Invisalign

Toothsmith

Veneers in their right situation are a perfectly good restoration, and have their place.

I just object to them being sold as a 'quick fix' for straight teeth.

The only thing that can last you your whole life is a tooth untouched by dental drill. Once something has been done to a tooth, that 'thing' has a lifespan, and the thing that has to be done to replace it when it fails will be that little bit more destructive, will have a slightly shorter lifespan, ........ and so it goes on.

So, there are a whole load of people out there who are being taken from patients who will need very little dental work throughout their lives, and being turned into quite 'high need' patients. (Great if you're a 'restorative' dentist!!)

Getting your teeth straightened by ortho is far better than having them straightened by having some enamel chopped off and replaced by porcelain in the long term.

How long veneers last is very much down to the individual patient who has them. But one thing is for certain - they will not last you a (normal) lifetime.

brook2jack

Veneers do not last forever , they need replacing for most people, after 10 to 15 years.

Most veneers require removal of enamel , and those done in large numbers normally require large amounts of enamel removed. Every time a drill touches a tooth ,the tooth can potentially die off. Everytime a veneer is replaced more tooth is removed and often there is not sufficient enamel for another veneer so you end up with a crown.

Veneers are often "sold" as an alternative to orthodontics (braces). On the whole braces will cause no irreversible harm , but the minute a veneer is placed you have irreversibly removed tooth tissue and commited a patient to a lifetime of maintaince,replacement and eventual crowns.

There are many cases where veneers are excellent and less damaging than a crown (eg to cover tetracycline staining) but I personally would not be happy to irreversibly damage a tooth as an alternative to braces unless there was a really compelling case.

brook2jack

crossed over post, but shows TS is not the only one against porcelain deficiency syndrome (the habit of American dentists in particular to chop down healthy teeth to give a twyfords porcelain smile).

Acc72

I understand what you are saying - I wanted to give more balance to the debate.

You are clearly against veneers, and there are many dentists who are in favour of veneers.

There are advantages and disadvantages to other treatments also. eg. with braces there is an ongoing maintenance (and cost issue) and the teeth may move back.

I also understand that wearing brace can damage/ distort the jaw etc.

A few years ago, treatment of teeth was made on purely a functional basis, whereas today people also taking appearance into consideration and weighing up the potential risks of all treatment.

brook2jack

Acc72 wrote: »

I understand what you are saying - I wanted to give more balance to the debate.

You are clearly against veneers, and there are many dentists who are in favour of veneers.

There are advantages and disadvantages to other treatments also. eg. with braces there is an ongoing maintenance (and cost issue) and the teeth may move back.

I also understand that wearing brace can damage/ distort the jaw etc.

.

I don't think you've read TS post properly. The point is not that anyone is against veneers in their place ,but their place is not to replace brace work.

With braces there is no maintainance other than the wearing of retainers which may cost £70 every few years.

Wearing braces can actually correct jaw problems and bites which veneers never will.

Badly done braces can damage but not nearly as much as badly done veneers which can lead to the loss of teeth.

The vast majority of dentists would NEVER recommend veneers over braces for this sort of situation, but the vast majority of dentists would recommend them in the right clinical situation eg to disguise the shape of a tooth, where they are less destructive than crowns.

As to price a brace at £1800 and minimal costs after is a bargain compared to 8 veneers at £300 a go (£2400) that need replacing and have a much higher biological cost than a brace.(NHS would now never provide 8 veneers).

welshdent

Just to say I am totally in agreement with brook and ts. This isn't really an issue of debate to be honest. It's about clinical options and an indepth awareness of pros
But more importantly - cons. I rarely find veneers are the treatment of choice. But I have done them where they are appropriate.

Stephb1986_2

I think we're only seeing it from a dentist's point of view here and not a person wanting braces? Early last year I asked about veneers and a few people who are also in this thread said about having invisalign instead needless to say I found someone in Chester doing it from £1500 and I also got a quote from a dentist in Liverpool charging a flat rate of £3000 no matter how much work you needed.

I did go to the dentist in Chester and since October I have had invisalign it's cost me in total £1,695 and if I wanted laser whitening afterwards (it does include some sort of teeth whitening) it would be an extra £70, I've had in total 15 uppers and 12 lowers but think I might need one or two more lowers and one or two more uppers. It also includes check ups for 12 months afterwards and either a fixed retainer or one that you wear to bed.

My teeth are looking fantastic and can't believe the difference

If you have any more questions from someone that is using invisalign then feel free to pm me, dentists can only answer from a professional prospective.

Steph

hanval

I've just signed up for Invisalign & am going to get my aligners next week.

I'm a little nervous, as there are good and bad reports on the net and hope the taking out/putting of aligners won't be too difficult. But quite honestly, I don't think I'd want conventional braces. Cost for me £2500 for a 14 month treatment.

My dentist does a lot of Invisalign and can offer it cheaper for that reason. I had a free consultation where he explained it all to me and answered all my questions.

Hope you make the right decision!

Stephb1986_2

hanval wrote: »

I've just signed up for Invisalign & am going to get my aligners next week.

I'm a little nervous, as there are good and bad reports on the net and hope the taking out/putting of aligners won't be too difficult. But quite honestly, I don't think I'd want conventional braces. Cost for me £2500 for a 14 month treatment.

My dentist does a lot of Invisalign and can offer it cheaper for that reason. I had a free consultation where he explained it all to me and answered all my questions.

Hope you make the right decision!

It's really simple when you get the hang of it for the first few days I used the hook that you get provided now I can easily do it with my fingers and can take them in and out quicker than the dentist.

I will say though that as you are supposed to wear them 22 hours a day don't think that you can get away with not doing it because when you do put your braces back in it hurts quite badly for the first 5-10 minutes so do wear them as instructed.

Steph

bacardi66

Hi

My front top teeth were crooked and I had the Inman aligner for 4 months and then Invisalign - all in all it took about 8 months - the Invisalign does work fairly slowly compared to the Inman Aligner but is so much easier to wear, take in and out etc

Its the best thing I ever did and Ive no regrets at all so I would say go for it and Invisalign is very user friendly and no one would know you are wearing it (unlike the cumbersome Inman) however I do know some people whose Invisalign treatment has dragged on for 18 months.

Veneers were an option but as I have good teeth and never had any fillings or dental work its wasn't a road I wanted to go down.

The most important thing after your treatment is to wear your retainers to keep the teeth from moving back into their original position which has happened to a friend of mine. Over a year from finishing treatment I still wear an overnight retainer most nights and also have a fixed retaining wire on the back of my teeth.

Good luck and enjoy your new smile:T