What About All Those Negative Invisalign Reviews?
Latest Post: Cinnamon Toast Crunch French Toast
This post may contain affiliate links and/or codes. You won't pay anything extra, but I might make a commission.
[I am a member of the Invisalign Moms Advisory Board and am receiving complimentary Invisalign treatment.]
My last Invisalign trays!!!
I just read through a crap ton (yes, that’s the official measurement) of Invisalign reviews online. I’d seen someone mention on Facebook that of all of the reviews he’d read about Invisalign, about 80% of them were negative. I wanted to check them out for myself, because everyone I know is somewhere between happy and thrilled with their treatment.
I don’t know about 80%, but I did see a lot of negative reviews out there – enough that if I weren’t working with Invisalign and knew nothing about it, I would probably think twice about treatment.
As I read through the reviews, I started to notice patterns beyond the basic tendency to be louder when you’re complaining than when you’re happy. With just about every bad review I could identify why the person wasn’t happy.
These are the probable reasons I identified for most of the bad reviews, why they happen, and how the situation could have been avoided.
Choosing An Inexperienced Invisalign Provider
My orthodontist is one of the top 1% of providers of Invisalign in the country. This was the doctor Invisalign chose for me, and I’ll bet they chose doctors with similar credentials for the other members of the Invisalign Moms Advisory Board. And we’re all having really good experiences. Coincidence? I think not! Your provider makes SO much difference in the quality of your treatment!
Invisalign is part science, part art. Someone who doesn’t have much experience with Invisalign might not give you the best treatment options. Use the Doctor Locator tool on the Invisalign site and find someone who has a lot of experience.
Having Unrealistic Expectations
Before we even started discussing my treatment, my doctor sat me down and gave me some hard truths. I’m forty years old, and I’ve been using my teeth for three decades. Because they were so crooked, they’d worn in all different ways. If we straightened them with Invisalign, they still wouldn’t be perfect. They would be much, much better, but they weren’t going to land me any toothpaste commercials.
One of the advantages of taking care of crooked teeth when you’re young is that they can wear more evenly right from the beginning. Mine never had a chance.
I’m really glad my doctor laid all of this out right at the beginning, because I’ll admit that I had visions of perfect teeth in my head before I spoke with him that first time. When I see people complaining that they’re near the end of their treatment and their teeth still aren’t “straight” I have to wonder if they had realistic expectations of what Invisalign or braces could do.
Not Following The Treatment Plan
Another thing that my doctor spent a lot of time talking to me about was how much of the end result was in my control. In fact, he warned me that if I didn’t wear my Invisalign at least 22 hours every single day, he would probably have to switch me over to regular braces for the last part of the treatment. Not because braces work better than Invisalign, but because you can’t take braces out of your mouth whenever you need to.
His warning worked. I was a model patient.
So I wonder, did the complainers follow their treatments plans exactly? Did they wear their trays for 22 hours a day? That part takes some getting used to, trust me. One big restaurant dinner, from bread to dessert, is easily two hours. It takes planning and a little sacrifice. But the results are so worth it.
Pain Or Excessive Discomfort
I’m very lucky: I never had to take even a single Tylenol during my treatment because of pain in my mouth or headaches. I did two things that I think really helped make this possible. One, I changed to new trays right before bed. That way, I was sleeping through the tightest, least comfortable part of my treatment. Two, I made sure to wear my trays for 22 hours a day. That way, my teeth were where they were supposed to be at the end of each two-week period, making the transition to the next set of trays easier.
I’ve seen some people complain of canker sores with Invisalign. I stocked up on numbing gel before I started my treatment, just in case. But I only got a couple of canker sores during my entire treatment (and since I get them occasionally anyway, I can’t even be sure that they were because of the aligners).
If someone is getting a lot of canker sores, they should talk to their provider. If the trays are rubbing the gums, that could cause canker sores, but the trays can be filed down easily with a nail file.
No treatment will work for every single person, but you can absolutely maximize your own chances of success with Invisalign.
I am a member of the Invisalign Moms Advisory Board. I am receiving complimentary Invisalign treatment as part of this program. All opinions are my own and based on my own treatment experience. Full disclosure can be found here: http://shout.lt/ggGP
You are so fortunate! I have been strict with a minimum of 22 hours a day but I am still in so much pain. My aligners get stuck on the attachments and won’t come off, and I get a mouth of horrible canker sores. I convinced my ortho to see me and they said I just need to tolerate the pain and not eating more than once a day. They don’t even want to see me for 16 weeks even though I begged them to see me sooner. They’re a platinum provider too.
That provider sounds terrible!! I would switch. You deserve better.
One week of Invisilign and my mouth hurts like hell. Cut tongue, gouges in the sides of mouth. Seems like a very poor quality item with the sharp edges. I have nowhere to put my tongue. Six months of this???? I'm wondering what I got myself into.
