Invisalign

Invisalign 

I went to Sensu London & I found my overall experience great!

Here are the stages I went through with my invisalign treatment.

First stage (May 11 2017)

The first thing you have to do at the consultation is have photos taken and X-rays of teeth from all angles.

Then you speak with a consultant about your options. We looked at my photos and discussed what I wanted to achieve!

I was initially told my case was moderate to severe and I would need invisalign full, which would take 15 months, this turned out to be completely incorrect – as I got invisalign lite - 14 aligners (not including the refinement stage – more on that later) but it only took just over 4 months to complete the main stage of treatment.

See below for a bit more info on my consultation*. (I paid £50 upfront for this – but they take it off your invisalign bill if you sign up for it and I believe you can have it refunded if you decided not to go ahead with the treatment)

Firstly you have to get any dental work required done before you start your invisalign treatment. You can either have it done at Sensu (or whichever invisalign provider you have gone with) or with your own dentist. So I went away and had my two fillings done at my dentist and then they had to send over the information to Sensu to say you had done the required work.

I paid £2700 (it was £3000 - but I got 10% off for paying in full). I was quoted £4500 initially – so always make sure you double check prices and length of time it will take (as I was initially quoted £4500 and 15 months).

The invisalign cost was £2500 and then on top of that I had to pay £500 extra to Sensu, this fee is for the first hygienist appointment, the permanent bonded retainers, which I will have fixed on at the end of my treatment and the removable retainers to wear at night once the treatment is complete.

July 26 2017

Once you are all paid and signed up, the first stage of invisalign is having a hygienist (scale and polish) appointment to make sure your teeth are super clean and ready for the scan. This appointment takes about 45 minutes.

You then have your mouth scanned, this takes some time, and for some reason my jaw was sore and I found it hard to keep my mouth open for so long, but it all worked out ok.

Sensu send the scan off to Invisalign and approx 6 weeks later you receive an email with your ClinCheck video, which shows how your teeth will look at the end of the treatment and every stage along the way (stage of each aligner plus when you’ll get the attachments & spacing appointments etc).

If you are happy with the videos then you let the dentist know via email ASAP and they can get Invislaign to start the manufacture of your aligners. If you wish to discuss your case further they are more than happy to have you in for a chat and to watch your video and discuss what you aren’t happy with. 

You look at the video and decided if you’re happy with the end result, I was happy with it, so immediately replied to the email saying I was happy for them to go ahead and have my invisalign aligners made up.

Some people may not be happy and might want to go back and forth with them about how they want the results to differ.

Then a few weeks after this, my aligners arrived and I could begin.

I travel a lot, so not all my appointments were as close together as they could have been. I found Sensu London very flexible with appointment dates.

September 20 2017

My next appointment involved having my first set of aligners fitted, which went well. It felt weird at first, but not as bad as I was expecting.

The very first set is definitely a whole new experience, you suddenly realise, WHOA I cannot snack anymore, especially when you get the first set, because of course you feel ‘mild discomfort’ and you’re mouth and teeth aren’t used to them, so that takes some time.

The dentist will let you know what you can and cannot do. But basically you should wear them for 22 hours a day (for optimum results) and you can only drink still water with them in, nothing else.

So for me, I pretty much went from eating and drinking all day, to just having breakfast, lunch & dinner. I immediately started having boiled eggs for breakfast, as these keep me fuller for longer.

At first I was like “I will never eat again” as it seemed like such a hassle to take the aligners out and eat and then brush my teeth and put them in again, especially because my teeth hurt quite a lot at first and actually hurt more when I took the aligners out, so I was happier with them in.

The aligners are quite hard at first and the edges feel sharp, but after a few days wear, they become more malleable and comfortable in your mouth. If you are reading this and just starting out with invisalign, don’t worry it all becomes so much easier once you get used to it.

At first I was like what have I signed up for?

Also the “invisalign diet” is definitely a thing. I lost weight at first, but feel things have evened out now (I am coming to the end of my treatment).

Each stage you have a few issues, but then it all works out (from my experience).

So I had the first set in and the dentist gave me 2 more sets, so that was the first 6 weeks covered (2 weeks per aligner).

Things I found difficult, were the first few days of each new set & when I went on holiday to Dubai and Toronto, because I was catching up with a lot of friends, which meant going out for dinners and drinks and brunches (this is difficult with the wear for 22 hours a day rule).

As well as the fact I swim a lot, and you are not supposed to wear the aligners in when you swim in a chlorinated pool – as it can stain and damage the aligners, then dentist did say I could wear them in the pool, maybe on the last day or so of the set. But if I am in the pool 45mins to 1 hour per day (then that only leaves me 1 hour to eat breakfast, lunch & dinner). So not an ideal situation.

