Susie - a quick update that I called and cancelled my appointment to get things started today. I will revisit it in a few months when I feel like I can breathe a little and have some room away from my current stress (at least that is the hope!) Thank you again for being so candid about your experience thus far, I hope in time that it becomes a bit easier to manage and you feel less regretful about your decision.
I just had my orthodontist consultation today. I liked the ortho a lot; he has mostly adult patients and was just NICE. He gave me what he said was a realistic timeline for my treatment (one year of invisalign) and talked about the attachments I would need. Re-reading this thread, I realized I forgot to ask about rubber bands! Anyway, everything seemed good and I got excited about proceeding, but man... the pricetag. I'm looking at around $7K, before insurance. No one in this thread has mentioned specific numbers. I'm in a HCOL city, for what it's worth. Is $7K about right? I'd be paying $5K OOP.
I just had my orthodontist consultation today. I liked the ortho a lot; he has mostly adult patients and was just NICE. He gave me what he said was a realistic timeline for my treatment (one year of invisalign) and talked about the attachments I would need. Re-reading this thread, I realized I forgot to ask about rubber bands! Anyway, everything seemed good and I got excited about proceeding, but man... the pricetag. I'm looking at around $7K, before insurance. No one in this thread has mentioned specific numbers. I'm in a HCOL city, for what it's worth. Is $7K about right? I'd be paying $5K OOP.
That seems a smidge high. I'm paying $3k OOP (after $2k from insurance) and I have an 18 mo treatment plan with a Carriere appliance to change my bite. I'm also in an HCOL area.
calico, thank you! I'm going to do a little more research and see what's normal for my area. Maybe I'll get a second opinion, too. It's a lot of $, man.
tagging Susie, raangoli, So_Fetch, pinotgrig if you're comfortable sharing details on your quotes/actual treatment cost.
If I remember correctly you’re in the same general area as me. I think I was looking at 4500 after insurance. I’ll look up the numbers when I get home.
Hi D2M! My treatment cost $6k and I’m a lcol area. I got 2 quotes and the other one was closer to $8k and I liked him a lot less. There was also an ortho who wanted like $300 to give a me a quote because I was wanting to use my insurance. I had a consult with him but didn’t get a quote. My insurance would have covered the ortho that quoted $8k but the way the coverage worked, I would have ended up paying about $5k oop. So I did no insurance with the guy I liked. His office was doing a promo where they matched your down payment, up to $500 which helped. I’m doing the rest at 0% interest through their office.
My teeth aren’t bad at all - I wanted to fix one small gap, but I have bite issues I never knew were a problem (deep bite, grind my teeth). My treatment time is estimated at 18 months, but I think he built in time for refinements, which are add’l trays to tweak everything at the end. Most ppl seem to need them and they can take time if teeth are stubborn. I’m on tray 3 of 20 and will get attachments at my next appt. The first few days were painful and awkward but now it’s nbd. I’m a bit nervous about the attachments being obvious, but otoh don’t really care.
pinotgrig, so interesting re: the breakdown on going with insurance vs. not going with insurance. I need to do more research on that! Thank you for sharing your costs. The orthodontist I saw today said he was convinced I'd be good to go in 12 months or less. I think I'm going to get a second opinion just in case.
raangoli, we've moved! Still in a HCOL city, but less so
I am currently doing treatment. I have a relative as my ortho so I'm getting the family discount. However, I think the quote was 3800 for my 10 month treatment (before my family discount). We are in a HCOL area. I'm about 12 weeks into treatment and all has been great. I barely know they are there and am very happy with things.
D2M - it was weird with the insurance coverage! Mine was set up where I owed a co-pay for everythingggg. Office visit? Copay. Initial fitting? Copay. Attachments? Copay. Attachment removal? Copay. I actually called insurance twice to make sure I had written it all down correctly.
Do make sure you’re getting quotes for Invisalign full - there are some lite and 10 plans that have limited trays. Also ask about retainers. My cost includes a permanent retainer behind my bottom teeth.
