Invisalign for teens?

[100AcreWood]

We’re shopping for braces and one of the orthodontists we visited suggested Invisalign. Our oldest daughter had regular braces because Invisalign was much more expensive. Now it’s the same price.

Just curious to hear about anyone’s experience with Invisalign. Is it less painful than metal braces? Thanks!

 

[lecach]

My son - age 13 - has invisilign. I think he's had it about 4 months so far. He's not mentioned any pain or discomfort. He changes out his invisilign trays each week and has done well with wearing them and taking care of his teeth. The orthodontist is pleased with the progress.

We were told my son could not do metal braces due to his tooth texture.

 

[PollyannaMom]

We were told DS needed the traditional ones, but he would have jumped at Invisilign if he could have. I think that being able to take them out to eat would make sooooo much difference. (He's actually admitted to missing healthy stuff lately.)

 

[xlsm]

My 15 year old just got his. He did myobrace treatment instead of traditional braces (and we loved it) to move his teeth into place, and the Invisalign will finish things up over the next year. He does have to have his wisdom teeth out in November, so we'll see what effect that has. It was recommended by the orthodontist so it was part of his overall treatment plan. My kiddo has complained that his back molars are hurting a little, but only on day two, and a couple of advil fixed that problem. You really can't tell they're on his teeth unless you're right up close, they're pretty cool, and I may go get some of my own to fix the gaps caused by the teeth I had removed for traditional braces when I was his age.

 

[OneOftheB's]

Invisalign works well if you only need minor tooth movement and will not effectively correct major issues or any overbite/underbite/etc issues. It (and the other less well known competitor brands) work very well if the patient uses the trays as directed and doesn't lose them.

My DH is a dentist and does treat patients with an Invisalign knock off. He is pleased with the outcome, but had one patient who kept losing his trays and moving on to the next set before it was appropriate. It was a nightmare.

 

[Christine]

Both my kids had regular braces. For some reason, my daughter's teeth shifted on the bottom after they were removed and we were always really bothered about it. when she was 22 and had graduated from college, her first job was working for an orthodontist. She was telling him about her shifting teeth one day and he offered to fit her with Invisalign, at cost. What a deal. She had them for about a year and they took care of the problem quickly. I think she did have some discomfort with each new tray but nothing like regular braces. But note that her boss (ortho) did not usually recommend them for people who needed serious shifting of the teeth. They are generally for people with minimal "bite" correction issues and minor cosmetic changes. Certainly they can be used in worse situations but they are probably not as effective in that regard. So in my daughter's case, she was a perfect candidate because her bite was already corrected, she just had some bottom crookedness and some minor shifting on the top front teeth.