Invisalign problems

Nicki

I wondered whether any of the dentists who post on here, could tell me whether they have been having problems with invisalign, if they use them, please?

I started a treatment with invisalign last September, which was due to be 31 aligners on top and 24 on bottom. It took them longer than expected to produce the aligners in the first place (about 5 weeks when I was told 1 week for software and 1 week after software approved for aligners).

The bottom set were always fine but the top set stopped fitting well at about aligner 6. Dentist initially said that this was because my teeth were moving faster than predicted and that all was well, but after another 4 or 5 sets of aligners, the top set were so badly fitting that they were unwearable. Dentist did new impressions and sent it off to Invisalign in the third week of April. They took ages to come back with the new aligners, and when they arrived they still didn't fit! I had been wearing the last set that fitted at night every night since the impressions were made as retainers as advised by dentist so its unlikely the teeth had moved since the impressions were made.

Invisalign then said they would redo all the aligners and software for me as though I were a new patient, rather than a midcourse correction, and that the software would be ready a week after impressions and aligners a week later. The UK manager would personally oversee the case so there would be no further delays. Spoke to my dentist today as its more than 2 weeks since the impressions were taken, and the software is still "in production" according to invisalign, and the UK manager who is supposed to be overseeing the case and speeding it through is on holiday until the end of August.

Does any of this sound plausible? Is my dentist feeding me a line? It sounds strange to me that anyone would be able to go on holiday for more than 6 weeks, much less an employee of an american company as american holiday entitlements are very stingy. I've paid the full £3,500 more than 6 months ago, yet my teeth are only very slightly better than they were at the start of the treatment (6 out of 31 aligners worth I'd say :rolleyes:) Since starting the treatment I've become pregnant. Had the inital timetable been stuck to, I'd be just finishing the course at my due date, with maybe a few corrections to follow, but I'm now only 8 weeks from my due date with no sign of aligners coming, and having regular 6 weekly dental appointments with a newborn would be a real pain in the a$$. I'd never have chosen to start the invisalign course at this point in my life!

Any ideas of what to do/advice about your own experiences please?

brook2jack

Some of my orthodontic colleagues will not do these sort of braces because of the very poor customer service from these companies( there are several that do this type of work). Maybe because a uk dentist does not have the same volume of work they are so poor at sorting problems out or maybe because they are having a huge increase in work due to heavy advertising and can't keep up. Ironic when the laboratory costs are very expensive.

You could enquire about a conventional fixed brace if you have not far to go .