I did a course of Invisalign at Collins Dental and it was... okay…read more
The Pros:
- Everyone at the office is friendly and welcoming
- They have freshly baked cookies every day
- Dr. Collins is professional and knowledgeable
- I *mostly* got my teeth straightened
The Cons:
- They are very hands off; I saw them a total of once during my actual treatment (halfway through). In fairness, I was told I could call in at any time.
- My first real problem started when I finished my treatment. They had a trainee scan my teeth for the permanent retainer, who spent 15 mins waving the wand around in my mouth. The trainee was being monitored, but after all that work, something that important should have been done directly by a dentist. Additionally, the attachments weren't removed first, which meant they were digitally removed later, this could also be part of why I had trouble later.
- My retainers ended up being very tight and painful to wear. I made a follow-up appointment and several calls regarding them, and was told they are fine and that Vivera retainers take 'some getting used to.' However, I then began to develop staining on my front teeth and tooth sensitivity, which I've never had in my life. I made another call and was told in order to be helped, I had to make an appointment for a cleaning (not included in my plan), so that they can polish off the stains and examine my teeth.
- The cleaning ended up costing $500, I was upsold a ~$70 electric toothbrush which I was told would help with staining (it did not). I was also told that cleaning my retainers with dish soap was the cause of the problem, so I started using retainer tablets instead, but the stains returned shortly after.
- I realized the retainers WERE the issue, and told them I want to get rescanned for new ones. I was charged an additional $320 for them*, and had to toss out the old set. However, due to the pain, I'd stopped wearing the retainers as consistently, and my teeth had shifted.
*(Again, being fully fair, they agreed to refund me $290 for my first set of retainers, but ended up just wiping out a $250 balance for my cleaning. Letting me absorb the $40 difference)
- I then asked if I had any refinement trays included to fix the shifting, but was told my case had expired.
- I found out the office had elected to use Invisalign Go (a lite version that expires a year after its start, despite the fact my invoice says 'Invisalign - Regular Case'). The standard Invisalign version expires after five years. For the curious, I was charged $5400 for a short 6 month treatment plan and 12 trays (Online estimates how that Invisalign Go should cost $3k-$4k, and that it cost the office ~$1k to purchase them). However, even that limited plan should have left me plenty of time to get my refinement ordered. Except:
My initial complaints about the retainer, staining, sensitivity, and discomfort were waved away for months.
When I finally requested a rescan for new retainers, I was not told my teeth had shifted, though it should have been clear to them they had.
I requested my scans months before my expiration to verify what I was seeing, but was repeatedly told the scans are 'too difficult to send.' When I finally got them in March (after pushing) I could clearly see they had shifted. But my case had expired in January.
The reason I chose this office was because it was $500 dollars cheaper than an orthodontist's quote I received. However, the orthodontist offered a comprehensive plan of Invisalign & 1 free set of retainers, and I'm certain I would not have had the issues I did with staining and tooth sensitivity had I gone there.
On top of that, I ended up paying an additional (~$600 for retainers, $500 for a cleaning, and another $70 for a toothbrush), essentially making this option more expensive. And at the end of it, my teeth aren't fully straight, which was the whole point of doing this. I still quite like Dr. Collins and the office, but I'm not exactly happy, so three stars.
*Edit: was provided a $1260 refund for inconveniences suffered.