Attachments (November 03 2017)

This appointment takes about 30 minutes

This was a tough appointment for me – I had 19 attachments put on (which is more than the average for most patients – I think my dentist said the average is 15). But I met people with less – including Louise from Made in Chelsea.

Once they were all done, my dentist put the new aligners in and I found them really hard to take off, for some reason I really struggled with the bottom set.

I tried to take them out there with the dentist and really struggled.

I was quite freaked out by the attachments when I first got them & my mouth and teeth were very sensitive for a few days afterwards. I was constantly looking in mirrors to see what they looked like. As before this stage you literally couldn’t see them at all. And I felt they were much more obvious.

But now I am so used to them, I hardly notice them and don’t think about them.

After my appointment, I went to get lunch at Pret, and I went to the bathroom to take them out and I literally couldn’t get the bottom aligner off, so I gave up and put them back in.

I was in tears, but I had work and I needed to eat, so I was like OK I have to try again. So I went to M&S and I was locked in the disabled bathroom, trying to take them out. Finally got them off, ate a croissant in the disabled bathroom, brushed my teeth and then put them right back in.

When I got home later, again I was having trouble getting the bottom aligners out and ended up pulling so hard, I knocked one of the attachments off (the dentist had told me earlier it was impossible to knock one off).

So that was upsetting. I called the dentist & arranged an appointment to have it put back on again. Originally they said it wouldn’t be a problem and they could just leave it until my next appointment, but then I had an appointment just in case.

When I did have my appointment, then dentist said it must have been put on wrong (maybe the tooth wasn’t completely dry when they attached it), because they wouldn’t fall off ordinarily.

They use filling material for the attachments and once you get used to them they are fine, at first they feel a little sharp and so do the aligners, but as with all things, you get used to them and then they are not an issue.

Spacing (December 01 2017)

Sometimes space is needed to be created in between the teeth to unlock them and create necessary room for easier tooth movement. Usually, this is less than 0.5mm. This is a safe procedure and again done very quickly and painlessly.

I was nervous for my spacing appointment, but it really was over with in no time and didn’t hurt at all. They just use this small file to go in between the teeth (it looks like a mini circular file on the end of a dentist drill)

After this appointment I started changing my aligners weekly instead of every two weeks, which was good in one way, because it meant I would finish my treatment sooner than I thought, but it also meant that wearing them for 22 hours a day is even more important (although I was already doing this, but I did have the odd evening when I went out for dinner and drinks and had them out for longer than the allocated amount of time).

And also it means just as you get used to a set and they feel comfortable, its time to start a new set. But as they saying goes “No Pain, No Gain”.

January 9 2018

My next appointment was just to check in and see how I was doing and if I needed any more spacing.

I didn’t need any more spacing and the dentist said my teeth had moved nicely and the aligners were fitting well.

I had one concern, which was my teeth seemed more stained than usual, which the dentist said, could be from the attachments, from when I drink tea and coffee (even though I always brush my teeth straight after my breakfast, when I have tea and coffee in the mornings).

Anyway the dentist kindly did something called ‘sandblasting’, which is very quick and effective and it removed all the stains, which I was very happy with and would like to have this done again in the future.

My next appointment will be to have the scan for the refinement stage. It takes 4 weeks for the new aligners to come back, so I will have to wear the final set during this time, although the dentist said I could just wear them at night! But I am now so used to wearing them, I might just wear them as normal until I get my new aligners, because I feel more comfortable with keeping up the routine.

When I was wearing the aligners every two weeks I found they did get stained, so I bought Retainer Brite to use once a week to keep them clean. I have found I haven’t really needed this when only wearing them for one week. But I clean them regularly before I put them back in, either using non-abrasive toothpaste or mild soap and I scrub them with a little travel toothbrush (finally all those little travel toothbrushes and toothpaste kits I save from hotels and flight kits came in handy).

I hope this has been helpful to anyone out there who has just started invisalign or who is considering it.

Despite a few ups and downs, I am really pleased with my treatment and haven’t suffered too much pain, as they describe it, I’ve mostly just had ‘mild discomfort’ when wearing new aligners. And at first I found the inside of my cheeks got chewed a bit, but that has stopped now I am used to the aligners.

I just started aligner 12 of 14 and to be honest this one is quite painful, sometimes you get aligners that fit so easily and don't really hurt and other times you get a few tough sets, which feel like they don't fit great a first and are more painful than others, this is what I have at the moment.

My jaw has been hurting a bit on and off since I started this process, I think it has something to do with the way I take my aligners in and out, I adjusted the way I took the lower set out and also changed which side I took them out from, which helped at first, but now my jaw is sore again.

February 9 2018 

This was a pretty standard appointment, I went in and they checked how my teeth were doing and then did the scan for the refinement stage.

After this you keep the same set of aligners in for a month, but you only wear them at night.

