I did Invisalign, started when I was 61, wore them for just under 2 years. The only problem I had was with the very first set of trays, it takes some adjustment to get used to talking! And the inside of my lips and cheeks were being rubbed raw from moving over the trays - easily solved with an emery board to smooth out a couple of places. Fingers may not pick it up but the sensitive skin in your mouth will and then you know where to smooth. The tech taught me that trick and the ortho concurred. There is very little that cannot be done with Invisalign and if the ortho you see feels you are a candidate, you might consider them instead of braces. I have lived through both although the braces I had as a teen were much more heavy duty that what is used now - even so, I would do Invisalign over braces. So much easier to take care of your teeth (flossing) since you aren't eating with appliances on your teeth.

DLM, did the Invisalign do what you hoped it would do at the outset? And do you wear any kind of a retainer now?

Yes and yes - I had a top tooth that had started twisting and it looked dark and shadowed in photos so I became self conscious and smiled awkwardly. Had always something of a picket fence on the bottom, too. Both issues were corrected as well as some other bite issues. I was not going for a Hollywood look but just a better version of my own smile.

I was a VERY uncooperative teen patient, never wore head gear during treatment or retainers after so nothing stayed put. As an adult I was a model patient. I wear top and bottom trays to bed every single night. They last anywhere from 2 - 5 or 6 years depending on if your clench or grind. I do both and mine last about 3 years. Just got a new set this week.

Hi Ida,

My eldest had traditional braces for four years in her teens. Headgear, palette spreader and then perm implanted lower jaw retainer. I could have added a wing to my house for what I paid for all that. She had severe need, so may not be applicable to your case.

She's 30 now and her teeth shifted over the years even with a night retainer and the perm lower jaw implant retainer, to the point her bite was negatively affected. She lamented on what to do for two years. Went to a respected and experienced orthodontist and he said invislign would be best for her situation. Sounds like what she had dealt with in last few years is more along the lines of what you are experiencing.

She opted for Invisalign based on the ortho's recommendation and has been very happy. She ends her 18 month program this spring.

She too had difficulty learning how speak properly when the trays were new to her. But then she got the hang of it. She hasn't had the irritation from the trays like DLM had, but it's good DLM shared that info with you in case you encounter this issue--and how to work around it.

Dd feels it was worth the time and expense as her bite feels normal again and the pressure she was complaining about for about two years before invislign is now gone. Perhaps she was feeling something similar to what you are describing.

Wishing you good outcome!

My sister is a dental hygienist and at 61 is about to start wearing braces. She is doing it for dental health and for aging health. By preserving your own teeth as you age it allows you to keep on chewing food which is a whole lot better than losing teeth and having to drink your food.

Yeah, it seems to me that making an investment now of maybe $2-3k beyond what insurance will pay is much preferable to having to potentially deal with tooth loss and artificial replacement on down the road. I have one implant, and it was neither fun nor inexpensive. Not that there are any guarantees, but you know what I mean. ;-)

I went to the endodontist to see about having a root canal redone. He suggested pulling the bad tooth and getting invisalign. My dentist and local orthodontist both agreed. So, I had my tooth pulled and started wearing invisalign at 66. Treatment was expected to last 18 - 24 months but I finished with treatment after 16 months. I went into retainers at that point. My ortho told me I could remove my retainers when out and about as long as I wore them anytime I was at home. I did that for about six months and am now (as of last week) only wearing them at night.

@S R You can just wear the retainers at night while sleeping.

I had braces at a pre-teen and wore retainers for awhile. Then Invisalign at 40yo when I tooth started shifting behind my front tooth. Got the trays before there was much trouble. Treatment was about 18 months. Like stated above, it took a bit to get used to them, but not long. One thing you will notice is your brain knows something is in your mouth, so you make more saliva. This goes away about a week in.

I've been wearing a top retainer ever since (20+ years) and have permanent retainer on the bottom, but it is being removed at my dentist appt in May. I already have a bottom retainer to start wearing too.

Honestly, I have only been wearing my top retainer every other night for over a decade. I will probably go back and forth wearing top then bottom, and not both at once.

