[littlebrother]

Hi, I liked the fact you emphasised on functionality as one of your key requirement, more so than esthetics. My advise to this is to attend to all your oral needs while at it, meaning not just braces but make sure to replace all your missing teeth for complete functionality and correction of your bite.

Fixed vs braces

First find a good Orthodontist ie choose a good driver for your journey. Sadly, you're going to take the back seat in this journey.

Someone who is a certified Invisalign specialist, but who also has done a good amount of normal fixed braces therapy. Why ? To achieve the best possible result (depending on each patient) even though if you choose clear aligners (any brand), you may have to use fixed braces or other appliances at some point. Meaning, majority of the treatment might be in clear aligners but if required, few phases of it can only be achieved in conventional therapy. Clear aligners require strict case selection, not all cases can be done by clear aligners. But in most cases, clear aligners can be used(Majority of your treatment phase) . So ask your orthodontist, how does it look for you?

Advantages of clear aligners:
1. Comfort: Easy to wear. No difficulties while eating, speaking or even to maintain oral hygiene.
2. Esthetics: during the course of treatment. It's clear and almost invisible and not as bulky as fixed braces hence not so obvious to others that you're taking a braces therapy at this point of time.
3. Less chances of further decay or gum disease. When on fixed braces, maintaining hygiene is a difficult task. This often leads to new further decays, inflammed gums, demineralised spots etc. during or at the end of your therapy. With clear aligners this is significantly reduced.
4. Current situation: With the unpredictability of lockdowns and restrictions becoming a part of our next 5 year plan, you may not able to visit your dentist as regularly as pre covid times. Fixed braces require you to visit your Orthodontist every month for a review or correction. In clear aligners, almost all of your aligners for your entire therapy is already dispensed to you at the beginning of the treatment.

Points against clear aligners.
1. Cost. Significantly higher, especially for Invisalign.
2. Patient co operation is a must. You must stick to your adviced duration of aligner usage, change the aligners at correct intervals without fail. If there's any deviation, then all your aligners(which are yet to be used) are basically useless and have to be redone. This is mostly covered under your treatment charges or few corrections are permissible.


Invisalign vs other aligners.

To put in simple terms, Invisalign is way ahead of any other brands when it comes to their R&D. It's what Invisalign innovates and perfects now, is what other brands later introduces once it's made perfect by Invisalign. We have seen Common rail diesel injection and turbo charging from the Germans decades earlier than few of the mass market market manufacturers in India. We are yet to see Turbo petrols from Honda, Toyota or Maruti successfully in India yet.

But like how you said, if cost is not a consideration, the end result is. Both the Germans and mass market manufacturers (Invisalign , other brand clear aligners & fixed braces) vehicle will take you to your final destination of getting your teeth corrected with proper functionality and bite. It is upto you to choose and invest in the brand in which you'd like the journey to be taken in confidently. Be sure to choose a proper driver (certified orthodontist), that's the choice you really need to make and he/she will advice you the best routes for you.

I like to appreciate you for taking an orthodontic treatment and not shying away from it because of the common misconception age requirement that revolves around orthodontic treatment. Yes it's best done at a certain age, but at any age you can take your treatment and it does wonders.

Wisher you an even more wider grin in the coming days while driving your 530d and other vehicles.

[Straight6_N54]

I was on Invisalign treatment and the correction is brilliant. My dentist is an expert in Invisalign and after assessing my crossbite he was very confident with Invisalign.
I had 35 trays, each tray each week. Way more comfortable than braces especially while eating. Currently my sister is undergoing Invisalign, she waa required to extract 4 teeth. So far correction is just as expected.

[avira_tk]

First remove impacted wisdom teeth, whatever the braces correct, these will push back. The first order of business should be too get an x ray of the jaw and confirm, some of the correction I achieved with braces was undone by wisdom teeth.

[lordtottuu]

Ha, interesting topic. I think I'll be able to add an interesting view point as well.

I figured out I needed to fix the slight misalignments in my early 20s as it was really eating into my self esteem. Went with invisialign instead of regular braces due to aesthetics.

Cost was 1.3 lakhs back in 2013, might be 2012. Had to swap out the pair every 2 weeks, with a regular checkup every month. The first few months were horrible but changes were very obvious. Had absolutely no problem with my social life with them on -- all it needed was a discreet visit to the rest room to get them off, and maybe a minute to get accustomed to the feeling.

On a tangent, for the first few months, I found it rather painful to keep putting them back on so in the interest of minimizing pain, I switched to an One Meal a Day (OMAD) diet, which cut out as much refined carbs as possible. Dropped about 15kgs in 3 months and never looked back.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by GTO

Keen on fixing my crooked teeth... Have already lost a few teeth and my bite is damn weird..

My advice: go to a single dentist whom you absolutely trust (personally and / or through references), and who preferably has a standalone or partnership practice. Let that dentist decide the overall treatment plan - tooth alignment (for functional as well as aesthetic purposes) with braces or aligners, bite correction as a part of alignment, tooth replacement (implants, bridges) for the missing teeth, and final bite correction + aesthetics. Then let him call in the specialists he needs - orthodontist, prosthodontist, cosmodontist, oral implantologist, and anyone else.

A forum like is not really the place to find out the pros & cons of treatment modalities. Neither do you want to share personal medical & dental records in a public space. Seek multiple individual dentists' opinions about the treatment plan first, see which you have confidence on, then find your most trustworthy dentist nearby... and just get it done.

My referral on the right guy to draft up the treatment plan to fix your teeth: Dr. Tejas Kothari.

[airguitar]

We have had to get some consultations for a TMJ disorder to space out the teeth better. My wife has had the problem of teeth growing over each other since childhood while aesthetically it's not been "visible", it has affected the quality of life overall and leading to the TMJ condition at the age of 40 ( pain in the jaw permanently, body posture misalignment, sleep quality, eating comfort etc) and the treatment being suggested (measurements, measuring the bite and the invisible braces specifically) is expensive without providing a clear view of how efficient it will and seems an uncomfortable adjustment for her / unsure how hard it is going to be to cope with the braces for the first year or so. The invisible braces worth it ? What's a good clinic in Bangalore for this?