Invisalign is a patented process, which may be available in Mexico, but I wouldn’t assume it is-- or it may be that outside the US, a generic version which is much cheaper is available-- the point is that I don’t know, but it’s something you need to check on before you are certain you can get this in Mexico.
Also, you need to be sure that Invisalign will achieve what you want. It’s my understanding that Invisalign mainly corrects misaligned teeth that are mostly a cosmetic issue, but can’t correct problems with bite, that may require headgear to be attached to the braces, or for correction of badly crowded teeth where the palate needs to be expanded. Braces can expand the palate a little, but something called a “crank,” specifically for palate expansion, might be needed, and I think it works better with braces.
Invisalign is what I tell all my adult patients to check on if they want ortho. As RivkahChaya says doesnt work on bite issues. Better suited for crowding. Also they usually shave a bit of tooth off if they need space to get them past each other. Traditional braces don’t do this.
The two big advantages of invisalign are ability to brush and floss like normal and it is usually less time then traditional. In my neck of the woods the costs are about the same.
FWIIW the device that expands the palate is usually just called a palatal expander. I’ve never heard crank. There a couple of devices named after their inventors but almost no one uses those names.
“Crank” may just be what kids call it then. You crank it a couple of notches with a key periodically, if it’s the device I’m thinking of. I don’t know that they were very common when I was a teen-- I think they used braces and headgear alone to expand palates, and it took a long time (this was the 70s and early 80s), but I worked in a high school in the 90s-2000, plus, my much younger cousin had one, and they were pretty common then, and the kids referred to them as “cranks.”
I believe most of the ones my ortodontists use move 0.25mm for each turn. Takes three or four days per turn depending on how far back in the mouth one reaches.
The internal expanders now do a much better job then the old headgear and not a compliance problem getting the kids to wear them.
I actually needed my palate narrowed-- or, reshaped to match my lower jaw better; I think basically, it’s growth was just restricted for a time. I had a really bad overbite. My teeth were a little crooked, but aesthetically, not terrible (but I had teeth that overlapped, and teeth that gapped in the same jaw); however, my overbite was so severe, I needed the braces to attach the headgear to, and as long as they were doing that, they straightened them as well. I never had anything but a retainer-type appliance for my lower teeth, for a little straightening, and to push the sides of my jaw out a little. My orthodontist said that it wasn’t so much that there wasn’t anything terribly wrong, except my upper and lower teeth looked like they were from two different mouths. He needed to make them match better.
If i were to do invisilign in mexico but only stay 3 months, then i dont go back there anymore and then come back to the usa, will i have to pay the current doctor in the usa the same price had i come to him/her earlier?
Example i read invisiglign cost around $6000 in the usa and $3000 in mexico. So if i just go to the dentist in mexico and dont fully complete the treatment there such as i leave after 3 months and dont come back every 3 months or 6 months, and i have to go to dentist in usa, will i be paying more total?
2. Same question but with braces.
3. What if you do those other procedure like crown or pulling teeth off or something like that? If i stay 3 months and have no plans to go back there every 3 month or 6 month, does that mean going to mexico to do dental work is a waste of money?
I had figured if i get the invislign into my mouth that would be the initial cost. Then after that, i see them every month or few month etc and those costs shouldnt be a lot. But if i see the new dentist in the usa say 3 months afterwards, im sure they could do follow up etc but i assume the cost of it isn’t that i have to pay more fee b/c i already did the invislign thing already in my teeth?
What one dentist charges isn’t necessarily the same as what another dentist charges. So if one charges only a small amount for a follow-up visit for Invisalign braces you’ve had installed elsewhere, another dentist might charge a lot more.
And then there’s the fact that you don’t even know if Invisalign braces are right for you. Perhaps braces wouldn’t help at all, or perhaps you need the regular sort.
Instead, have you considered visiting a local dentist (and perhaps an orthodontist) and asking him or her for a consultation? You might also talk to the dentist/orthodontist and tell him/her what you’re proposing (i.e., to get some of the work done in Mexico but to return to the local dentist for the follow-up care).
Yes im actually visiting a dentist this week for cleaning and xray etc first. However, i have to know if im going to head to mexico very soon. Im kinda short on time and in a big rush which is the reason. http://blog.dianaschnuth.com/2013/02/14/operation-braceface-day-92/
My middle front tooth on the bottom looks very similar to like this person where its pushed very back. And the few teeth surrounding that teeth theres alot of white stuff around the bottom like damaged gums? Im not sure what to even say.
But if i have that middle front tooth on the bottom like that person in the picture would you say that is 100 percent invisalign or braces then?
There are a few dentists on this message board, but even they aren’t going to be able to tell you what sort of treatment you need without examining you, and I’ll bet that they’d need x-rays for a proper diagnosis.
Pauly01, it is like Dewey Finn said, hard to say without an exam. To get one tooth past another in a situation like the picture traditional braces would probably be better. Another common option is to extract the one tooth and close the space with invisalign. Generally less than a year for that if everything else is fairly good. They also put what appears to be a fake tooth in the aligner so it isn’t obvious a tooth is missing. To keep the tooth and move it into place is probably two years with traditional braces.
Hey thanks for that information. But invisilign would not be good option for that in the picture? Why braces as oppose to that?
Isn’t extracting the one tooth an option most people wouldnt want to do? So someone like this wouldn’t be able to do invisilign without losing a tooth?
Im bit confused. That middle tooth in the bottom thats pushed back, you saying thats a real or not real tooth?
invisalign is probably not a good option because to get teeth to move past each other they shave the edges. This is how it was when I took the course 8 years ago, things may have changed since then. To shave enough to get that one through the space you wouldn’t have anything left.
Extracting the tooth takes a few minutes and reduces treatment time from about 2 years for braces to 6 months to a year for invisalign.
What I said (maybe not clearly) is that after the extraction, during treatment, they color the aligner where the tooth was so it doesn’t look like there is a space during treatment.
People have four premolars removed all the time for traditional braces. One incisor is much less of a deal.
Okay like to get back to this. I saw the dentist few months ago in ny and was told i have gingivitus and they saw the crookedness of the bottom teeth. They also said they would recommend i pull out 2 wisdom teeth as well. They said theyu would recommend me another dentist as he wouldnt be able to do this.
I asked him if i would be able to fix my crooked teeth with braces/invisilign. He told me yes i would and mentioned how invislign theres less pain and easier but it cost more. Also that it requires a weekly or a visit every 2 week i believe? I said so if i move around every few months that would be tough then right and i was told yes.
The weekly visits are to get the new aligners. If the teeth don’t need adjusting(shaving a bit off) they could presumably give you all the aligners at once and you just change to a new one every two weeks. Often they want you to come in to make a payment when getting the aligners.
Ask how much tooth sculpting you’ll need. If it is all paid for I don’t know why they couldn’t give you everything up front. Of course they couldn’t make corrections it needed as not everything always goes according to plan in dentistry.
Personally I’d go farther than Mexico. Mexico prices are based on US prices and often quoted as a percent of US prices. Try the Dominican Republic, where it’ll cost 1/3 what Mexico will cost and you can enjoy the beach. I paid $4.50 for an exray the other day
Hey rsat3acr, if one wants to do invisilign, u would say the person should have to be living in the same location for at least how long? You mentioned that braces take 1.5 to 2 years normally but do invisilign take a bit shorter time?
Thus if i go to mexico say for 6 months, then dont even bother doing invisilign? Thus its not enough time? I really wouldnt want to do braces mainly because well it looks bad physically. I heard there are clear braces but even those look not so good right and thus invislign is pretty much the only thing that doesn’t show you have braces?