Which would you like first? The good news? Or the bad news? You're getting the good news first!
The Good News
I went in for my regular dental checkup and cleaning... no cavities!!! I was a little bit concerned with all of the horror stories of people getting cavities with Invisalign. Personally, I think it's just people not brushing and flossing correctly before they put their trays back in. BUT, that's just my opinion and I don't want to offend anyone. :)
And now...
The Bad News
As I have previously mentioned, I'm on the Invisalign Assist Program, so after every 10 trays, they do new digital scans to make sure everything is tracking correctly before making the next 10 sets of trays. Well... the new trays came in so I went to pick them up yesterday. Yay!! (Or so I thought before I went in.) A couple of issues;
And Now For Some Positive Thinking
The Good News
I went in for my regular dental checkup and cleaning... no cavities!!! I was a little bit concerned with all of the horror stories of people getting cavities with Invisalign. Personally, I think it's just people not brushing and flossing correctly before they put their trays back in. BUT, that's just my opinion and I don't want to offend anyone. :)
And now...
The Bad News
As I have previously mentioned, I'm on the Invisalign Assist Program, so after every 10 trays, they do new digital scans to make sure everything is tracking correctly before making the next 10 sets of trays. Well... the new trays came in so I went to pick them up yesterday. Yay!! (Or so I thought before I went in.) A couple of issues;
- One tooth on the bottom is a little slow and isn't moving the way that it's supposed to, so they added more trays to the bottom. Not a huge problem since I was supposed to have 16 Lower and 23 upper trays to begin with, it makes things a little more even and I won't have to wear the bottom tray so long waiting to finish the top set and waiting to move on to refinements or retainers or whatever I chose to do when these are done.
- They have also made some changes to the top since one of the front teeth is moving, but it's not straight up and down, it's now crooked. So I now have 27 trays (Upper and Lower), which how now increased my total time by 2 months! :(
- I now have 2 small attachments on one of my front teeth, one in the upper corner and one in the opposite lower corner to kind of torque the roots and get the tooth into the proper vertical position.
- Some of the other attachments were removed and moved a little and one was removed completely.
- Before I went in yesterday, I had 7 teeth with attachments. I walked out with attachments on 7 teeth, but 2 teeth have 2 attachments each, my front tooth and one on the bottom.
And Now For Some Positive Thinking
- I am sure glad that I am on the Invisalign Assist program. If it hadn't been for all of this horrible news yesterday, these are things I would have needed fixed when I was done with the original 23 trays and would have definitely made for a VERY long refinement period.
- I will have to do these scans again at the end of tray 20. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that at that point I can get these 2 attachments back off of my front tooth. Who knows - maybe I will end up with less trays at that point.
- In the last 24 hours, I have come to terms with the additional trays and the attachments on my front tooth. (and they are VERY small in comparison to the other attachments that I have.) I was very paranoid with about it at first but asked a coworker to be honest with me and she said she couldn't tell when I was talking.
- I'm VERY grateful to have a dental professional that listens to my concerns and helps me rationalize things.
I also realize that the next set of scans could reward me with even more trays and/or even worse attachments, but I'm not thinking about that. The end result is all I'm focused on right now. It's too late to turn back and even if some horribly placed attachments are noticeable, it's still better than the hideous gap I started out with!
Definitely better than having a lot of cavities and the trays staying at 16/23. I can understand it being disappointing, though. I have the regular full Invisalign, and to be completely honest, I am already hoping that maaaaybe I won't have refinements. No matter what the situation, it's always disappointing when something is worse than the original estimate.
ReplyDeleteFor a second, I thought your first picture was of your old tray because I didn't see the attachments on the tooth. When I looked more closely I did, but only because it is an close up picture. So, definitely not noticeable!
When I had my little breakdown in the office, I was actually told that I shouldn't even think of the 27 trays as being done because I will probably have refinements. I was kind of hoping I wouldn't need refinements as well. When I asked about what the chances of are of needing them, I was told that I probably wouldn't NEED them, but the further along people go in treatment, the more they start paying attention to how their teeth look and the pickier they start getting. With the Invisalign Assist, I shouldn't NEED any since they do the scans every 10 trays, but I imagine I will be the same way and will want to have them perfect everything. After all, I'm already putting this much time and effort into it, and three refinements are included, so I may as well do it right.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the feedback on the pictures. I've come to terms with the attachments. Although I do once in a while feel like there's something stuck to my front tooth where the top attachment is when I don't have my aligners in. Oh well... this too shall pass!
I think its great that they are checking your progress and not having you move to trays until your teeth are ready for the next step. And the gap is way smaller! The progress is phenomenal! Dont worry, the rest of the time is going to fly by
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reassurance! :)
DeleteAwesome progresss. I really didn't notice the attachments on your front tooth when I was reviewing the pictures. Just know that you're getting the smile you want. Anything worth having is worth doing a little "suffering" for. Personally I have invisalign fulland I have my mind set that I will have refinements. I really don't care that I'll have them because I'm so pleased with the amount of progress that I've had some far. My teeth have certainly come a long way from when I started this process & so have yours. Best wishes to you Xtina!
ReplyDeleteOh what I difference too! When I have the trays in, it's hard to tell that there is still a space there. When I have them out it's still obvious, but a world of difference now from 7 months ago!
DeleteOne thing we have to remind ourselves of is the fact that no one is going to be paying that much attention to our mouths but us. We will notice everything and other people won't notice anything until we point it out.
ReplyDeleteTrue. The other thing that I have to remember is that my teeth aren't so hideous now, so it's not the first thing people notice about me. :)
DeleteHi! I've been following your blog and I'm also on the assist program, but one tray behind where you're at. I also ended up having to get attachments on my front teeth that look just like yours after my 10th tray! Not as bad as I thought. I'm on 14 now and have a slow incisor. There's a small, but widening gap between my tooth and my tray over the last 4, so I'm worried I'll end up with an elastic. I'll find out when I go back in 5 weeks and perhaps end up with new molds. Just curious to know how things are going!
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, I haven't posted for a while and somehow missed your comment here. Hopefully you have decided to follow my blog and saw my latest update with more pics. I'm amazed with my progress thus far!
DeleteI never noticed a gap between my tray and my tooth, but one of my lower teeth wasn't tracking quite right like the front tooth, and they added another attachment when they revised my plan. It also added quite a few trays to the bottom, but that's OK, because it's the same as my top now.
I'm curious, you say new molds - does that mean they don't do the digital scanning at your office? I had the molds and scans done the first time, but just the scan after the first set of 10 trays. I would hate to have the molds done every 10 trays!