolly and they all stain! ...a few teeth scrubbing sessions with toothpaste and it should come off but it really does stick around!
9.
kind of the same as above but you have to take the braces out to drink! I wasn't aware of this until I was getting the brackets gelled onto my teeth.
This would make nights out ridiculous, you have to wear the braces for 22 hours a day and you can't drink alcohol with them in...
I can't see anyone taking them out for a drink and then cleaning their teeth and braces in the toilet between drinks...
I'd just ditch them for the night to be honest but if you go out a lot then maybe they're not for you, if you're not consistent then they won't work.
10.
The price of your retainer...
Once you finish your course of the braces you have to buy a retainer or your teeth will move back to being crooked or whatever so you buy a final retainer to sleep in, the cost of this is £90 for the basic one ... which your teeth can still move while using, or £350 for the retainer that won't let your teeth move... a bit of a hefty extra considering the price of the braces! that makes mine £5000 all together! wish I'd of known this before I decided to get them, I thought I wouldn't need a retainer and if I did that it was included in the overall cost.
11.
You lisp!
From what I read, I was told the braces are so snug to your teeth that you don't feel them and won't lisp.... but that wasn't true!
when you say the word lisp it's especially bad, I found the words the I couldn't say were mainly 'S' words, I couldn't even say 'Jason' because of the 's' in it.
It gets better the longer you have the braces and within two months it's now almost gone but I still lisp slightly with 's' words or if I'm speaking loudly but I still can't say lisp...
12.
Your lips become super dry.
I don't know if it's the lack of fluid that people tend to have with braces but your lips go very dry and will need extra lip balm.
They also feel horrible when you wake up like they have dried spit on them ... mmm, so sexy.
so stay hydrated and invest in a very good lip treatment!
13.
They can hurt to remove.
If you have the brackets on your teeth the the brace will be very tight when you first put it in, it pulls at the brackets when removing them and can hurt a lot! this makes me reluctant to remove mine so often.
It gets better after the first week of a new brace but then you only have a week of comfort and easy removal before you get your next brace and the cycle continues!
14.
They may need to extract teeth or file in between your teeth.
I apparently have a lot of teeth according to my orthodontist, I still have all my teeth including my wisdom teeth which is apparently uncommon in your twenties? I do have two white fillings though!
He said I didn't require any teeth to be extracted but he would need to file between my teeth a tiny bit at a time to make room.
For me this part really hurt but only on the teeth that I had fillings, It felt like he was drilling a nerve when the drill went anywhere near the filling as it is a different texture and feels horrible!!!
He needs to do this every few months ;(
if you're not one for drilling your un-numbed mouth while your awake then you won't like the head rattling sensation that you get and should ask your orthodontist what they can recommend.
15.
You can see a difference quicker than your dentist says that you will!
My dentist said I 'might' notice a difference after 6 months but it wont be super significant but after only 2 months I see a difference!
After all I look at my own teeth a lot so I'd notice more than my dentist would.
I have an overbite as my jaw is out of place, this would require jaw surgery to fix but instead I opted to try braces to get more of a proper bite and a very straight smile, the NHS always said they'd never fund braces for me as it's a jaw issue caused by 'dummies' and my teeth are straight, instead of breaking my jaw I'm bending my teeth as an optical illusion aha, with this said, this required a lot of staring at my bite over the years, I'm not overly vain with my teeth ect.
They seem to be moving pretty fast! considering I'm on my fifth brace out of 35, I didn't think I'd see even a small difference.
The braces smell... they really, really smell! I'm so happy that you change to a new brace every two weeks.
It's a bit like really bad breath, you brush the braces and your teeth after every time you eat, which can be several times a day but they still smell! You can soak them as much as you want or scrub them but they're just gross and you can never fully get rid of that weird tinge of smell to them! When cleaned very well it's faint but it's still not pleasant.
I found this complaint a lot online and my dentist just said 'well they are in your mouth for 22 hours a day', so if you're hoping for a proposal or going on a hot date then I'd wait until these are done with!
2.
You may start sleeping with your mouth open... and dribbling for that matter! I never slept with my mouth open prior to getting invisalign but since I got them I have caught myself falling asleep with a wide opened mouth, my family have also commented on this... it's such an attractive treatment to under go!
3.
They can really hurt! I was told uncomfortable but I guess that means I was lied too, when I first got them they were fine for an hour, then I could feel the pressure on my teeth, then came bad tooth ache and swollen cheeks, mouth ulcers, cuts on my gums ect.... I'd invest in strong painkillers or cocodamol and some numbing gel ... 'anbesol' was the one I used, very cheap but wow did it numb!
4.
They can move your wisdom teeth if they're not fully through the gum! I got my wisdom teeth when I was 8! .. so young that I don't remember the pain but I remember the dentist saying I must be very wise... ha!
However they have only grown half way of what a normal tooth would look like, they haven't grown anymore in over ten years... once I had my first brace I had very severe tooth ache, little did I know that when it moved the teeth in front of my wisdom teeth it would then push it up and out my gum further, this has left me with wonky wisdom teeth over the months and they are not covered by my braces as they were only half teeth before!
This was incredibly painful, don't be alarmed if they seem to be appearing from your gum once you get the braces, it doesn't last long, a week at most.
5.
You may need brackets on your teeth, funny shaped ones at that!
no one mentioned to me that you could have the clear retainers smooth or get brackets on your teeth, I just expected smooth ones... little did I know that using the brackets cuts down the wear time and puts pressure on certain points of your teeth.
