This is the second post by an SF Dental patient, Alison, describing her experience with Invisalign and providing tips for prospective patients. In this post, she explains what it’s like to get fitted for Invisalign. If you haven’t read it already, take a look at her first post on why she decided to do Invisalign treatment.
The Initial Fitting
After deciding to take the Invisalign plunge, there was a waiting period of a couple weeks to have the aligners created. Next, we had an appointment booked to get my first set of trays. For my case, Dr. Kivel needed to adhere six ceramic bumps (called attachments) to my teeth. These small bumps act like anchors for your plastic trays, and they’re used for teeth that need a lot of movement. To get proper placement for the attachments, Dr. Kivel uses the template aligners to line up the bumps with where the virtual models showed they needed to be.
The adhesion process was quick and painless, I just felt a little buzzing on the surface of my teeth. Afterwards, he put my first “real” aligners on. With the bumps on, they seemed to snap into place instead of just slide on. There was a slight pressure, but that’s a normal part of the Invisalign process, and I got used to it within a few hours.
Tips to use Invisalign Successfully
Before I left, Dr. Kivel gave me my next aligners, which I was to change into after two weeks, and cases to put aligners in during meals. He also explained the basics about making sure your Invisalign treatment is as successful as possible:
- Wear your aligners for 22 hours each day
- Take them out when eating or drinking liquids besides water
- Practice excellent oral hygiene (i.e. brush and floss your teeth properly)
- Every two weeks, switch to new aligners (unless you’ve been lazy with wearing the old ones, then you need to use them a bit longer)
Did People Notice my Invisalign?
Later on the day of my fitting, I met a friend for dinner. She was the first person who could potentially see me with my Invislaign on, and I was curious to see how long it would take her to notice. So I didn’t mention it, we just sat down for dinner and started chatting. I was expecting her to say, “Hey, what’s on your teeth?” I waited and waited, but there was nothing. I thought maybe she was just being polite? Finally, I blurted out, “I got my Invisalign today!” She hadn’t even noticed. In fact, she had to lean in close to see.
This is pretty much what you can expect with Invisalign. Unless someone else has had the procedure, they tend not to notice. Very few people commented on my aligners, and usually when I brought it up they were surprised by how inconspicuous the retainers are.