Hi Mick, I suggest you tell your orthodontist about this, and if they can't help you, find a new one. This was not my experience, or my daughter's experience, or the experience of anyone I know who had Invisalign. If there was just a small area that had a sharp edge I would have suggested that you file it with an emery board (that happened to me once or twice), but what you're describing is unusual.
I tried invisalign. They are indeed invisible, and super easy to get the mount points installed. Easy to clean too. I had lots of problems with cuts and bleeding and extreme pain. I tried all the tips for making them work, but finally decided there was way too much pain and risk of infection for it to be worth it and had them removed. My Dentist agreed to eat their cost, I was just out $2000 for the invisalign costs.
That's really unfortunate. Based on my own experience I feel like a more experienced provider could have helped you work through it.
I have had invisiline for over 7 years now. You read that right, over 7 years. I must also note I was about 32 when I started.
After careful research, I found an orothodonist in my city who had good reviews and decided to plop down nearly 5 grand. Things started out pretty good. I noticed the spacing between my front teeth closing and the other gaps all starting to line up. My teeth were really pretty straight, even before treatment. But there was one tooth on the bottom that stayed very turned in and did not align. So after initial treatment which took 2 1/2 years (originally told 12-18 months by ortho), I was not happy with this one and only turned in tooth.
Here is where the trouble started. Instead of doing some type of brace procedure to deal with the turned in tooth after my initial trays had finished, he continued to try and use invisiline to fix the issue. Fast forward two years later, tooth still only about 40% fixed. And my initial Invisiline treatment said no more “refinement” trays. He wanted me to pay for an entirely new treatment. I said no way, I paid to have my teeth straightened already to the tune of $5k. I was not dumping 5K more. So we settled on partial braces from him to resolve the issue. I paid another $700 or so.
2 plus years later, I just had what was assumed to be my final “refinement” done. He said six more weeks in the half brace set and we were done. I felt relieved to finally be out of braces after spending nearing 1/5 of my life in them and nearing 40 now. I was shocked and my heart sank when I saw what my teeth looked like now...
I have the biggest gaps I have ever had in my life behind two teeth (incisors). My teeth looked better 5 years ago then they do now! He has ruined my smile, I am embarrassed of it. I have beautiful strong teeth, but they are spaced big enough to fit a dime in the incisor space. I never had this space in my life before. He even took off a bracket and left all of the glue on my tooth last visit.
I could never recommend Invisiline to anyone. Not only did they not give me fair treatment until my teeth were finished wanting to charge me for a whole new set, but if I had started with braces first, I would have corrected the turned in tooth and avoided Year’s of treatment that made my smile an embarrassing mess. And I think the provider was a big part of the problem as well. However, Invisiline had picked him as a “preferred provider”. So they are responsible as well. I am weighing legal action in my case, because my smile has been made worse then before I ever started....
I'm very sorry to hear that. That was not my experience at all, nor my daughter's, nor anyone I know personally.
Bad results and misaligned bites are common. Just google it. I'm one, I hate people casually suggesting things will go fine. Like a third of cases end up with bites worse than they started.
Oh my godddd, this is scaring me! I got Invisalign at 29 thinking I'd have them off by 30... into 30. I had braces as a kid, wore my retainer religiously and was still wearing it at 29 with a permanent retainer at the bottom when I sought out Invisalign. I wanted spaces in my molars corrected, which I suspect was caused by the spacers from braces. Anyway, they told me it would take 15 months tops, 99.9% sure about this estimate. My teeth looked pretty straight and people didn't even know why I wanted them but I knew those spaces would spread to other teeth and I had minor shifts and a space on the bottom where the permanent retainer was-which makes no sense. It has not been 21 months and I still have invisalign... I will not finish this set of trays for another 5 months and at the rate the couple of crooked teeth are moving.... I know I will not be done with the treatment after this set. This is ridiculous and I also would not recommend Invisalign due to the cost, the amount of commitment (I could've done this for 15 months but not this amount of time or more!), and it doesn't even seem like they work as well. Only one of the crooked teeth I currently have was like there prior to invisalign, the 4 others are now like that after invisalign and I still have the huge gaps in my molars. Wish I just got clear braces..... They just keep telling me I am almost done. Started telling me that 5 months into the treatement. Also I wear them the 22 hours... religiously as well.
My first day, and absolutely hate it. I feel like the trays stick out like a sore thumb, the attachments are embarassing. And the expectation of 22 hours a day is unrealistic. And, its totally noticeable, my son's retainer is less visible.
Paid out $3600 , and regret it.
I'm really sorry to hear that. That's basically the opposite experience that my daughter and I had, as well as many other people I know. I wore my trays for almost a week without anyone noticing. I sincerely hope it gets better for you.
I would caution you to not think of 22 hours a day as being unrealistic. It is not only doable, but NECESSARY in order to have a great outcome.
Hello, after years of thinking I should get braces I finnaly took the leap and made the appointment. My orthodontist gave me the option of regular braces and Invisalign.
I am leaning towards the latter.
