Anonymous wrote:Why would you put that responsibility on a middle schooler? There’s no reason to choose Invisalign over traditional braces for a child.

There is a reason. A big one. IT LOOKS MUCH BETTER. OP, my older one had Invisalign for about 21 months (late 6th grade to mid 8th grade) and my younger is 9 months in (rising 8th grader). Older one had zero issues and never lost a single tray. Broke one the day before change day so he just changed early. Younger one had some issues the first few days where she was really frustrated and hated it, but that was it until she got rubber bands a couple of months in and again she was frustrated and hating that for 2-3 days, but mostly no problem. No lost or broken trays yet. And my younger one absolutely would have hated traditional braces too. Both were/are very happy they went with Invisalign versus braces.

The rubber bands/elastics aren’t any harder with Invisalign vs braces really.

I have a 12yo with braces and a 10yo with Invisalign. Both have worked great so far and each have their pros and cons. 10yo hasn’t lost a tray yet - been about 8 months and it’s very easy. They switch trays every 5 days. Not the most fun having to take them in and out.

Older child has also done great with metal braces. He’s had wires break a few times (over the last 3 years) and that’s been painful. I sometimes worry about staining but I’m probably projecting as that happened to me many moons ago.

For some reason the duration of Invisalign was less than traditional braces for our youngest - significantly less. I guess they work faster?

One of mine will need rubber bands soon and I suspect that will be tough. I hope I’ll be pleasantly surprised.

DS had an easy experience with Invisalign, plus rubber bands, at the age of 13-14. He misplaced one tray early on (moved onto the next tray), but surprisingly didn't have mishaps after that, even at sleep away camp. His teeth/bite corrections weren't complicated, but if they were, we might have chosen metal braces to reduce treatment duration.

Invisalign is the way to go!

It depends on the kid and whether the Invisalign’s require rubber bands to reinforce movement.

DS started Invisalign at age 10 and they worked beautifully. Finished at 12 and his teeth looked good. No rubber bands at that stage.

Then his teeth started moving back and at 13 he needed Invisaligns with rubber bands. The rubber bands were a pain he had to take them off and on every time he ate. No time after lunch to put them back in. Didn’t work well with his mouthguards for sports.

He started to hate the Invisaligns and got more sporadic about wearing them. Ortho kept lecturing him but after two years he asked for metal braces.

They are so much easier for him to handle. Wish we had just gone to metal braces for the second round. Wasted a few thousand on the second round of Invisalign.