Waiting For Refinements - Initial Round Is Over

Well... I had my ortho appointment this last week. She removed my attachments, man does it feel weird to have smooth teeth again!

I had an issue with one side not completely closing like my bite was off. She stuck this red piece of paper in my mouth and when you bite down, it leaves little red mark on your teeth where the top and bottom hit together. From that, she said she could "shape" one of my teeth (shave it off a little) and see if that helps. I was skeptical, but it worked!
She then told me to look at my teeth. She said they look amazing but told me to look at them good and really be critical and let her know if there was anything I didn't like. I asked her if I was just paranoid that my front teeth weren't as close together as they should be, kind of hoping she would tell me I was just paranoid. Her response was that she knows that was my main concern going into this and that she wants to make sure I'm completely happy, so we're doing refinements. Basically what's going to happen is that there will be a few more trays so that it kind of pulls everything in a little more and tightens everything up a bit. She thought that it would only be around 5 trays and we could probably do it without attachments!!! :)
Oh! And whitening is included with my treatment, but normally at the end. I asked about it today to find out the details for sure. Then went ahead and gave me a whitening kit to use since I don't have attachments for at least the next two weeks! :)

I will update again once I know what refinements are going to bring for sure. I have my appointment to go back in on September 6th.

I will also post pictures later of the whitening results. Just one treatment made a HUGE difference!

8/22/13

5/11/2012

Waiting... trying to be patient...

I realize I haven't posted for a while. There hasn't really been any new developments to update with. I am currently on my last set of trays for the initial round. YAY!!!

My son started first grade earlier this week, and I took some pictures of the two of us. I made one of them a the lock screen on my cell phone. Yesterday, I kept picking up my phone and thinking, "WOW, who's that hot mama?" LOL I love my new smile!

I go in a week from today. I will find out at the appointment if I need refinements or if I am done. I'm ok either way really, I've just grown accustomed to them now and feel naked without them in. I can't imagine what it will be like to go all day without these things in. I don't know for sure, but I'm assuming I'll eventually get down to night time wear only for retainers, hopefully that will be sooner than later.

I will update again in a week after my appointment when I have more news, and I know they'll be taking pictures for me again! :)

Look, Mom! No Cavities!

Well, I went in for my 6 month dental checkup and... No Cavities! I know this isn't much of an update, but there seems to be some concern about Invisalign causing cavities. I have had Invisalign for 11 months, this is my second 6 month check up in that time, and no sign of anything.

Not that I'm recommending this as all, but I don't really brush and floss like I'm supposed to according to Invisalign. I generally eat, then chew some gum for a few minutes, then put my aligners back in. When I get a few minutes, I will brush and floss like I'm supposed to and make sure my aligners are clean again. 

My point is, you must have to have some REALLY bad hygiene with Invisalign if that's what's causing your cavities, in my opinion...

I'm Seeing Major Changes! :)

So I went in for tray 20 today, which as I said before, with Invisalign Assist, they do a new scan every 10 trays to ensure things are moving correctly and to make changes if needed. Because of Easter, I will not be going back in for another 3 weeks to find out what the results are and to make changes if necessary. I'm nervous and scared and excited because of what happened at tray 10 when they did the first progress scan. Refer to this post for the last experience - Good News/Bad News

The nice thing is though, they take new pictures every 10 trays as well, so I can see a good comparison. I will update again in 3 weeks when I find out what changes are coming my way! :)

Progess Pictures Tray 20 3/14/13 (Pi Day)

Progress Pictures 10/26/12

"Before" Pictures 5/11/12 - Taken Six Weeks Before Starting Invisalign

Exciting News Today!!!

So I went in for my appointment to get trays 17-19 this morning.

I went in and the assistant looked at my teeth with and without tray 16 in to make sure all the attachments we still there and make sure everything was fitting correctly and my bite was lining up, and ran floss through to make sure none of the teeth were spaced too closely. I left the trays out so the dentist could get a look...


THEN SHE WALKED IN...

She had a huge smile on her face and genuine excitement! :) She said she couldn't believe how small the gap had gotten. She said she had by before pictures out for some reason the other day and she was thinking about what a change it had been, but even more so now that she's seen me again!

It made my day!!! :)


The other day
 ...one of my coworkers know that I have Invisalign. He had braces a couple of years ago and we were talking about it for some reason.
As previously mentioned in earlier posts, the gap looks smaller then the trays are in. Anyway, he looked right at me and said "you're done right?" I told him no, I had them in, and then took them out so he could see... but what an amazing feeling for someone to think that they look that great already (even though I had the trays in)


This last week has COMPLETELY validated my decision to do this in the first place :) :) :)


The only other notable thing that's happened since my last update... As my gap gets smaller, my lip gets caught in it more and more when I eat! I know that eventually this too shall pass, it's just a really odd feeling! LOL

When I go back in 6 weeks, I will be getting tray 20. At that time, since I'm on the Invisalign Assist, they will do another scan to see how things are progressing and see if any changes need to be made to the plan before the rest of my trays are made.
Right now I'm scheduled to have 26 total trays for my first round. With any luck, this will keep me on track for the 26 or take some away - Not add more trays like when they did the scan at 10 trays!

