Invisalign retainers have left 59-year-old mother-of-four Lucy Cavendish struggling with a persistent lisp, painful eating and anxiety over how long she can keep them in each day.
Cavendish had spent six years considering the £3,900 treatment, which was intended to correct increasingly crooked and discoloured teeth, as well as an overbite. But after four weeks wearing the bespoke plastic trays, she says the experience has been far more demanding than expected.
Her teeth had once been straight, but she says they had become jagged with age. Years of drinking black coffee and red wine had also left them discoloured, prompting her to pursue the “straight white beautiful, perfect teeth” she wanted.
Before treatment could begin, scans showed that some teeth needed fillings and that her receding gums required attention. She was told the exposed root surface was softer than enamel and would be more vulnerable to decay while covered by trays for much of the day.
She eventually paid a £2,000 deposit and was fitted with the first set by her dentist, Dr Shah. “It might feel a bit odd,” the dentist told her as the plastic trays were inserted.
Cavendish said her immediate reaction was to gag and described the appliances as large and uncomfortable. When asked whether she was sure she wanted to proceed, she replied: “Of courshhh.”
The treatment involves 27 sets of retainers, each worn for about a week before being replaced with a slightly smaller set. She was instructed to wear them for 22 hours a day, with two hours allowed for eating and other activities.
Instead, Cavendish says she has managed an average of around 18 hours daily. She developed a headache whenever she changed trays and was allowed to keep each set for ten days rather than a week.
Removing the aligners for meals has proved particularly difficult. She says taking them out and putting them back can take so long that she spends much of her time thinking about the trays, checking them with her tongue or worrying about how visible they are.
Her teeth have also become tender. Foods such as melon, radishes, bread and apples are now painful to eat, leaving her relying largely on soup, yoghurt and soft eggs. She says she has also been sleeping badly and grinding her teeth together.
The impact of Invisalign retainers on everyday life
Cavendish says the appliances have affected her confidence as well as her diet. She feels that they make the area around her mouth look swollen and remains conscious of her lisp, which she says has not disappeared after four weeks.
Dating has become difficult, she says, because the retainers must be removed before eating or kissing. On evenings when she takes them out, she finds herself counting the hours until she can return home and put them back in.
The one apparent benefit has been weight loss. Cavendish says she had reached 10st 7lb after using Mounjaro, but lost another half a stone because eating with the retainers was such a nuisance.
The experience has also changed the way she views other people’s teeth. She says that after becoming preoccupied with her own, she began noticing the condition and alignment of everyone else’s teeth, including those of men she met while dating.
She expects her teeth eventually to be even, white and free of an overbite, as her dentist has promised. However, she has been told that she will need to wear a retainer every night for the rest of her life to stop them moving back.
For Cavendish, the treatment remains a substantial commitment made largely for cosmetic reasons. Whether the final result will justify the discomfort and disruption, she says, is still unclear.
