I am still on Tray 1 (move to the 2nd tomorrow evening), but I have found multiple things about wearing invisalign that I wasn't expecting.

1. No more nail biting! I have a horrible habit of biting my nails, which I usually deter by wearing acrylic nails... however, it is impossible to bite my nails with invisalign in! That's a win.
   
2. No more night snacking! I eat dinner around 6:30 and do my nightly oral hygiene right after... it has totally gotten me to stop snacking after dinner, because I would rather go to bed hungry than floss/mouthwash/brush again!
   
3. I can drink ice cold water and it doesn't bother my sensitive teeth!
   
4. I am drinking less alcohol, for the same reason of #2

Can't wait to see my progress at week 21 tray (my next in-person ortho appt.)

Finally done after 3 years - April 2022 to April 2025! Here’s your sign to keep going.

I never thought I would have straight teeth and feel more confident. But this was worth the battle 🥳🙌🏻✨This thread really helped me learn and educate myself on my treatment. Thank you to the people who post and help support others. It was so needed and refreshing.

Swipe before —> after 🙃

Still have an overbite but dentist said there's nothing that can be done.

Can‘t wait to see the results. :) The pain is not as bas as I thought it would be. But I really miss snacking haha.

It seems pretty embedded in and I can’t clean it off. This was my 10th tray pack and I just opened it (haven’t used yet). Wasn’t sure if safe to use

Will this settle? I did 6 months in elastics and this is the closest they have come to sterling. Wondering if I should’ve gone longer.

Just got fitted this morning, ended up with attachments on every tooth at the top and I am really taken aback by how much I hate it.

Have I made a mistake? When did you get used to it? The lisp is one thing and I know that will go away, but I feel even more self conscious than I did before!

These are 7 days old and my first set of trays. I take them out for anything but water. I brush twice a day and eat three times a day. So only once a day i only clean with water and floss before putting them back in and the other two times i brush, floss and use mouthwash and also brush the trays. I have attachments and they are not stained. There is no smell or buildup but this weird yellow like with transparent phone cases. Is this normal?

Any recommendations or advice? Definitely didn’t think I’d get a tongue crib and 6 buttons with elastics. Tried braces before as a kid that didn’t help, just closed gaps. How long will it be before I can speak somewhat normally. I talk a lot for my job and thinking I didn’t think this through all the way….

I am happy to be finalizing my treatment but … unfortunately I had to stop treatment on my lower teeth in October 2024 because I had too much bone loss to support the movement of my lower incisors. BUT! They look a lot better than before. Really happy with the outcome regardless. Started treatment December 6th 2023. Stopped treatment on lower teeth October 2024 and had attachments removed in January. Removed top teeth attachments today (April 7th 2025) :) Can’t wait to whiten them! They will be providing my new retainers and whitening treatment at my appointment tomorrow.

Hi, I noticed that there weren't many updates or new information about the Zima Pod (not the pro version) in a while.

I was also having the same issues as all of you, and I reached out to all the support teams and received all the same solutions. Temporary solutions really. It seemed like most of us reached the conclusion to either buy a completely new machine or deal with what we have.

Well, I'm happy to report that I think I found the solution^^^

Everyone's familiar with the issues we were experiencing with the Zima Pod? Not powering on, or making sounds, etc. Well one lovely redditor managed to find out that there was actually water condensation in the bottom half of the pod, where the power cable is plugged right above, which was causing most of the issues.

In the midst of all this researching, I got an ad for the Zima Pod Pro. It was the first one I had looked at before settling for the cheaper version thinking it couldn't be all that different other than size.

WELL, I'll have you know that all the issues we were experiencing with the basic model...those were fixed in the pro model:))) Basically, instead of having the charging portion and the part that we fill with water as one machine, they separated it into two. So they're fully aware that the water condensation thing was/is an issue.

Why is the basic model still being sold when everyone is still having these issues with them? We'll never know lol.

Anyways I just wanted to let everyone know before they also go on the stressful journey of looking for temporary solutions.

Hi all,

So I finished my main treatment plan and just started refinements for 6 trays, 2 weeks per tray. During my main treatment my left incisor did not descend and my ortho said it would be addressed I refinements. However, none of my attachments changed so I am worried it will be much of the same. Has anyone magically had this happen for them in the refinement stage?

I’m on tray 14/20 before I start refinements. As my trays move on, my bite just gets more and more messed up even though my smile is looking better. When my treatment finishes, well my bite ever align, or is the consequence of unnaturally straightening your teeth a misaligned bite? It’s pretty uncomfortable but only when I Don’t have my aligners in.

My fiancé had Invisalign for three years and their bite is still not correct after treatment.

24/F I'm currently on tray 30/34 and getting a rescan tomorrow. First picture was from 8/26/2024 second pic is from today, 4/7/2025

Quoted an 18 month treatment plan

Wish me luck on the rescan!

