PSA: my honest experience with Invisalign and now braces…

I must have scoured the Internet to help me make this decision. I am compiling the pros &cons based on my experience as an adult woman - it WILL NOT apply to everyone:)

First things First: please pick an orthodontist. Dentists do not have the training to troubleshoot when things do not track.

Why I had to switch: two of my teeth (most crucial) were not tracking despite compliant wear over 8 months….

Appearance: Point to Invisalign! But please remember that there are attachments. Also, aligners can get discolored. Changing an aligner in public is not the most appealing thing to look at!

Food choices: Another point to Invisalign. There is no restriction on crunchy foods, etc. I found timing three meals, coffee, snacks, brushing, and flossing after each food consumption very tedious…. If you are grazer, please think about this.

Pain: Both hurt! Braces hurt every four weeks or so when they make adjustments. Also, you need wax, etc., for the discomfort in the inner mouth. Invisalign hurts with every tray change (7-14 days). Some trays hurt every time I put them back in after eating.

Hygiene: Both require more attention to dental hygiene. Invisalign can be TOO much. Brushing and flossing 3-4 times a day—in between work—can be too much, especially when life gets hard…If you let it slip, you will have a much higher risk of cavities! With braces, I invested in a water pik and Costco had a portable one, which I use at work.

Pricing/Frequency of Appointments: braces rely on the orthodontist to make adjustments, so you have to go in more frequently. Invisalign has less frequent appointments. For this reason, the price at my orthodontist practice was very similar. You pay for the orthodontist's time over the raw material.

What is your personality?: There were weeks when work and life got crazy, and my teeth were the last thing I wanted to worry about! With braces, I know it is working in the background. Even if I don’t have time for a detailed floss - I can rinse my mouth with a water pik for 30 seconds and get on with my day. I also wouldn’t recommend Invisalign to my children. They just don’t have the frontal cortex development to keep up with it!

If I had to do it all over again: I would value my TIME over my VANITY and choose metal braces…and save 8 months! Hindsight….Oh well 🤷🏻‍♀️

EDIT: I am not anti-Invisalign. If my teeth had tracked, I would have stuck it out. We always celebrate the successful ones. I just think it is important to discuss the less successful cases.

EDIT 2: In case it is not obvious, water pik doesn’t replace flossing! The only difference is that our saliva has antimicrobial properties and also waiting 30-60 min between eating and brushing helps our saliva re-mineralize the enamel (source:ADA). So, while using Invisalign, our teeth are not in contact with saliva for 20 plus hours. Hence, I was extra paranoid about cavities/losing enamel.