If you have any future dental work that changes your teeth (like a crown, etc) and your retainer no long fits, your dentist might be able to make you a new one - instead of going to an ortho you haven't seen in years. My dentist made mine.

The potential risk of Invisalign is non-compliance because the aligners are removable.

If you are not the type of person who is compliant, particularly with something that might hurt for a day or so ever time you change aligners, it may not be for you. I have known any number of people who either stopped doing it altogether, or prolonged treatment because of non-compliance.

Invisalign can't correct everything because how the movement works is not the same as with conventional braces.

Invisalign is incremental with most of the movement occurring on day one or two of the aligner, with the remainder of the time in that aligner being stabilization. Conventional braces move by a more continual force into the stabilization period before the next adjustment.

Don't go to somebody who gives you all the aligners and says "Here, change these every two weeks" (or three weeks or whatever) and doesn't see you any more frequently than they would for regular visits. You should be getting the trays doled out and having visits to check progress for your money, but lots of general dentists treat it like it's a two visit thing, do the scan, deliver the entire two years worth of aligners and then see how things are going purely incidentally when you have appointments for cleanings. That's not how it's supposed to go. You're not paying $6000 for about an hour of chair time, or you shouldn't be...

Here, either method in a full case, typically two years or a little longer will cost about $6000 or thereabouts.

Second Pal's advice to go to an ortho that gives out only a few trays at a time. When I started, I believe I only got two sets before a check up. After that, there were more (four sets?) and regular visits to the ortho to check progress and check for any problems. Seems like I went to next set of trays after two weeks of wearing. But it's been a long time, and/or things might be different now.

@Alison0704 yes, that’s what I’m doing now. At the beginning I was instructed to wear them at night and anytime I was at home. Ortho said I could remove them during the day for short periods of time when I was out and about. I did that for the lst six months then went to night time wear only.

I wore conventional braces between the ages of 39 - 42ish. I'm 51 now. I did have crooked teeth that I was very self-conscious about, but my parents simply couldn't afford braces when I was younger. It does take awhile for your mouth to get used to the brackets and wires, and that happens after each adjustment. It may sound silly, but what I remember as being the biggest nuisance is going to the appointments every few weeks. I have great dental coverage, but none for ortho, so my cost was about $7,000 (in Canada). I was absolutely thrilled with the result, it changed my whole face. Gradually I got less faithful with my retainers.... and you guessed it. So stupid. I was shocked at how quickly my teeth started to move again. It seemed like overnight. So I did a quick round of Invisalign, about 9 months I think, and now I wear my retainers religiously every night. I have very strong, sturdy teeth, my dentist always raves about how beautiful they are & tells me how lucky I am. I'm glad I made the investment, and have no reason to believe I won't be able to keep my own teeth for the rest of my life. Watching my mother struggle with tooth loss and then dentures (not cheap either by any stretch) makes me glad of that.

I did not wear braces as a teen. However, starting about 10 years ago, my teeth started shifting. The one of the lower front teeth was being pushed back. I hated the way that it looked. Because of the shadow on the tooth from the other teeth, it looked it it was either discolored or decayed. My general dentist thought I was a candidate for some sort of braces

• Did you do braces or Invisalign? Invisaligns

• How long did you wear the device(s)? 3 years!! Much much longer than I thought it would take.

• Did you encounter any problems that you wish you'd known about ahead of time? No major problems. I discovered that I am allergic to persulfate, a common ingredient used in cleaners for dentures and other mouth appliances. I found a persulfate-free cleaner on The Big River, Fresh Guard by Efferdent.

• What kind of cost was associated with your treatment? -- I have some insurance coverage, but realize that there will still be fairly significant outlay from my own pocket. Mine cost $6,000. I have no dental insurance.

• ETA: Post-treatment, do you now wear a retainer? Yes. My orthodontist was going to affix a ”permanent retainer” to the back of my teeth. My sister and my daughter both have permanent retainers and advised me not to. Apparently they are a PITA to deal with. I have traditional retainers that are removable.

