"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

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