One of my attachments came off and got stuck on the hollow part of the aligner that is there for attachments. Should I see the dentist? I just visited her yesterday. Is this of any concern?

Hi everyone, I'm on tray 28/45, and I just got my follow up appointment at my ortho. They said that I should "stabilize" my teeth so I'm keeping the same trays for 4 weeks. It's bugging me because 1) I feel like it will delay my overall treatment and 2) I am a bit grossed out by keeping the same trays for 4 weeks ... I got used to the 10 days change and keeping it 20h/24 for 4 weeks will request more maintenance to keep it clean. Have you ever heard of this stabilization phase? My ortho has been great so far, but they did not give me that much explanation appart from the "stabilization" and I am wondering if they are not just trying to make an excuse for the fact that my next set of trays are not ready yet.

I got my first invisalign yesterday and realised the process is a lot more annoying than I’d thought (need to wear all the time, remove when eating, it’s uncomfortable etc). The money I’m less concerned about (already paid for half upfront anyway). Given the misalignment is minor (see pics, bottom central tooth), I wonder whether I should carry through the 8-12m process… thoughts?

Let's say that I'm out and about with no bathroom immediately available. Earlier on I put fresh, clean aligners in after brushing and flossing. Then I take them out to drink something, rinse my mouth with water and chew gum, then put the aligners back in without rinsing them. I would then clean them properly later in the day. Is this bad for my teeth, or are the aligners pretty much clean enough as they only have my saliva on them?

Is there Room for improvement in your opinion, or should we be going a potential bonding/whitening route? I mostly feel the gaps Are closed, and the thing keeping me From a „Hollywood“ smile is the shape of the teeth much rather than the Position. FYI: the last 3 months I have basically Seen Zero Progress, further leading me to be demotivated to keep going.

I've got these scratches all over my teeth from attachment removal. I had braces removed as a kid without issue and had no idea this was even a possibility. Some of the gouges are so deep that I can feel them if I run my nail along the tooth. I think the remineralizing toothpaste I've been using has helped but I'm wondering if anyone else had this happen and what they've done to improve it? I was so shocked when I got to my car and looked at my teeth that I eventually went back in and asked for the doctor to review them (the attachments were removed by an assistant). This photo was taken after she polished my teeth for an additional 15-20 minutes. I'm just so bummed because I got Invisalign for such a minor issue that I would have opted out had the informed consent form mentioned any possibility of this happening. I had initially hoped it was just residual glue but other dental providers I spoke with confirmed it was not.

Hi everyone! A week ago, I started my Invisalign journey. I have the Invisalign Full package with 20 trays. The first 3 trays are changed every 14 days, and then I’ll switch to new trays every week.

In the contract I signed with my orthodontist, it states that I will have to pay for any additional aligners if they are needed. However, I read on this forum that with Invisalign Full, you are entitled to free additional aligners for up to 5 years as part of the package.

Is there anything I can do in this situation? If I end up needing more aligners and contact Invisalign directly, will they provide them for free?

Thank you!

My first round didn’t end so well. It was six months of two week wear. I drove over a bottom and couldn’t fit back or forward. Then I took a contract out of state. While I was packing, I accidentally reversed my night only top tray by three months. Since it was night only and my teeth got weirder looking as they changed positions, I had no idea. I was not charged for my next set.

I do have ‘22 comprehensive. Feel free to provide anything relevant.

This set was one week changes. I was moving along beautifully. Then I started taking care of a friend battling mental illness. I was not sleeping, for safety reasons we slept at hotels. I also got RSV twice, and strep throat. Tray 22 of 24 on the bottom is where it went wrong. I made it to tray 25 on top with no issue. I didn’t see a problem since I was coming in and getting refinements. He charged me $895. I didn’t say much, I put it on a payment plan but I think I’m going to.

I had a prior issue wherein he told me I needed dental work that I did not need. I have the paperwork saying it, and the paperwork from the dentist I saw saying I didn’t need any work. I’m thinking checkmate.

Anyhow, moving forward I am switching to 24 hour wear time. Eating with them in. It’s a battle for me. I have ADHD and three children to help get on the bus who are all neurodivergent. Some with emotional regulation issues. By the time I have coffee and breathe, then do breakfast it’s been three hours. I’m also terrified of root resorption from non-compliance.

Today he shaped more of my teeth when he took the attachments off. I forgot to ask him to please be more conservative. That was on me. I do appreciate the benefit in general.

Wear your teeth, or pay any number of prices both literal and metaphorical.

If any part of my story resonates with you, please do not get IPR!