I will make sure to update again when I get that news!

Tray 17 With Trays In 1/31/13

Tray 17 Without Trays In 1/31/13

Tray 17 With Trays In 1/31/13

Good News/Bad News

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;

• 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. 

I FREAKED OUT when they told me. Seriously kids, for a minute I had to hold back the tears! When I expressed my concerns, this was the response - "Well look at it this way. You could have brackets and braces." (At this point I HATE that she shares my silver lining kind of thinking.) To which I responded - "OR... I could have just NOT started this whole process at all. Never mind, I wouldn't like that at all." :)

• 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

1. 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. 
   
2. 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.
3. 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. 
4. 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!
   
   

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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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Holy Jawbreaker!!

The Problem

Well, up to this point, I have been very satisfied with my treatment. I'm currently on Day 13 of Tray 5. For the entire time I have had this set of trays I have been having this dull pain in my jaw on both sides. I thought maybe it was from clenching my teeth more often because I have noticed that I was doing this, so I consciously made an effort last weekend not to do it anymore. The pain still didn't go away, so I called the dentist to find out if this was normal. They said that it was perfectly normal and a good sign that things are going well, and the pain should only last a week or so. I was also told it was ok to 800mg ibuprofen every 6 hours as needed. It seems to be helping. It's been almost 2 weeks now so hopefully the pain will subside with the next set of trays. We'll find out tomorrow!

Jaw Clenching

I didn't mention it my last post, but, I was concerned about all the extra jaw clenching I was doing so I asked about it at my last appointment. After looking at my aligners that I had in for two weeks, she said there were no bite marks so the clenching was fine. I think this actually helps because it helps ensure that the aligners are snugly on the teeth.

Cracked Aligners

As for the cracked aligners mentioned in a previous post - tray 4 had no cracks at the end of the 2 weeks. Tray 5 has very tiny cracks that I have only noticed because I was specifically looking for them. So far, they haven't caused any real problems, just more of a concern for me. As long as that's all it is, I will move on with life.

Noticeable Changes

• The gap between my two front teeth is getting smaller. I remember being teased when I was younger asking if I could stick four quarters in there. I never tried it, but I could put my tongue in there sideways with ease, I still can, but there's definitely less space now.
• Visually, the gap is noticeably smaller when my teeth are "naked", but when I have the aligners in, I think it makes it look even smaller yet. :) This also makes me want to keep my aligners in all the time. It's a win-win! 
• I have a slight overjet. I used to be able to stick my tongue through the space between my top and bottom teeth, not anymore! :)
• A couple of the bottom teeth were pretty crooked making it impossible to floss. I used to be ashamed when I would go in for a cleaning and they would ask if I had been flossing - won't be the case anymore! :)

In Summary

Overall, despite the couple of issues I have had, I am still very satisfied with the whole process thus far.

The jaw pain could be worse and seems to go away with the ibuprofen. I should also note that my allergies have been horrible at the same time as all of this, so that could just be compounding my problem since I'm not feeling great. 

The boost of my outward self image is TOTALLY worth any minor things that might be annoying or concerning me during this process.

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Tray 4 - 1st Follow-up Appointment at 6 weeks

So it's been almost a week, but last Thursday I went in for my first Invisalign check up. I am currently on Day 8 of Tray 4. The dentist checked my mouth out without the aligners in. Then checked with the aligners in, to make sure that all the teeth were where they were supposed to be and to make sure that all of the attachments were in the proper place and turning my teeth correctly.
She also took a look at the cracks in my old alingers and said it almost has to be caused by the way I'm taking them out. She watched me put them in a take them back out and didn't see anything. I'll just be way more careful from here on out and see what happens with the next couple of sets.

She said everything looks great and is going as planned! She asked me to put in the 4th set to make sure everything lined up with the new set. She then asked if I wanted to wear trays 4 now, or go back to 3 and wait until bed time to put in 4. (Of course I want tray 4! Why would I want to wait???) There was a little discomfort, but again, no pain! :) She sent me on my way with sets 5 and 6.

The next day I decided to pull out tray 6 and compare it to tray 1. Of course my comparison is mainly in the gap in my front teeth, since that is my main concern. But WOW! I couldn't believe how much smaller it is going to be! :) Probably not quite half the original size, but a HUGE improvement! Only 2 weeks and 6 days until I put those bad boys in my mouth! :) (not that I'm counting or anything)

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