Before reading this blog post, I would recommend reading the Invisalign blog prior to this. In the first blog I have already covered why I made the tough decision to get Invisalign. As per my free scan at the consultation, I was under the impression that Invisalign would solve all my insecurities and issues with my teeth. However, I think the first scan should be taken with a pinch of salt as I found it to be not entirely accurate. In this blog I will share with you my initial Invisalign treatment plan and cover this in much more detail. I will also provide details about the first fitting.

Initial Invisalign Treatment Plan

As mentioned, based on the free scan I thought Invisalign would pull my teeth in and align both the top and bottom teeth. I had my expectations set and went ahead and paid a deposit of £1500 which is a large lump sum. However, when going ahead with the initial Invisalign treatment plan I realised this was not going to be as smooth sailing as I had hoped. I have inserted the below images again for reference so it is easier to compare to the treatment plan I will show after.

Before Scans

After Scans

Actual Invisalign Treatment Plan

For the actual ClinCheck treatment plan, another scan was taken of my teeth. This time there was no extra tooth added in! Following the scan, I was able to see the full Invisalign treatment plan and again this was emailed to me. From this, I could see exactly how long the treatment was planned to take and how my teeth would move each week. In all honesty, I was very disappointed with the after visual I saw. This is because Invisalign seemed to round and straighten my teeth as my braces did but it did not address the key issues of my teeth sticking out.

You should be able to see what I mean in the recording below. There is a clear difference to the before and after scans above (hopefully you don’t think I was being dramatic):

Second Invisalign Treatment Plan – Take Two

I was very honest with MiSmile Birmingham and explained that I was not happy with the outcome. I thought it was due to the shape of my teeth at this point and that Invisalign may not be able to fix my issues after all. The dentist did also manage my expectations and state that this was a possibility. However, I was very grateful that they did not give up trying and stated that they would try to rework the after visual, see below. This is a reason I would recommend MiSmile Birmingham!

Those bits added to my teeth in this are called “attachments” – scroll down to find out more

This was a scan I was much more happy with. My teeth were not going to be perfect but I was much happier knowing there was hope to reduce my insecurity of my teeth sticking out. If you are found to be in the same position I would strongly encourage you to speak up as I am very glad I did! I was close to asking for a refund and forgetting the whole thing. I obviously did not do this and due to this turnaround I decided to pay the full payment and get started. For full details of the cost click here.

Note: my treatment was not going to involve any teeth being taken out. The second treatment plan stated this would be a 21 week procedure so I did get my hopes up although my contract stated over 12 months. As of June 2021, join my journey to find out why I still have Invisalign over 1.5 years later.

join jags journey

Invisalign First Fitting

Once I confirmed I was happy with the treatment plan, the aligners (clear braces) were produced and delivered to the clinic. This took roughly two weeks and does tend to take this long on average from my experience. However, with the COVID-19 pandemic I found this to be much more delayed at times. That is a story for another blog!

I went back in for an appointment to get these fitted. The initial fitting was honestly very simple where it is essentially like just putting on a gum shield. Your teeth should feel quite snug and well fitted in these first aligners. In general the aligners do fit pretty well. To put things into context, I even went skydiving in Dubai wearing them!

Invisalign day 1
Without the attachment they are not noticeable at all!

Attachments

If only things could be this simple. That is not the end of it. In order for your teeth to move as intended they require attachments to be added/stuck onto your teeth. They can be seen in the Invisalign treatment plan above. To put these on it was not painful at all nor was it time consuming. It was simply a case of a bit of glue (not the technical term of course) and then a blue light shone to make it stick.

In hindsight, I am not sure why these attachments didn’t get them put on straight away with my aligners. I did have to go back a week or so after to get these put on but I have a friend who got them on the same first day. Perhaps it is different for everyone? Anyway, after this I was sent off with a chunk of aligners so I could change them myself at home for a set number of weeks until my next check up. This is essentially like getting your braces tightened. I will be writing a blog on the maintenance side and the number of check ups so join my journey to find out more!

join

To summarise, the attachments meant it just became harder to close my mouth but this feeling did not last too long. Perhaps a few weeks at most and the Invisalign was slightly less invisible. In fact, it was only the other day my dad asked me why I had patches on my teeth!

Additional Items to Purchase

I am part of an Invisalign group on Facebook and I have read many new joiners ask if there is anything they should buy beforehand. For this reason, I thought I would add this into this blog to help you if you perhaps have the same question. Please bear in mind that I was provided many items already such as a travel type tooth brush, cleaning tablets, chewies (I will touch on this in a later post) and much more already.

Here are some other items you may wish to consider:

  1. I was given the toothbrush but not the travel size toothpaste. In all honesty I ended up sacking off the travel size after a while and stuck to the normal size.
  2. Floss – I would highly recommend getting floss if you do not have this already.
  3. Mouth wash is also a good shout.
  4. Interdental brushes – honestly this is going to sound like basic hygiene at this point. It was only after an appointment with the oral hygienist I decided to start using interdental brushes. My gums have thanked me ever since!
  5. Lip balm – others have stated this is a good shout and I can see why. My lips probably did get slightly more dry.
  6. Wax for when the Invisalign aligners may have slightly rough edges. I did not ever buy this but I have had my aligners cut me the odd few times. This brings me onto the final point…
  7. Bonjela – I did not actually use this at all but it would have definitely helped. It depends if you can tolerate the pain or not.

I have slightly touched on there being some pain but I will cover this in much more detail in the next post as well as other unexpected findings! I hope you found this post helpful and feel free to share your thoughts below.

join jags journey

2 comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *