I know this thread is a few months old, but I had braces as a kid, and at 29 I'm doing invisalign. In case you're still around and undecided, or someone else is viewing this, here are my thoughts.
- Braces hurt a lot every time they tighten them / adjust the wires. That wire is trying to pull your teeth into a very different position "all at once", in a sense. It's trying to go from 0 to 40. The pain for invisalign is more manageable - you might only get a day or two of soreness with each new tray (every 7 to 21 days, depending on the ortho's instructions). The trays are more gradual with their adjustments. It's like going from 0 to 10 with one try, then 10 to 20 with the next tray, and so on.
- Braces are more predictable than Invisalign. With Invisalign, you will likely get attachments on your teeth (little enamel-coloured buttons) which help the Invisalign trays grip onto your teeth, and rotate or angle them differently. These attachments can stop fitting into the Invisalign trays, which results in your teeth not "tracking" anymore, so you need to get re-scanned to correct the problem. This is apparently most common with the canines (eye teeth). Both of my canines stopped tracking at different points in my treatment.
- Both braces and invisalign cannot correct major jaw alignment issues. They only correct teeth, albeit the jaw can shift a little bit and get a small amount of over/underbite correction. This kind of small correction is usually better achieved with braces, hence your ortho's statement that your jaw won't look as improved with Invisalign compared to braces. In either case, if you have a very high degree of over/under bite (it sounds like you have an underbite?), you may need jaw surgery (maxillofacial surgery). But if your ortho hasn't mentioned this option, I'd imagine you're probably in the clear.
- If you have TMJ disorder where you have pain or tension in your jaw, Invisalign may be worse than braces because, since the trays surround your entire teeth including the biting surface, you're adding additional "stuff" to bite down on. If, however, you have problems with bruxism at night, Invisalign could be better since the trays are very sturdy and basically act as a night guard.
- With braces, you don't need to worry about removing anything. With Invisalign, you need to remove the trays every time you eat, or drink anything besides water. My orthodontist has stated I can, technically, eat with the trays in, and it's supposed to help keep them well-fit onto my teeth from the extra chewing pressure, but I've found it scratches up the trays and stains them and leaves little micro-scratches and pits, which are kinda gross. So I remove them. Depending on you, it might be a huge pain to remove them. I'm a snacker (many small meals throughout the day), and it's kind of a nightmare removing them all the time, then needing to brush my teeth and put them back in.
Because of all this, I honestly couldn't choose either or poll option. It's really down to preference, and for me, the subjective pros and cons of both options are about 50/50.
Have you started treatment yet? If so, what did you decide and how is it going?