ETA: My Invisalign trays were given to me 6 at a time. I wore them for 2 weeks each. I broke one. I think I was far enough into the 2 week period that the orthodontist told me to move to the next set.

In my mid-50s, my bottom teeth started shifting to the point that one had started to cross over the other. My dentist recommended Invisalign for both the top and bottom teeth. I'd always had a gap in my front teeth and this seemed like the time to fix that too.

I was given three sets of trays at a time with instructions to change them to the next level of trays every two weeks. My dentist saw me every six weeks to check on my progress at which time he'd give me three more sets of trays.

Every time I changed to a new set of trays, I'd experience some soreness for two or three days as my teeth moved, but other than that it was a breeze. I quickly got used to having the trays in my mouth, liked that I could remove them to eat and drink as well as to floss and brush. And, I also liked that it was difficult to detect that I was wearing anything on my teeth.

My treatment was originally planned to take 18 months, but when I reached that point, my dentist felt I needed another six months to complete the treatment. Additional trays were ordered and at the end of the additional six month period, I had a beautiful smile, and for the first time in my life, perfectly straight teeth. Because my teeth are now straight, I am also able to do a better job of flossing which has been good for my dental health.

I now wear retainers at night, although I do forget to put them in now and then. One thing to keep in mind is that the trays do sometimes break or crack. That happened to me once and I was instructed to wear the previous tray until a replacement could be made. I also had a retainer break in half and wore the last tray from my treatment until I received a replacement retainer. It's a good practice to keep the previous tray as a back-up, just in case something like that happens. In my case, the replacement trays/retainers are covered under the original treatment plan and there has been no additional cost for these.

The cost for my treatment was $2400 and my insurance covered $1400 as it wasn't a cosmetic treatment but was needed to correct the problem caused by the shifting teeth. I am thrilled with the results and would highly recommend Invisalign to anyone who is a candidate for this type of dental procedure.

I can't imagine getting all the trays at once for Invisalign. My ortho seemed to make small adjustments and tweaks to virtually every set - I was given 2 at a time. I had no insurance coverage and it was 7k. Dental health is critical to so many other areas of health and fortunately my parents stressed that and practiced what they preached. As others have mentioned, my goal is to die with all of them other than my wisdom teeth which are long gone!

will the braces be on the lower teeth only? it's way less noticeable when it's only that.

FWIW, whenever I do see an adult with braces, I don't think it's that weird. I just think "good for you". pretty much the only thing I have a negative opinion are when people get crazy colors for the rubber bands, or those clear ones, which can look weird.

I need treatment on top and bottom teeth. I'm really not concerned about how the braces will look -- I'm way over trying to impress anyone with my looks (anyway, DH said he thinks it'll be cute if I do end up with braces), and just want to do whatever is in the best interest of my dental health in the long run.

I greatly appreciate the information shared here. Thank you all so much!

I had braces as a kid. However over the years my bottom teeth have shifted and become crowded in front. A few years ago I thought I'd see about Invisalign. I visited a local orthodontist and got a thorough workup and estimate. He felt that Invisalign wouldn't address my crowding and that regular braces were what I needed. That didn't please me very much, but I was stilll open-minded about them. Then he recommended that the best way to create the space I need would be to pull one of my front bottom teeth. I just couldn't get past the idea of 1) pulling a perfectly healthy tooth, and 2) having to have a missing tooth in front until everything shifted into the right place. Talk about vanity!

The estimate was in the $8k range and I was prepared to pay that, but I didn't want to go around with a missing tooth. It would have all been over and done by now.

ETA: I know the orthodontist. He's the best in the area, also the husband of a very good friend.

• Traditional braces 2x

• 1st time age 12 2nd time age 30 worn for 18 mos prior to having jaw surgery

• can’t recall costs guestimate would be $2K

1st time and prob $3-4K 2nd go round

• I had a midline diastema (space between ftont teeth) Braces closed the tooth gap but it eventually reopened so I opted to wear again with goal of having surgery to remove bone

My jaws were wired together for 5 days IIRC

I did wear retainers too. People thought I was crazy for doing it (sugery) but it was something I could fix that really bothered me.