D2M - it was weird with the insurance coverage! Mine was set up where I owed a co-pay for everythingggg. Office visit? Copay. Initial fitting? Copay. Attachments? Copay. Attachment removal? Copay. I actually called insurance twice to make sure I had written it all down correctly.
Do make sure you’re getting quotes for Invisalign full - there are some lite and 10 plans that have limited trays. Also ask about retainers. My cost includes a permanent retainer behind my bottom teeth.
Excellent tip! Thank you. I’ll ask all of that. I definitely don’t want to get surprised by hidden costs.
With the office I saw today, I’d have to pay up front and submit paperwork to get reimbursed. Annoying, but I’ll do it, obviously, if I have to.
pinotgrig, good point about retainers. The Vivera retainers are the ones made by Invisalign (supposedly great, but spendy), but some orthos offer a cheaper option from a lab.
My treatment costs also cover whitening and perm retainer for my lowers as well as a set of removable ones.
D2M , I'm doing Invisalign full, and the original quote was around $6500, all in. My next door neighbor works at my orthodontist's office and got me 10% off, so that helps. I am fully OOP, since my dental insurance only pays toward orthodontics for kids <18. I maxed out my flex spending account for this year to at least get some of it pre-tax. I am currently on tray 8 of 21, about 2.5 months in. Total treatment time including refinements is estimated at about a year.
HCOL area and I had 24 trays (almost a year). I found a Groupon for $20 that covered the consult, scan, and $2k of the treatment. My OOP cost after that was $3k (no insurance coverage for orthodontics if you're over 18).
Post by claudiakishi on May 23, 2018 9:26:24 GMT -5
I live in a low to medium COL area in a middle to upper middle class suburb and was quoted $5k for Invisalign from two orthos, and that includes teeth whitening at the end. I don’t have insurance.
I live in a low to medium COL area in a middle to upper middle class suburb and was quoted $5k for Invisalign from two orthos, and that includes teeth whitening at the end. I don’t have insurance.
Oh, that was for 15-18 months of treatment. Not sure how many trays or attachments.
D2M , I'm doing Invisalign full, and the original quote was around $6500, all in. Â My next door neighbor works at my orthodontist's office and got me 10% off, so that helps. Â I am fully OOP, since my dental insurance only pays toward orthodontics for kids <18. Â I maxed out my flex spending account for this year to at least get some of it pre-tax. Â I am currently on tray 8 of 21, about 2.5 months in. Â Total treatment time including refinements is estimated at about a year.
Post by buckeyegirl on May 23, 2018 10:07:48 GMT -5
D2M, I'm in a MCOL area, Cleveland. My quote was $4400 and insurance is paying $1000. That includes everything; all visits, retainers and any other corrective work that might need to be done.
pinotgrig , good point about retainers. The Vivera retainers are the ones made by Invisalign (supposedly great, but spendy), but some orthos offer a cheaper option from a lab.
My treatment costs also cover whitening and perm retainer for my lowers as well as a set of removable ones.
I got the Vivera ones, I believe it was $495 for four sets. But my ortho is a high end doc and everything was really expensive. That being said, my treatment was $7800 and he gave us 10% off since both DH and myself were doing Invisalign. My 18 month treatment turned into 4 years, and I ended up with metal braces for six months on the top and he never charged me anything extra. I still go for retainer checks every six months at no charge.
tagging Susie , raangoli , So_Fetch , pinotgrig if you're comfortable sharing details on your quotes/actual treatment cost.
I want to say that it was about $2500 after insurance and a $500 discount. And he took payments over the first like 6 months of treatment (which was about 10 months)
D2M , I'm doing Invisalign full, and the original quote was around $6500, all in. My next door neighbor works at my orthodontist's office and got me 10% off, so that helps. I am fully OOP, since my dental insurance only pays toward orthodontics for kids <18. I maxed out my flex spending account for this year to at least get some of it pre-tax. I am currently on tray 8 of 21, about 2.5 months in. Total treatment time including refinements is estimated at about a year.
