"Let's Get this (Refinement) Party Started!

So I went to the ortho today to get started on this refinement process. In my last post I mentioned that the ortho thought we would be able to do the refinements in 5 trays or less and possibly no attachments. WRONG!
I was pretty upset about the outcome and reluctantly let them place 4 more attachements on. 2 on my front right tooth, 1 on the tooth right next to it, and the 4th one on a lower inscisor. And there are 10 trays (5 on the bottom)! And they had to do some IPR between my front teeth so that they will come together like they're supposed to... so now.. another gap! :( I hate life right now.

As you can see in the pictures below, my front right tooth (left in the pics) is not straight up and down. Most of the work being done is to straighten that tooth out by torquing the root, hence the two attachments on that tooth.  This tooth has been a problem the entire treatment, so no surprise there.

Anyway, after they saw how upset I was, she offered to just stop where I was and go to retainers, then I reminded myself how much money I've put into these things and decided I better keep going.

There were some pluses though;
-She showed me my new clin-check and it made me realize they are fixing things I didn't even realize was wrong because I was too focused on my two front teeth and that darn gap.

-I convinced her that we should try 10 days for each tray since I'm almost done. This will take me from 140 days to 100!
She didn't want to at first but I reminded her how compliant I've been. We agreed to 10 days on the condition that if the new tray doesn't feel right, I will wear the previous trays for the full 14 days. And when I come back in 3 trays, she will reevaluate and see if this is still a good option for me.

-The last three trays are over-correction trays, so it will be up to me if I think I need to wear them to pull everything in a little tighter or not.


All in all, I left the office feeling pretty good again after seeing how awesome my teeth will look (in theory) when all is said and done! :)

Without Trays Beginning Refinement 9/10/2013

With Trays Beginning Refinement 9/10/2013

I Can't Stop Smiling!!

Another orthodontist appointment yesterday...
I got my new trays and put them in at my appointment yesterday. I had them in for about 3 hours and by the time I took them out for lunch...

Tray 25 without trays 5/31/2013

I have a FLOSS-ABLE space between my font teeth!!! :) :) :)

The space is still not completely closed, but it is pretty darn close! I when I run a piece of floss through, it touches both teeth now. :) I would imagine that if it was someone else looking at me, they wouldn't notice anymore, but I do since I'm currently teeth obsessed. LOL

Update! So as I was typing this I went to take some pictures and apparently my teeth have moved more!!! :) I'm calling this case closed!!! :)

Everyone in the office has been really excited for me. We went back and looked at my ClinCheck from where I started and man! I can't believe those were my teeth!! I'm now in trays 25 of 30! I can see the downhill side now. My orthodontist said that my teeth are tracking great because I'm so good about wearing my trays like I'm supposed to. There is still a chance for refinements, but at this point I'm not thinking about it. I'm just really glad that everything is finally "coming together." (Pun intended)

Tray 25 with trays 5/31/2013

P.S. The two front teeth look a little crooked. I'm not too concerned at this point as they have gone from straight to crooked and back again throughout this process. I'm sure with the remaining five trays, it will be straight in the end. :)

And a comparison photo from shortly after I started... :)

July 2012

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...

Invisalign Assist? Yes Please! And new Smart Track Material

I went in to find out what the bad news was this time after having my teeth scanned at tray 20. Again, some attachments were taken off/moved/added. This time though, I still have nine attachments but on eight teeth instead of seven. The two on the front tooth were taken off, but two more were put on the other front tooth. They do look a little smaller than the last ones though, so that's good news!

The bad news? Well, sorta bad news... I was scheduled for 26 trays, I now will have 30 on top and 29 on the bottom. This pushes my end time back a couple of months, but I'm pretty ok with that, surprisingly. I think partially because I KNOW this will definitely be it, unless I do refinements. There will be no scanning again at tray 30, because there will be no where to go, I will be at my end game! :)
P.S. I'm officially done with 2/3 done with the first round! I finally have an end point!

We hadn't previously discussed retainers at all, but I knew it was coming. She mentioned that I would have the "plastic retainers", I'm assuming Vivera, but she didn't say for sure. The other thing she said, didn't ask, but said, was that I was going to have a bonded retainer on the back of my top front teeth. Those babies aren't going anywhere! Keep in mind, very nice, caring and fun lady I'm dealing with here. If I absolutley didn't want it, I'm sure she would listen to my reasoning and ultimately do what is going to make me happy.
The reason that I hadn't brought up the subject with her yet was that I wasn't sure if I wanted a bonded retainer or not. I kept going back in forth in my mind. Like she said, I'm prone to the gaps and she doesn't want it coming back! Neither do I!
Case closed! :)

The other thing that I asked about was the likeliness of refinements. I specifically asked if these "progress scans" every 10 trays seemed to cut down on the necessity of refinements, she said yes it does! :) I was relieved to have my hunch confirmed.
She also quickly followed that with - "but we will do them if you want them!" with a smile on her face, of course, because that's who she is.

Still waiting for that pesky gap between my two front teeth to close. It's all but gone now! We looked through the scans today, because I HAD to know, and Dr. Janna told me it should be a "flossable" space at tray 26 or 27. Unless I just feel a little crazy, I probably won't post pics again until I feel like it's "closed".

Oh! And! The new aligners are the Smart Track material. I really have no opinion on them yet. They're supposed to hold up a little longer instead of being real tight at first and then loose towards the end of two weeks.

Gosh darn! I just have to reiterate how dang happy I am with this decision. I already feel like a new woman. And the office that I go to... well words just can't express how happy they have made me and how friendly of a place it is. I just LOVE going there now, as opposed to my trips to the dentist before, when I just kind of thought "what's the point?" and "I hate my teeth, why do they need cleaned."



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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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Flossing??? NO!!! :)

I have posted a link below for some life saving flossers. I keep a kit at work and one in my purse with tooth paste, a toothbrush, and these handy little helpers. I don't think I would be nearly as compliant with the flossing portion if it weren't for these.
Previous to Invisalign, I never flossed. I hated doing it, it was difficult the way my teeth are positioned. I knew going into Invisalign treatment, that I would have to start brushing and FLOSSING (EEK!) after every meal to avoid food getting caught under the trays and causing cavities.
Side Note: Flossing is getting easier. I can tell that my teeth are moving because I can floss a lot easier in between the teeth that were a little crowded. :) Yay!
 Life Saving Flossers


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Thanks for looking! :)