Best of luck @Ida Claire!

When i read the title of this thread i thought you meant suspenders. Definitely not a good look on an older person.

I haven't personally, but I know several middle aged persons opting to wear braces to straighten and improve the health of their mouths. I think many of us are more conscious of dental health than the generations before us. I know I would never let dental work go, I spent too many years concerned about diet and nutrition with my mother who was missing some molars. It was obvious how much it impacted her daily routines even if her smile didn't give that away.

My dentist now is wearing invisalign himself. Mid 50's.

My previous dentist had asked me at one point if I was interested. I asked in return, what would my benefit be? He admitted only mildly cosmetic in my case, not healthful, I have one lower tooth that is very slightly turned. I really doubt if anyone but him even knows that, I get many compliments on my teeth which somehow are not aging to typical yellow-white and are still bright.

He was clearly trying to make a sale - which I didn't appreciate in a medical setting one little bit.

I got Invisalign in 2020, when I was 57. I only wore the trays on my upper teeth - one of my front teeth had started to twist a bit in my early 50s and was getting worse each year. I did a series of 12 trays, and finished the straightening in less than a year. My dentist gave them to me 3 trays at a time, and I wore the final two trays for a month each if I remember correctly. I continue to wear the retainer tray each night (I had 4 retainer trays made at the end of treatment, and I am still wearing the first tray). The total cost was $2800.

My bite is improved, but I mainly did this for cosmetic reasons. It was well worth it for me.

Yes! This is my 3rd go. Braces in my teens, again as a 40-year old, and now I’m doing Invisaligns because my stupid teeth decided to move again. All the dentists I have agree I have a small mouth and my teeth are prone to shift. My bite is still good this time so mostky an aligning of teeth. Of course I eventually quit wearing the retainer which didn’t help both times before. I’ve learned that lesson (I hope).

Like DLM said, the Invisaligns are pretty easy but I did have a hard time the first month or so with getting the bottom one in place. I get 5 sets at a time for now that I wear for 2 weeks each then go back for a check and get another set. Good luck!

Back in the day I challenged our dentist about the NEED for one of my kids and braces. He said it was so when they are 40+ and teeth start shifting as our gums shrink they can still eat etc. Mine all have permenant retainers and reading through this now I know why.

My mom wore braces in her 60s I think (regular, not invisalign). My brother did invisalign in his late 30s. I think both are really glad they did it. I had braces as a child. I had a bottom permanent retainer that was removed when it started shifting the two teeth it was anchored to in my 20s. I wore my top retainer for a few years, then stopped. No clue where it is now. My top teeth still look perfect. My bottom teeth look nearly perfect, but the canines moved forward just a little. Not noticeable when I smile.

I'm the oldest of six siblings so my parents couldn't afford orthodontia for me although my younger sisters got their teeth fixed as teenagers.

My teeth weren't cringeworthy-no buck teeth or horribly misshapen mouth, but the lower teeth were quite crooked and I had one canine that never descended right so there was always a snaggle effect on that side. My bite was never quite right either.

I was self conscious all my adult life about my teeth and my smile, and in my early 50s I decided to get them fixed for both aesthetics and function and chose Invisalign. I recall the active process of tray exchanges lasted about 18 months and my orthodontist kept fussing with the canine till *I* finally told him I was satisfied LOL. I didn't have dental insurance and the total cost was ~$5000. The ortho split it into monthly interest free installments which was helpful

As far as tips n tricks:

One reason I went with Invisalign was because I didn't want metal braces both for looks and because I suffer greatly from canker sores. I figured I'd constantly have a torn up mouth if I had sharp metal edges in there.

I didn't realize Invisalign uses small 'bumps' of dental cement on teeth with matching round bubbles on the aligners to help pull teeth into place. I had several on my front teeth which I felt were pretty obvious. YMMV but I personally feel Invisalign fudges a bit claiming they are "invisible"

I found these tools which were a godsend because I have always had a hard time removing aligners by yanking on them. My ortho actually gave patients cuticle sticks for that purpose(!!!)