How is it going? Has it gotten easier?
On a day to day basis, yeah. I had a lot of habits to change, from sipping coffee at my desk to snacking at work, to snacking after dinner, and trying to break them all at once was hard. Not that they were all completely terrible habits, but they weren't compatible with Invisalign. It made getting started harder than it had to be. Then a mouth full of attachments, and then rubber bands, and I basically hated everything for a while.
I drink vastly less coffee now, so much so that I was traveling last week and realized at one point that I hadn't had any in like 2 days and hadn't noticed. Who am I? I know a lot of people say they just switch to iced coffee and use a straw, but I tried that once and found that it stained my trays so I don't do it. I only drink water and seltzer with my trays in.
Invisalign is still a challenge to manage while traveling, in important meetings, in full day conference room meetings, on long haul flights, etc., but I do the best I can.
I'm getting mine on Tuesday, so I've been following this thread. Thanks to everyone who's shared their experiences and offered advice. I feel like I'm SO much more prepared than I would have been without this thread.
Update from me: I did it! This thread -- the good, the bad -- really made me investigate Invisalign. I'm very excited.
To make this MM, I got consultations from three highly recommended orthodontists in my area and the third one offered a price that was almost $2K less than the first guy. In addition, my husband's new work dental coverage is more generous than our old insurance. So while this is not cheap, it's definitely cheaper than what it could have been. I have 16 attachments and a very attractive lisp. There's a little bit of discomfort but it's nowhere near as painful as when I got my braces tightened back in the day. Also, getting the Invisalign out was definitely as tricky at first as some PPs mentioned, but I have the hang of it now.
Susie, thanks for sharing your update - I was wondering how it was going. And thanks to everyone else for sharing their experiences and cost - it's really helpful.
I had a consult on Saturday. My upper teeth are fine, but my bottoms are fairly crooked and overlapping. I'm looking at 10-12mo, likely with some IPR (basically slimming my bottom front teeth slightly). It's about $6k all in (~$4k OOP, 5% discount if paid in full - Chicago). I'm planning to start in January, so that I can get the most from my FSA. Now that I'm reading though, I'm not sure that includes the post-treatment retainer. Sigh.
I just finished tray 21/21 late last week, had my attachments removed, and was scanned for refinements. It's pretty amazing looking at my before & afters. I had straight teeth before, but the (much needed) change in my bite is fantastic. It has already improved more than they thought I'd be able to achieve. The refinements are primarily for my two top canines, which did not track 100% through treatment. They need to be pulled down a little more, and on my right side I still have a little cross bite action. The left is great. The orthodontist also wants to close up my overjet a little more so I will have triangle elastics instead of straight class 2 this time (boo). IDGAF about my overjet really, but why not get my bite as good as I can while I'm here, right? I requested no attachments on my top two front teeth for my refinements and she said no problem. She also said she was including in the notes with the refinement request to do no more than 10 trays. She does not think it should take more than that.
I hope she is right, because I am juggling a new variable -- pregnancy! Morning sickness + Invisalign is no joke. Right now I'm almost 6 weeks, and in the sweet spot of wearing my 21st tray only at night while waiting for refinements to come in, and the timing is really fortunate. I am dreading 11/5, when I go back to get my refinement trays and get new attachments put on. I'll be almost 10 weeks then, which was around peak sickness for me last time. I'm a little nervous, but I guess I just do the best I can, through the appointment and also with compliance. I was doing 10 day changes before, and if I can't hit the hours/day, I'll go to 2 week changes.
I was supposed to continue wearing the elastics with my trays at night while I'm in "passive" (aka waiting) mode, but that doesn't really work IME. Without attachments holding the trays on my teeth, the elastics pull my top tray right off when I open my mouth at all. So I still have the buttons but am not using them. I would try to wear the trays more than just at night to avoid losing ground, but they're so loose without the attachments that my speech is a mess. So I'm just taking the freedom as a well timed gift. All in all... definitely light at the end of the tunnel!