I am 55 and are not expecting miricals, even 50% improvement would be satisfactory. My doctor said with discipline of wearing 20-24 h a day I should see 80% improvement.
My question is : are you happy with the outcome ?
Would you do it again or get regular braces?
What was the % of improvement in your case?
Thank you very much
Kind regards
Hi Kasha, I'm thrilled with my outcome. I would absolutely get Invisalign again. If you look at this post, you can see some good before-and-after pictures of my teeth: https://amyeverafter.com/2014/06/11/whats-an-occlusal-adjustment-and-why-should-you-ask-your-invisalign-provider-about-one/
However, there are some special considerations for those of us who are older, just so that we know what to expect. If you've had your teeth for decades you've been putting pressure on them while they're crooked, so that when you straighten them vertically, they will still be crooked horizontally, as you see in my pictures from the link above. But the improvement is still HUGE, and I'm so glad I did it!
I go into over-40 considerations a bit more in this post: https://amyeverafter.com/2013/06/05/getting-invisalign-when-youre-over-forty/
If you have any more questions I'm happy to answer them!
I never had braces as a kid because my parents couldn't afford them and always regretted not getting them as my bottom teeth are significantly crooked. My top teeth were not as bad, but as I got older, they started turning in on me more. I am 44 years old and work in a very professional company. When my older brother told me he had invisalign and was almost done, it blew me away! I never noticed he had trays. I went to 3 different dentists and all had suggested I have at least one tooth pulled. I found a "certified" invisalign orthodontist through a Facebook page of people that recommended him. He did tell me that he suggested pulling a front lower tooth and showed me the process and results of previous patients of his. He was very thorough in explaining everything to me - as you had stated about results. I had to wait a few months as I am taking care of my elderly Mom, basically, life happened. But, when I could, I made the appointment and scheduled the tooth pull. The pull was really better than I had ever thought, thanks to my wonderful dentist. I did have root pain 4 days after, but took pain relievers to get me through it. The dentist even took xrays to make sure some other issue didn't come up as I thought another tooth was causing the pain. 10 days after the pull, I had my trays put in. 6 weeks later, I had attachments put on. I am currently on week 7 and still very excited about the progress I am seeing.
I'm 50, starting invisalign treatment now , already had initial appointment. Do you think it is too late? I still want them badly and ready to go thru all complications! :-)
I absolutely think that you should do it! I started at about 40, and my orthodontist was very clear that my teeth would simply not be as straight or pretty as they would have been if I'd fixed them at 20, but that there would still be an enormous improvement. It's like night and day. Have you seen this post? The proof is right there. TOTALLY worth it. https://amyeverafter.com/2014/06/11/whats-an-occlusal-adjustment-and-why-should-you-ask-your-invisalign-provider-about-one/
I got mine at 51. I am 18 weeks in. I have a tooth that was slowly turning sideways and really changed my bite until I finally had to do something about it (lettuce or tomato in a sandwich would pull right out instead of me being able to cut through it when I took a bite). I was also getting a gap between front teeth which I hated. The gap is gone already and top and bottom center lines are getting more centered. In the first days I HATED them. Under my tongue got very cut up (and some soreness on gums, but I could have lived with that) I didn't know how I could deal with my tongue like that for 18 weeks! I found info on filing down rough edges slightly and INSTANTLY it felt better. Glad I did it. Very happy so far.
Just a note (something I didn't know going in but not a big deal) they put clear brackets on some teeth that are more noticeable up close.
[This comment has been removed. If the original poster would like to repost, please include an explanation of your experience.]
Hi Te, could you please give an explanation?
Thank you for writing about your Invisalign experience and for outlining such an honest, grounded approach. I am scheduled for my initial consultation next week and I am really looking forward to getting started.
I am 18 trays into my treatment and I have crippling dizzy spells and headaches that got worse over time from when i started invisalign. I am speaking to my dentist about stopping the treatment plan altogether as this affects my concentration and studies. Its hard to get out of bed every morning. Furthermore my experienced doctor has never even heard of this. Please think carefully about invisalign as beauty matters less than your physical health
I'm really sorry that you're going through that, and I hope you find a solution. But much like your doctor, that is unlike anything I've ever heard of in relation to Invisalign treatment.
Thank you so much for the info about the sores in the mouth. My 16 year old daughter just got her Invisalign 2 days ago. She has complained about the tightness, but that has been easily remedied with alternating Tylenol/Ibuprofen, however, she is also complaining that the trays are cutting her tongue. I wasn't able to reach the orthodontist today, as they are closed, so your info about filing the tray with a nail file will hopefully help.
Good luck! Definitely a solvable problem.
I bought a cheap grinder tool. I use it on every new set because the flanges on the edges cut my mouth. I also grind them down about a good 1/8 inch off the backs of my top front aligners. My orthodontist said it doesn't affect the integrity. If I don't, I will cut the heck out of my tongue. I also use the grinder to round out a lot of the edges so my mouth and tongue "slide" over them instead of getting caught.