I was extremely careful about leaving them in at all times other than when I was physically eating. I cut way down on snacking, it was too much hassle to take aligners out then need to floss, brush, etc just for a piece of candy or that birthday cake in the break room. I got very used to brushing my teeth frequently and that habit has stuck; I still strongly prefer to brush my teeth immediatly after I eat and still keep equipment in my purse to do so

It's been 10 years since I finished treatment and for several years I wore aligners every night, then every other and now I wear them every third night which seems to keep everything in place

My bite improved markedly and my dental hygienist was very happy that post-Invisalign my teeth cleaning appointments were much easier

I'd say do it. I have absolutely no regrets

Never wore braces as a kid/teen and had naturally straight teeth. In the last few years my lower teeth started shifting, specially the front ones and one pair was starting to overlap/cross. The shift in teeth was causing me to bite my cheeks and sometimes catch a tooth on another.

I got Invisalign last year and they worked great. I had upper and lower done, 17 sets of trays so 34 weeks of treatment, plus a couple more weeks to get my retainers made. Well worth the cost and time.

The Invisalign braces now also have elastic bands and those caused me the most problems. Constantly rubbing my skin and giving me terrible canker sores. After the 4th set of trays, I told the dentist I was not going to use the elastic bands. Dentist said it was fine, but might slow the progress a bit, which I was fine with. Much better once I gave up on the elastic bands and it didn't affect the end result in any way.

@runninginplace, yeah no one ever tells you that you have to have all those cement dots stuck onto your teeth! I think I had 30 of them. And then the cement dots have to be drilled/buffed off when you are done with the treatment ... those were 2 long appointments ... now you know Jen!

Another thing I did not think about before hand was what the heck to do with the spent trays. I kept them all the way through treatment and for a time after in their original numbered bags trying to come up with some way to keep them out of a landfill. Ultimately all I could think of was some sort of macabre xmas tree decoration, each one with their own hook on a branch or strung together like a garland :-/ It pained me to eventually just throw them away knowing how they contribute to our plastic waste crisis.

Yes, runninginplace and Chispa! I didn't realize I'd have a bunch of little protrusions on my teeth when all this started. No one warned me about that either. Anyhoo, I've gotten used to them now (except when I look in the mirror sometimes). I'll be glad to be done with a couple of those.

One other thing, Ida. I'm older and my orthodontist was concerned about my lower teeth being susceptible to too much movement due to bone loss. Bottom line is it turned out ok, but I had to go to a periodontist for evaluation to make sure I could even wear an appliance to have my lower teeth straightened again. They weren't too bad except for right in the very front so I could have lived with just straightening the uppers. However it delayed the start of my treatment just waiting around for appointments with the periodontist and then back with the orthodontist. Ugh! I was ready to get going, although I do appreciate the caution. And then the first several weeks or more is mostly just slight movement to make spaces to actually move the crooked teeth back into alignment. I guess you figured out all this, but it does seem very slow.

And I too have no idea what to do with all those old trays, although the orthodontist says to keep at least a couple of old trays back in case he you lose a current set of trays. You usually have to go back, not forward. I suspect this happens more with teenagers but you never know.

I recommend getting at least one extra case to carry around in your handbag.

I lost weight the first few months because I was militant in keeping the trays in and couldn't be bothered to remove them just for snacks!

fwiw I did not have the little cement dots on any teeth.

I was told to keep the set of previous trays when I moved up to the next set.

I had 2 or three of the dots that the ortho removed and relocated once or twice for the first phase of my treatment. I did not find them bothersome.

I had the knobs too. I'd forgotten about that. I remember that one of them fell off midway through the process and the dentist had to glue on another one, but other than that they were no bother except that I couldn't help running my tongue over them when I had the trays out for eating or drinking.

Also, after I was a few months into the treatment, I wasn't quite as diligent about wearing the trays if I had a social event to attend and wanted to enjoy myself by participating in food and drink, I'd just leave them out until the event was over.

I just had spacers put in yesterday. Three weeks and then a full set of metal braces. Any advice? What does one eat? Did you brush 3-4 times a day? I have been.