Anyone in 30s in braces?

[PoohGal05]

Hey ladies and gents!
I was in traditional braces for a little over 3 years, November 01 - January 05. I wasn't eligible for the Invisalign braces because I had a lot of crowding. Six months ago I went to the dentist and we talked about me being able to do Invisalign because my teeth are almost straight, but could still use some fine tuning, as my dentist puts it. I don't want to go back to traditional braces (and the looks of the metal mouth has nothing to do with it; I just got POed with the orthodonist. long story) Anyway, after talking with my dentist, he said I could do Invisalign Express. I guess this is something new since Invisalign came out. Instead of being in Invisalign for a year, I would have them for 5-6 months. Not a bad deal I think.

So having said all of that, has anyone had or is currently doing Invisalign?

 

[ottawa-newbie]

not Invisalign for me - full out train tracks, but thank goodness for ceramic brackets. PM me if you need a link to a braces forum - it's great if you have questions, need to vent, etc

 

[alliecats]

If you don't mind me asking, how much is the Invisalign Express?

 

[hlbtimes2]

I just got my braces off in April- after 2 1/2 years. I got them on at 35. I couldnt use the invisalign (sp?). I dont regret the time or money for one second.

Why didnt the ortho finish? If you still need fine tuning aren't they responsible for that?

 

[HugsForEeyore]

not Invisalign for me - full out train tracks, but thank goodness for ceramic brackets. PM me if you need a link to a braces forum - it's great if you have questions, need to vent, etc

I believe I know what forum you are talking about - is it one mainly for adults in braces? If it is, I post there occassionally - love that site!

I just finished my ceramic braces! Three years and two months long, from ages 33 to 36. BEST THING I ever done for myself. I truly believe my badly crooked teeth were preventing me from getting ahead socially and professionally, and honestly, they were! My mission in life is to tell everyone with less-than-perfect teeth to FIX THEM! We can live in our bubbles and think that it's "what's on the inside that counts" and our appearances don't matter, but they do! I wish I woke up to that fact long ago. People treat you different when you have terrible looking teeth - I am treated so much better nowadays with a nice smile, it really is amazing.

I was not a candidate for invisalign, as I was a surgical case and needed traditional braces & elastics to fix my smile. But the OP sounds ideal for invisalign, as it works best for people needing minor adjustments.

I have a major beef with invisalign's marketing schemes. They market like they are the greatest thing in the world, but in reality it doesn't work for many people. People needing alot of orthodontic work get all exciting thinking they can use invisalign (based on all the marketing they do), but then get majorly let down when they realize years of traditional metal mouth braces is the only thing that will work. Or they try invisalign anyways, just to have bad results and end up in traditional braces anyways.

Anyone considering invisalign should be like the OP - teeth only needs minor adjustments. Anything really major, you should do your research to see if invsialign really works in your case. Sometimes, good old metal mouth braces are the only way to get a nice smile.

 

[LadyyRedd]

not Invisalign for me - full out train tracks, but thank goodness for ceramic brackets. PM me if you need a link to a braces forum - it's great if you have questions, need to vent, etc

Could you give it to me? My sis will be getting traditional metal braces at the end of the month, as they couldn't do invaslign for her. I'm sure she'd appreciate the forum.

Kimya

 

[Alex2kMommy]

I'm 43 and just had the traditional braces removed a month ago.

I'm wearing a retainer now 24/7, hoping the wear time would be reduced at my next appt., but doesn't look like that will happen since I can tell the teeth have moved already. The fit on the left side teeth is not the same as the fit on the right, so I think something's off already.

By the way, having braces was bad enough as a teenager, but at 40+ with wrinkles, gray hair, acne, and braces?

 

[PoohGal05]

If you don't mind me asking, how much is the Invisalign Express?

My dentist's office told me that Invisalign Express would cost about $1000. My guess is that cost would be different from state to state. My dentist told me that I would have 10 trays that I would change every two weeks.

 

[PoohGal05]

I just got my braces off in April- after 2 1/2 years. I got them on at 35. I couldnt use the invisalign (sp?). I dont regret the time or money for one second.

Why didnt the ortho finish? If you still need fine tuning aren't they responsible for that?

I don't regret having had braces. It was one of the best things that I ever did for myself.

When I got my braces off, I had already had them on two months more than I was originally told. Oh! and get THIS! My orthodontist scheduled an appointment for me to take my braces off the Wednesday after the New Year in 2004. The Sunday evening before I get a call from the office saying that the office would be closed for the holiday and that they had rescheduled all of patient's appointments for that Wednesday to that Friday. The orthodontist is a huge Univeristy of Oklahoma football fan and it had been announced that OU would be in a bowl game. I told my mom that my guess was that as OU was in a bowl game, that my orthodontist and his wife had gotten tickets and were going to Florida for the game. The orthodontist also worked out of two offices, one on the northside of the city which was open Monday and Tuesday and an office on the southside which was open on Wednesday and Thursday. Neither office was open on Friday. As it turned out, I was right. The guy had gone to Florida.

Anyway, afterwards the orthodontist started bad mouthing my dentist, the dentist I had been seeing for 7 or 8 years, which I didn't appreciate. At one of my retainer appointments, I told the orthodontist that my upper lower retainer didn't fit. Instead the guy has one of the assistants make me an UPPER retainer. I was not happy because I felt like I had been blown off. Before the following appointment 6 weeks later, I called the office and left a message that I wouldn't be coming in because I had lost my retainers and din't have the $300 to replace them. Didn't hear from them again until this morning. The office sent me a card with a scheduled retainer appointment.