If you’ve read my last post you will know I decided to start Invisalign Go treatment to straighten my teeth. This post will cover my initial Invisalign Go consultation and 3D scan appointments.

Once I decided that I was interested in Invisalign Go I booked an appointment with my dental surgery to have initial pictures taken to find out if I would be a suitable candidate for this type of teeth straightening. Surprisingly not everyone is.

It literally took minutes and the photos were taken on the dentist’s phone which is linked to an app. Those initial photos will get you the ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ answer pretty much straight away.

I was quite sceptical that I would actually be suitable for the treatment. There is a LOT of movement required to fix my smile.

However, I was over the moon when the answer came back positive even though it looked like it might be a more difficult case.

I was in and out in 5-10 minutes. There was absolutely no poking and prodding apart from facilitating the best views required on the photos to get the decision either way. But you will at least know there and then.

As I was so chuffed at getting a confirmed ‘Yes’, I literally skipped out of the surgery totally forgetting to make my appointment for the 3D scan. Typical of me to be fair. Anyway the reception staff were brilliant and when I phoned up to make the appointment. We had a laugh over the fact I was a total eejit and just disappeared outside. Obviously with all the Covid19 procedures in place I couldn’t just waltz back in there and sort it.

It was only just over a week later I went back for the 3D scan. My dentist had warned me that this could be uncomfortable. Also any of you regular readers will know I have chronic pain issues so I was not looking forward to this appointment at all.

I won’t lie, it wasn’t pleasant. It was painful for me because of the way my body feels and interprets pain levels. The appointment lasted a good 30 minutes and the dentist was incredibly thorough. Its obviously important for them to get as accurate a picture as possible to allow them to put the treatment plan together and get the aligners right.

It’s uncomfortable for a couple of reasons

* Its a hard surface probe style implement that is run along your gums and teeth to get an incredibly accurate 3D image of your teeth as they are now. It will be uncomfortable for everyone even without chronic pain issues.

*Both top and bottom arches are scanned as it enables them to look at the ‘bite’ placement when you put your teeth together. So it will not be over in 5 minutes.

*Anyone with any hint of an automatic gag reflex will find this quite a long time to try to fight against it. The probe will be inside your mouth for both upper and lower arch scans and you will be asked to try and breathe through your nose throughout. I will say my dentist did give me several times to just rest and take a breath when it got really bad. But be prepared, that part is far from pleasant!

*If like me you have chronic full body muscular skeletal pain this just wont just be uncomfortable, it will actually hurt. It hurts because you have to stay relatively still with your jaw open. I found my neck and jaw cramped against the pressure needed to keep my head still, so that the scanner can get the best pictures required.

 

However, with this whole Invisalign Go investment I am in the mindset of no pain no gain! I know the aligners will hurt me more than most people just because of how my body feels pain. My son is very curious to see how I get on once I actually start treatment, as he was the last person to have braces in this house!

Surprisingly my initial treatment plan and simulated outcome known as the ‘Clincheck’ came back the next day. However, just because of commitments etc I couldn’t book an appointment to get back to see them until about 10 days later.

That was last week and I was absolutely chuffed with the simulated outcome.

There were 2 types of Invisalign treatment simulations. One is Invisalign Go which straightens an arch of 10 teeth. The other is Invisalign Go Plus which does all the teeth in the arch and is much more expensive! You can pretty much go between both simulations to see if there is a huge difference, which would obviously help you to decide what’s best for you.

 

Thankfully, there was virtually no visible difference in the front 10 teeth on both my top and bottom arch between both simulations. Obviously you could see the back teeth had movement on the Invisalign Go Plus simulation. But for me those back teeth are never seen!

The decision is completely yours to make.

My dentist did not pressure me either way and in fact pointed out that the only difference would have been the very back teeth. I felt comfortable making the decision to stick with Invisalign Go at the lower set price but get both arches done as it was only an extra £300.

This is because both sets of aligners are made at the same time regardless. There are no extra appointments to have the extra arch done and no extra chair time.

It was a complete no brainer for me and a total bonus to know I would be getting both my top and bottom teeth straightened!

 

My Treatment

*I have been told my treatment will be 20 weeks. I’m truly shocked at this as I though with how crooked my teeth are that it would take longer!

*There will be a point where I will need an tiny amount taken off certain teeth to allow for the full movement. I can tell you I cannot even contemplate this right now as I will freak out and not go back if I think about it too much! I’m probably best going in blind to that appointment with no prior knowledge that could ramp up the dental anxiety!

*I will need tiny little grips (not actually sure what they are called) added to certain teeth before I start using the aligners.

* I will be having both the top and bottom arch done at the same time!

* I will be fitted for retainers at the end that I will have to use to stop my teeth from moving again.

 

 

Now I have come this far I cannot wait to get my treatment on the go. Impatient as always!

I have signed the consent form and paid an upfront cost as I want to pay as I go.

However, there are payment options available so you can spread the cost over a year or possibly more if you need to in order to make it more of an affordable option.

As I said in my previous post my dental surgery was not the cheapest locally, however after my clincheck results I was able to make the decision to have my bottom arch also straightened at the same time for just an extra £300 on the set quoted price which can be found on their website.

So my aligners have now been ordered and I have been advised it could take 10-14 days for them to come back.

I will do an update once my treatment gets started and let you know how I am getting on.

In the meantime if you have had Invisalign treatment what tips do you have for me?