Monday, October 29, 2012

Exciting News!

My progressive smile 10/20/2012
Appointment
I went in for my appointment to get my next set of trays on 10/26/2012. I am on the Invisalign Assist program, which means that after every 10 trays, they do another digital scan of my teeth to make sure my teeth are on track and moving the way they are supposed to before making the next set of 10 trays.
I received only Tray 10 today and I will have to go back in 2 weeks when my next set of 10 trays are in to pick up 3 more sets.

Progress Pictures
What a difference 4 months makes!
They also did some progress pictures at this appointment, and so kindly emailed them to me so I could compare these to the before pictures. As you can see, I still have a ways to go, however, I can definitely see some progress here. I personally like to compare the open mouth shots or the "top view" - the middle row of pictures in each set. I think it gives me a better idea of which teeth are turning and moving, and takes my focus of just my front teeth that are my main concern.

Side note: With all the brushing I'm doing these days, my teeth are looking much whiter. I can't wait until I get to the end of this and get the actual whitening done that is included with my treatment. And by the way, I think my teeth look WAY better with the trays in, so I've also included the pic to the right. This gives me extra motivation to keep my trays in the recommended amount of time. :)
Progress Pictures 10/26/2012
"Before" Pictures 5/11/2012 - taken 6 weeks before starting Invisalign.
Exciting News!!

Well, you may be wondering by now why I titled this entry "Exciting News!" Or maybe you didn't even notice that I hadn't clarified that yet, but either way, you're about to find out.

I was having dinner with my son 2 weeks ago and I had a salad with chicken on it. Believe it or not, it took me a minute to figure out what was going on for sure - a new experience for me, I got a piece of chicken stuck between my two front teeth!
I GOT A PIECE OF CHICKEN STUCK IN MY TEETH!! :)
Also, I was having some hot chocolate and mixing it with one of those coffee stirrer thingies. I put it in my mouth and bit down and it didn't fit!
IT DIDN'T FIT!!! :)
For most people in this world that don't have this hideous gap, this means nothing, but to me it means everything. I never imagined that either of these things could happen.

Overall,  I am very happy with the decision I made to take this journey. :)

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Monday, October 15, 2012

Nothing New Really

 I have 2 things to tell you about, that don't really require a blog post, but I wanted to share...

1. I am officially over half way through my bottom aligners! I put tray 9 of 16 in 5 days ago! YAY!!!

Still a little longer on the top because I have 23 total (I am 1/3 of the way done on top, however). I'm just happy with the half way milestone and wanted to share! :)


2. Yesterday, I took my son to the pumpkin patch. I decided I wanted some hot chocolate, so being the disciplined Invisalign wearer that I am, I took them out. It was a horribly windy day and when I went to put them in the case, the wind grabbed one of them and it landed in the mud. GROSS!!! :( I was not about to put it back in my mouth without a proper cleaning (soaked in denture cleaner and scrubbed with a toothbrush) so I ended up having them out for about 4 hours in one shot yesterday, and that doesn't count the time I had them out for regular meals!
Anyway, all is well now. They were pretty tight when I first put them back in, but that subsided rather quickly.


I do have my next followup appointment on October 26th. I plan on posting updated pictures again at that time. At that appointment, I will be having more scans done to make sure everything is progressing as planned, so fingers crossed! :) I guess I am on the plan which is call "Invisalign Assist" so every 10 trays they make sure everything is going as planned with a new scan, before making the 10 sets of trays.




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