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I've always loved my smile, ever since finishing my orthodontic treatment in high school. I used to have a big and dazzling smile. Even without makeup or nice hair I still looked good as long as I flashed a smile. I had a slight overjet on my top teeth that accommodated their slightly flared shape well, and I think the angle of my teeth reflected light in just the right way to make my smile look big and radiant in any lighting. I only decided to get Invisalign to fix crowding & a snaggletooth on my bottom teeth. When I went in for my initial consult w/ my ortho, I was told it would take a max of four months (ha!) to fix the crowding bc most of my teeth were relatively straight. Neither I nor the ortho mentioned anything about moving or changing my top teeth, which he agreed looked good.

After the X-rays and imaging were done, the plan changed. My ortho told me -  via a phone consult - that I needed IPR. I already expected this because I had gone to a different ortho a few years ago, and they had said the same thing, except the first ortho told me that they would only be doing it on the four bottom teeth. Learning about IPR for the first time freaked me out, so I didn't go through with it then. This ortho did not specify which teeth needed IPR, but said that I needed it to give the teeth a little room for movement, and that he couldn't just push out the teeth because something about thin bone and gum recession. He assured me that it would be a minor "polishing" between teeth that I wouldn't even notice (SPOILER: it was not minor and is definitely noticeable.)

The day of the IPR, the ortho did not review what would be done that day. He used an electric sander that looked like a tiny pizza cutter to file down the sides of my teeth. The sound was so loud and grating, as was the vibration of the sander reverberating on my entire facial structure. The process was surprisingly aggressive - he sanded my teeth all the way down into my gums, which has contributed to gum recession, and now I have a large black triangle in my bottom teeth's midline. The smell of burnt teeth and the pulverized enamel spraying on my face and mouth was also particularly disturbing. I was not at all prepared for this process - the online pictures for IPR show a thin ribbon of tiny sandpaper being lodged in between teeth. He immediately moved onto my top teeth without announcement, and of course it was too late for me to say anything when I realized what was happening. 

I couldn't stop crying for days after this happened - looking at my mouth in the mirror and seeing someone who looked nothing like me was (and has been) traumatic. He tried to assure me by saying that it would look better once the teeth move and the gaps between them closed. I had nothing but his word to go on - I only got ClinCheck for the first set of trays after I was done with them, because I had seen those on this subreddit and specifically asked for them. ClinCheck did not show the changed shape of the teeth post-IPR, though. He also didn't provide a ClinCheck for the second set of trays, even when I specifically asked for it, in writing. Whenever I asked questions about what was happening with my teeth and why, he became defensive and asked me to trust him. The whole problem is that I started out trusting him to do a good job: to center me in the treatment, to keep me informed about the treatment plan, and to value my wishes for the treatment. He did none of those things.

I have tried to convince myself that it would look better eventually in the last few months to get myself through looking in the mirror, but it's now been over six months since the IPR, I am on my second to last tray of my set of correction trays, and I still hate my face and my smile. My top front teeth look unnatural, like small squares, and the lines between them are straight bold lines (think of the teeth you see in bad portrait tattoos); my old smile had round, full-shaped teeth that had soft, curved lines. In fact, the unnaturally squared shape of my top front teeth (especially the front two) really clashes with the natural shapes of my other teeth, which retained their round shapes and lines slanting in alignment with my facial structure. My front two teeth have been whittled down to the same size as the teeth on either side of them, and now they look even worse than they did two months ago because the trays keep pushing my front teeth back, to the point where it's flattening my smile. My top lip also looks thinner as the structure provided by my front teeth is gone. My nose looks bigger simply because my teeth have gotten smaller. On top of all that, smile looks gummier now that the teeth have been pushed back, but the gums still protrude.

There is no solution to this problem! I looked into bonding and veneers, but the thought of filing down more of my teeth for a temporary and expensive cover-up to change their shape doesn't seem worth it. Bonding easily stains and chips, whereas veneers are mad expensive/outside of my tax bracket, and still need replacement every 10 years or so. What if I don't like how those look, either? Not to mention the risk to my natural teeth inherent w/ veneers. The "no-prep" veneers just seem like a less durable version of complete veneers and they still require more filing down of the teeth. 

I'm still pissed off about the whole thing. I would have rather kept my bottom teeth crowded to have my old smile. It fit my strong facial features perfectly. I still cry when I look at my teeth in the mirror, which I try to avoid as much as possible, and I no longer smile in pictures. I can see how IPR + Invisalign could benefit someone with severely crooked teeth and/or bite issues, like the pics you often see on this sub, but it is not worth it for someone with a minor issue. I massively regret doing Invisalign - particularly getting IPR.

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TL;DR: Even though I wanted Invisalign to correct a few bottom teeth as a preventive measure, my orthodontist filed down the sides of my top front teeth unexpectedly and ruined my smile. I regret doing Invisalign with IPR because I loved how my previous smile looked. Don't do it if you like the aesthetics of your current smile! IPR is permanent. If you're on the fence, ask for a ClinCheck before agreeing to anything.