March 9 2018

Today I collected my refinement stage aligners. It turns out I need 14 more aligners. But the dentist said I might be done in 12. I also needed two more attachments, towards the back, which surprised me, as I already have 19 - so now I have 21, well actually 20, because they put an attachment on my crown and it fell off immediately! When the dentist was putting it on she said, oh thats weird, they've asked me to put an attachment on your crown, and it isn't sticking very well, so don't be surprised if it comes off and don't worry. Low and behold, the next day when I took my aligners off for breakfast, it came off, which is disappointing, as they probably shouldn't have even put it on a crown in the first place.

Anyway I have a lot of up coming appointments. I have more spacing required for my next appointment as well.

I enjoyed having 3 weeks off only wearing my aligners at night, whilst I waited for my refinement stage aligners, it was like a mini invisalign holiday! Although by the end my aligners had gotten a bit worn down and gross - I cleaned them, but they were still just not very nice. And now I am back to the routine of wearing them 22 hours a day and changing them weekly. I was given 5 of the 14 aligners to take home.

After this appointment they have booked me in for the following dates:

April 13 (spacing  - it was supposed to be April 6 - but the doctor is away). I also collected the remaining aligners (6-14). I was told to finish at Aligner 12 (As most patients don't need the overcorrection aligners)

June 01 Today I had my scan for my bonded retainer. I have to continue wearing aligner 12 for another 2 weeks, while I wait for the permanent retainer to be fitted.

June15  Today I had my attachments off, I was dreading this and thought that it would really hurt, but it was actually painless and easy and took less time that I anticipated. I thought it would be a horrible experience, but it wasn't at all. Teeth felt so nice to be free of the attachments.

June 27 Today I had my bonded retainer fitted & the scan for my night time retainer + final shaping (just shaping of the front teeth)

July 06 Today I collected my night time retainers. It was my final appointment.

I kind of wish that invisalign themselves would make the final set of nighttime retainers, by doing a scan at the end, as I feel this would make the most sense, but who knows?

My jaw has been quite sore recently, which I think is from constantly clenching, grinding and biting my aligners throughout the day, I think this is irritating my jaw muscles, but unfortunately I do it unconsciously, so it might be hard to stop.

I am really pleased with the results and so happy I went through this process.

Things I missed during invisalign, include grabbing take away coffee and other take away snacks, especially when I am in a rush. I often find I just don’t eat for long periods of time, because it is too much hassle and takes too much time. But realistically it isn’t that bad. I also miss being able to nibble on a free sample.

Things that have improved are my dental hygiene, as I am constantly brushing, flossing and mouth washing. And I drink a lot more water now. Less tea/coffee and other drinks. 

Here is a before and after from my ClinCheck video screenshot.

Disclaimer: I am not perfect, but I did pretty much wear my aligners for 22 hours a day, and stuck to the rules, I was very strict with myself on this.

But we can’t all be perfect all the time and I have to be honest, I did eventually start wearing them swimming and I did keep them in sometimes for drinks (when on holiday in Courchevel over Christmas/New Year), which probably wasn’t a good idea, for the teeth and the aligners. So I won’t be doing this again – but it’s very hard when you’re on holiday.

Essentials I needed once I completed Invisalign

Super Floss (to floss between the teeth with the bonded retainer)


Oral B Satin Floss (for flossing the rest of my teeth)



Retainer Case (your Invisalign provider should give you one of these - but I like to buy my own)

Oral B Electric Toothbrush (Currently £119.99 reduced to £39.99)



Listerine Total Care Mouthwash (I cannot stress enough how important excellent dental hygiene is during & after Invisalign)


Clear Pouch (to keep in bag for your on the go dental kit - also essential)

Mini mouthwash


* When I had my initial consultation I was told my case was moderate to severe and I’d need Invisalign full, which would take 15 months! 

But when I actually got my Invisalign aligners, I had Invisalign lite - 14 aligners (this is the max Invisalign lite allows, before it becomes Invisalign full). My initial treatment (not including the refinement stage) was just over 4 months!!

I believe this particular consultant at Sensu was trying to get me to sign up for another fixed brace called Damon clear - as I was told that would ‘only’ take 12 months - they could put them on then and there and it would cost around £6500!!!!! So I think this was done from a sales perspective! Trying to push me in the direction of Damon clean instead of Invisalign.

Anyway my point is, I nearly didn’t sign up for Invisalign because I thought wow! 15 months! Can I handle that? I find it hard to believe they thought my case would take 15 months when it only took 4!!!! If they’re experts in their field - then how could they get that so wrong!?!?

But this was just a minor incident during my initial consultation.

It took me a while to decide, purely because of being told it would take 15 months, had they said, oh you’re a candidate for invisalign lite, it won’t take more than 5 months, I probably would have signed up for it then and there at my consultation.

www.sensu.co.uk (Mention me (Kirsty Poole) when they book your free consultation)