Monday, May 13, 2013

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...

Monday, April 22, 2013

I'm Lovin' It!

For the first time in my life, I am genuinely happy about my smile! And I'm not even done yet! :) That's all for today! :)

Thursday, April 18, 2013

300!!!

 
Well, I just noticed on my little ticker thingy to the right over there that I'm on day 300!!! -----> 


I'm feeling unstoppable right about now. Man, I remember starting thinking that this would never end. Time files when you're having fun! :) 





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Thursday, April 4, 2013

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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Friday, March 15, 2013

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


Monday, February 11, 2013

Have I Lost My Mind???

So I was just in the bathroom washing my hands, looked at myself in the mirror, and thought to myself - "Did I forget to put my trays back in?" I had to take another look to make sure they were there!!

If anyone questions how noticeable these things are... they must not be if I had to look twice at my own mouth! :)

That is all... short one today! :)



Thursday, January 31, 2013

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