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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