They look ugly with the brace on and you can see them but without the brace you can't detect mine (you could at first as I'd just whitened my teeth and the bracket material colour is a natural tooth colour)
I didn't just get square brackets ,I got two tear shaped brackets on the front of my fang teeth to put pressure on the front to push them backwards and not inwards, they're horrible looking but as I said, once you take your braces off you can't see them at all really! ( the lumpy brace is the only ugly bit, thankfully you can take the brace out!)
6.
you will go through toothpaste and mouth wash like no tomorrow! I now brush my teeth around ten times a day including flossing and mouth wash and tongue brushing, and I also brush the braces every time and soak them in mouthwash for a few minutes.... this is VERY time consuming and especially annoying if you are eating out or staying at a friends etc.
The other downside to this is the cost of your dental products, I have had my braces for two months and I've gone through more than 5 bottles of mouth wash and 5 tubes of toothpaste.
You will also need to buy floss and several extra toothbrushes as they get worn out quicker.
7.
fragile teeth or what I call 'jelly teeth'.
I didn't realise this until brace number two but they put so much pressure on your teeth that when you take them out your teeth feel super strange and un supported, this makes biting something hard... I feel like my teeth will snap!
I explained this to the dentist and he said it's just the lack of pressure making them feel weak, but it is horrible, I find myself eating softer food, drinking a lot of soup or sucking food into mush like a baby just to avoid chewing!
8.
Be careful with what you eat and drink!
I'm a bit of a rebel when it comes to drinking with my braces in, they say only drink still water with them in but I don't want to take them out every time I have a sip of my red bull and brush my teeth to put the braces in because then I want another sip... I do however use a straw, this prevents staining of the braces in the front, although I wouldn't risk drinking ribena with them in!
the very back tooth on both sides of my top brace does get a slight brown tinge though if I drink pepsi so it shows where abouts it hits the teeth, I don't mind this as you don't see it but they do stain so be careful.
On the topic of staining, the brackets stain also, you take the brace out to eat but the tiny fixtures on your teeth remain, I made the mistake of eating curry the first night I got them and it dyed them orange! I also have drank red wine and eaten a blue lolly and they all stain! ...a few teeth scrubbing sessions with toothpaste and it should come off but it really does stick around!
9.
kind of the same as above but you have to take the braces out to drink! I wasn't aware of this until I was getting the brackets gelled onto my teeth.
This would make nights out ridiculous, you have to wear the braces for 22 hours a day and you can't drink alcohol with them in...
I can't see anyone taking them out for a drink and then cleaning their teeth and braces in the toilet between drinks...
I'd just ditch them for the night to be honest but if you go out a lot then maybe they're not for you, if you're not consistent then they won't work.
10.
The price of your retainer...
Once you finish your course of the braces you have to buy a retainer or your teeth will move back to being crooked or whatever so you buy a final retainer to sleep in, the cost of this is £90 for the basic one ... which your teeth can still move while using, or £350 for the retainer that won't let your teeth move... a bit of a hefty extra considering the price of the braces! that makes mine £5000 all together! wish I'd of known this before I decided to get them, I thought I wouldn't need a retainer and if I did that it was included in the overall cost.
11.
You lisp!
From what I read, I was told the braces are so snug to your teeth that you don't feel them and won't lisp.... but that wasn't true!
when you say the word lisp it's especially bad, I found the words the I couldn't say were mainly 'S' words, I couldn't even say 'Jason' because of the 's' in it.
It gets better the longer you have the braces and within two months it's now almost gone but I still lisp slightly with 's' words or if I'm speaking loudly but I still can't say lisp...
12.
Your lips become super dry.
I don't know if it's the lack of fluid that people tend to have with braces but your lips go very dry and will need extra lip balm.
They also feel horrible when you wake up like they have dried spit on them ... mmm, so sexy.
so stay hydrated and invest in a very good lip treatment!
13.
They can hurt to remove.
If you have the brackets on your teeth the the brace will be very tight when you first put it in, it pulls at the brackets when removing them and can hurt a lot! this makes me reluctant to remove mine so often.
It gets better after the first week of a new brace but then you only have a week of comfort and easy removal before you get your next brace and the cycle continues!
14.
They may need to extract teeth or file in between your teeth.
I apparently have a lot of teeth according to my orthodontist, I still have all my teeth including my wisdom teeth which is apparently uncommon in your twenties? I do have two white fillings though!
He said I didn't require any teeth to be extracted but he would need to file between my teeth a tiny bit at a time to make room.
For me this part really hurt but only on the teeth that I had fillings, It felt like he was drilling a nerve when the drill went anywhere near the filling as it is a different texture and feels horrible!!!
He needs to do this every few months ;(
if you're not one for drilling your un-numbed mouth while your awake then you won't like the head rattling sensation that you get and should ask your orthodontist what they can recommend.
15.
You can see a difference quicker than your dentist says that you will!
My dentist said I 'might' notice a difference after 6 months but it wont be super significant but after only 2 months I see a difference!
After all I look at my own teeth a lot so I'd notice more than my dentist would.
I have an overbite as my jaw is out of place, this would require jaw surgery to fix but instead I opted to try braces to get more of a proper bite and a very straight smile, the NHS always said they'd never fund braces for me as it's a jaw issue caused by 'dummies' and my teeth are straight, instead of breaking my jaw I'm bending my teeth as an optical illusion aha, with this said, this required a lot of staring at my bite over the years, I'm not overly vain with my teeth ect.
They seem to be moving pretty fast! considering I'm on my fifth brace out of 35, I didn't think I'd see even a small difference.
So with all that said, I hope that it was helpful and
shared an outlook into the gross and inconvenient side
of invisalign braces, the stuff I wish that I'd of known before hand to weigh
up the pro's & con's or to prepare myself.
thanks for reading!
do you have invisalign? what has your experience been like?
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