Invisalign: Finished? Not quite....
Jun. 29th, 2009 12:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drscottBefore I forget, I got my retainer in the mail. They took the impressions for it during my last visit a few weeks ago, which was delayed by our week in the Southwest, so I had to wear my last thin aligner for almost a month.
Initially I was told that at the end of the process, you could switch to nightly wearing of the retainer. It turns out this is not quite a settled issue, and though my guy says yes, others disagree, suggesting some daily wear for a few months at least. So that's what I'll do.
There also turns out to be controversy about retainers. The ones offered by Invisalign are just thicker versions of the aligners, made of the same polycarbonate, and some users experienced loosening of the retainer and moving teeth before the one year mark. Then Invisalign switched to a more sustainable program, offering four retainers a year for a subscription price of $400+, depending on markups. My guy apparently decided to get his retainers elsewhere, and they quote me a $200 charge for a new one. Unlike Invisalign, this is not generated from a digital file, but from impressions -- analog and old-school. So as soon as I got the retainer, I felt vulnerable to loss or breakage; even a few weeks is too long to go without. So I did some web research and found a company that generates two retainers for you (again analog) and guarantees replacement for two years -- $249.
On the whole I'm happy with the result. My tongue no longer runs into my pushed-back lower teeth, so I speak a little more clearly. The aesthetics aren't really that noticeable since I didn't have any gaps, but nice even teeth do have some subconscious effect. I still have about 1/8" overbite, but that's not fixable without actually increasing lower jaw size. Overbite is very common among my cohort because of a lack of tough, chewy food in early diets; children need hard breads and chewy food to stimulate jaw growth.
Initially I was told that at the end of the process, you could switch to nightly wearing of the retainer. It turns out this is not quite a settled issue, and though my guy says yes, others disagree, suggesting some daily wear for a few months at least. So that's what I'll do.
There also turns out to be controversy about retainers. The ones offered by Invisalign are just thicker versions of the aligners, made of the same polycarbonate, and some users experienced loosening of the retainer and moving teeth before the one year mark. Then Invisalign switched to a more sustainable program, offering four retainers a year for a subscription price of $400+, depending on markups. My guy apparently decided to get his retainers elsewhere, and they quote me a $200 charge for a new one. Unlike Invisalign, this is not generated from a digital file, but from impressions -- analog and old-school. So as soon as I got the retainer, I felt vulnerable to loss or breakage; even a few weeks is too long to go without. So I did some web research and found a company that generates two retainers for you (again analog) and guarantees replacement for two years -- $249.
On the whole I'm happy with the result. My tongue no longer runs into my pushed-back lower teeth, so I speak a little more clearly. The aesthetics aren't really that noticeable since I didn't have any gaps, but nice even teeth do have some subconscious effect. I still have about 1/8" overbite, but that's not fixable without actually increasing lower jaw size. Overbite is very common among my cohort because of a lack of tough, chewy food in early diets; children need hard breads and chewy food to stimulate jaw growth.
