I Got Invisalign at 41: Here's My Review

Paid for it myself, so you know I'm gonna be honest.

Welcome back to Hi Everyone. I'm so glad you're here!

As you may know, I live in Los Angeles, where everyone has a perfect smile. Teeth are big currency in this town, and upgrading your smile—which includes everything from bleaching to full-blown cosmetic dentistry like veneers—is seen as a necessity, not a luxury, for many people. That said, I’m not in the entertainment industry, and while my day job requires me to be in front of the camera from time to time, I am a civilian. (Translation: My livelihood doesn’t require me to be flawless, or even flawless adjacent, thankfully.)

That said, I am also vain. So when I noticed that two of my front teeth were starting to get a little wonky, I wasn’t thrilled. Specifically, my top right lateral incisor was moving behind my central incisor, pushing it forward from the outer corner. It didn’t look horrible if you were looking at me straight-on, but it was significantly messing with my alignment and slowly starting to become noticeable in photos.

It’s also worth noting that this was not the first time I’d been underwhelmed by my teeth. I had braces in junior high, for 18 excruciating months, followed by a permanent retainer for years after. But I’d never gotten a proper retainer, for reasons I still do not understand, so for the last 20 years, my teeth have just been grooving without constraints, hence the movement.

Like anyone with an Instagram account, I’d seen countless friends and colleagues go through the Invisalign process, and while it didn’t seem dreamy, it definitely appeared easier than the mouth full of metal I’d had as a tween. So in early summer—after I was vaccinated, when there was a lull between COVID waves—I made an appointment with my dentist to inquire about the process.

(I’m not going to go into the full protocol and all the steps in this newsletter, but if you’re interested in that level of detail, the company’s website has an array of information. My TL;DR on it is this: You get custom-made plastic trays that you wear 22 hours a day and that nudge your teeth into proper alignment, with a new tray every week or two, depending on your case.)

There was good news, and there was bad news.

The good: The shifting I was seeing in my teeth was relatively minor, which meant I would be placed on an Invisalign fast track and was looking at 11 weeks of technical treatment. Also, since my case was pretty mild, I would be spared some of the more aggressive offerings. (If your teeth need more serious movement, sometimes they will place attachments on your teeth to help the aligner trays do their job. Anecdotally, at least a third of the people I know who have gone through the process seem to have required these attachments. I mention this because this element isn’t publicized as much and has come as a surprise to many.)

The bad: It is expensive. Specifically, my case would cost $5000 for the initial process, and insurance didn't cover a penny of it. (Cost varies depending on location and provider.) While that is admittedly VERY pricey, my dentist was frank with me about what would happen if I didn’t address my shifting teeth: a) They would never get better on their own, and b) the longer I waited, the longer it would take to fix them. Ugh.

Considering the fact that I am lucky enough to be able to work from home, I wear a mask on the rare occasion I leave the house, and I’m pretty sure my husband and I aren’t going to have more kids (pregnancy can cause your teeth to shift), I thought this might be the perfect time to tackle this project. So I went for it, and I’m really glad that I did.

That said, there are definitely a few things I wish I’d known before I started this process.

1. The timeline.

For some reason, I thought the day I went in to start the process I would return home with my aligners. Nope! At that first appointment, they scan your teeth or take impressions, and then you wait a few weeks for Invisalign to make all of the custom trays for your treatment.

Also, depending on your case, your treatment might take longer than planned. My timeline was mostly accurate—more on that below—but I heard loads of stories from people who thought they were done, only to learn their teeth hadn’t moved enough and required more work. That’s totally fine and understandable, as teeth are not machines, but I don’t think most folks knew that was a possibility and found the news incredibly disappointing. So keep that in mind if you are doing this for a special occasion.

2. The pain.

Again, this varies a great deal depending on your situation, but I was shocked by how much pain I was in and how much it hurt for the course of the treatment. The first week was particularly rough; my upper jaw was throbbing the entire time, and the pain extended up into my temples.

Finally, a kind stranger on Instagram shared some much-needed advice from her orthodontist: three Advil three times a day for the first three days of every new tray. While this actually was overkill for me—two pills twice a day was enough—I realized that I didn’t need to suffer the whole time. I wish my dentist had been more open about treating the pain proactively.

I also assumed, incorrectly, that the pain would be the worst for the first month or so, but after that, the movement required would be minimal, and the discomfort would be as well. Also wrong. While that might be the case for some folks, every time I put in a new tray (once a week, in my case), it was rough for at least three days after. We’re talking sore jaw and tender teeth, and I was unable to bite into an apple basically the whole time.

3. The constant care.

I had heard horror stories of folks who ended up with tons of microcavities from not being diligent about flossing and brushing their teeth through this process, which understandably scared me. So I found myself brushing at least six times a day (after waking up, after coffee, after meals, and before bed) and flossing at least three times, which was fine to do at home, but if I had been working in an office or going to restaurants with any regularity, that would have been tricky. Not a huge deal, but just something to consider.

4. The retention trays.

As I mentioned earlier, I was told that my treatment would take 11 weeks, and then I would be done! Hooray! Imagine my surprise when I found out that after you’re finished, you still have to wear that final tray for another three or four weeks to make sure your teeth stay in place. Again, not really a big deal, but something I would have liked to know from the start. That said, one of my colleagues was going through the process at the same time, and she knew about the additional tray time from the beginning, so make sure you ask about the full potential timeline when you begin the process.

5. The retainers.

Another thing I didn’t know: After you’re done, you will wear a retainer at night forever. This totally makes sense—I didn’t spend all this time and money to have my teeth go rogue on me and revert to their undesirable positioning—but just something to note. Additionally, the cost of the retainers was not included in my initial quote, so be sure to ask!

All of that said, I 100% recommend it.

While the change might not be dramatic or even noticeable to other people, I feel so much better about my smile. From a less superficial standpoint, it’s also nice to know that my alignment issues are sorted and that I won’t have bigger problems down the road.

Another random bonus: It’s easier to floss now. I have a relatively small jaw and bigger teeth, so my teeth were right up against each other, and it was hard to get the floss between them at times. Now they’re spaced out more appropriately, and flossing is super easy.

So, long story long, my final review for Invisalign is a 10/10. The process is annoying and expensive, but the results are undeniable, and it’s way better than old-school braces.

As always, thank you for being here, and thank you for sticking around. If you have any questions or concerns, or want me to touch on any topics in particular, I’m all ears. Leave a comment on Hi Everyone’s Bulletin or DM me on Instagram—I’m @hillarykerr—my inbox is always open!

xxHillary

Please excuse the wild pose.