Finally...The results

Ok, so this crazy thing called life has come between blogging about my Invisalign experience. Sorry! Please accept my many apologies. I will try to make up for it by giving everyone what they have been asking for... An UPDATE. And I could ramble on, but why not just show you where I started, a couple of in between pics, and the final outcome. Here goes...

9th Tray No-Nos

So I made it to the 9th set of my Invisalign trays! Whoo-hoo!! At tray 7 my lowers were closed in. It was great but is nothing compared to the day when my teeth are perfectly aligned and gap free. I'm SO looking forward to that day. I guess I'd have to admit that I've been a bit of a slacker in the recent months and haven't really followed protocol, but please DON'T..I repeat, DON'T follow in my footsteps. Let's see, some of the wrong things...

1. Taken them out and couldn't remember where in the world I put them. I've lost my braces about three times..thank God I found them and didn't have to go to the doc to reorder new trays. I never understood why people ask,"Well where's the last place you had them?" Hello, if I knew that they wouldn't be lost..duh.

2. After the second month or so, I began utilizing napkins to quickly store the trays rather than the nifty little plastic Invisalign case I was given. What? It's quicker.

3. I eat with the trays in...I know, I can crack the aligners...horrible. Does it make it any better that I only chow down on soft food, not the crunchy stuff?? Didn't think so.

4. Guilty of drinking red, blue, purple, orange, and green punch/Kool-aid, juice, tea, and coffee with my trays in. To my surprise I haven't experienced any discoloration to my aligners.

5. I'm not as OCD with quickly brushing after eating the slightest amount of food and then rushing to put my trays in.

6. Sometimes I forget I'm not wearing them for hours at a time. When I start talking to someone and suddenly feel self-conscious about my gap THEN I realize those babies are M.I.A.

7. Flossing...I get to it mainly with the crunchy foods that are hard to get out of the now s.m.a.l.l. crevices (nuts, popcorn, etc.) It's amazing how food doesn't accumulate when there aren't huge gaps to fill. It's so wonderful I tell ya!!

But all in all, I'd say I'm not doing too bad. I've heard and seen worse cases than my little slip ups. I'm just thrilled that the spaces are becoming a thing of the past. Don't get me wrong, I still take out the trays and brush them AND my teeth after I eat or drink with them in, I'm just not so Speedy Gonzalez about it. I'm enjoying this gap closing up, I don't want decayed teeth!!

I'll end this post with pics comparing my 1st TRAY with my 9TH TRAYS...
The first pics are my teeth without wearing the trays, then with the trays, then just a side view comparison (trays in). Ah, closure!!!

Week 5 w/ Attachments

After inserting the new 3rd set of aligners I immediately noticed that the unsightly spit bubbles reared their head once again. Of course they are mainly noticeable to me and not so much anyone else--but still. And like most people I initially felt like the attachments were waving hello every time I opened my mouth. I soon realized I was being paranoid and tossed such foolish thinking aside. This week's pics display the difference in the appearance of my teeth with and without the aligners...


Slowly but surely it is closing in




The attachments are more noticeable WITH the aligners in.



The trays are keeping things lined up

2nd set of Aligners-Week 3

As I transitioned into week three, I have noticed that the spit bubbles where my gap is, seems LESS noticeable than the first set of aligners. Day one and two of the second set of trays are not very comfie, but they are easy to take out and put back in as the days go by. Sometimes I'm thinking, "bring on the pain!!" because it's not hurting as much. Yes, maybe it's my twisted thinking but I figure if the trays are hurting, I know they are working. I'll keep you posted...

Week 1 VIDEO

Aligners Arrive--Day 1

See the spit bubbles?

Side view w/liners

Bubbles less obvious w/straighter teeth

The dark coloring shows the #of the tray you're wearing

The top right dark spot actually reads "Invisalign"

Long story short:

I arrive at the doc's office and go over all of the do's and don'ts. Now of course I've been awaiting this moment for quite some time. I've become obsessed with teeth and smiles and have looked up every Invisalign article, blog, website, and before and after pics I could find. I'm sitting in the chair and by this time I feel like I'm the doc's colleague. I'm bubbling over with knowledge; I almost feel like I should be giving HIM the scoop about the product. I know, don't eat or drink with them on, wear them for at least 20 hours, change them every two weeks, clean them like this....yada, yada, yada. I've become Charlie Brown listening to the teacher. All that talking but WAH WHAA WAHH... I felt as though a trail of ants were trekking up my leg as he popped in the aligners. I wanted to see them, take them out, pop them in and admire my slippery new smile. "Questions?" the doc asks. Nope, not a one. Immediately I could feel the pressure as the trays hugged my teeth for dear life. But who cared, right?! Afterall, this was the beginning of closing in the gap. Whoo-hoo...

So fast forward to this very moment and I've now had the trays in for about nine hours. The only thing that stands out as bothersome is the embarrassing collection of spit bubbles that collect in the trays. It's mainly noticeable at the central gap of my front teeth. You can hardly see the aligner on my lower teeth that are straighter. I just remind myself that it's 100Xs better than metal brackets and it seems like a small price to pay. The bottom liners are slightly digging into my gums and scraping against the underside of my tongue, but again, it's not that big of an issue for me. I'll trim it down tomorrow if it's still a nuisance. The dreaded incident of speaking with a lisp has been minimal. I talked to a few people and afterwards clued them in about the trays to see if they noticed a significant change in my speech and few had. No major pain to report either. (Important to note though, I did take 2 Advils about an hour before having the aligners inserted.) I would describe the feeling/pressure as more of an annoying ache. Also, when I finally decided to eat, my teeth were really sore when taking out the aligners and chewing. It was more comfortable after eating to have them back in. In my opinion this is a sign of success in progress! I wouldn't advise having anything crunchy to eat at first--not very pleasant. The crazy thing is that I tried to eat fast, brush fast, rinse fast, and floss fast so I could put the trays back in ASAP. Every second they are out of my mouth I feel like my teeth are reverting and my hard earned dollars are going down the drain. Ok, well I'll post again at the changing of the trays ceremony in two weeks. God bless...

Invisalign Preliminaries

My normal smile

Trying to show top & bottom

Gotta love those silver fillings...ugh!

Side view

**Created 5/24/08--Moved blog from my fotki acct in order to post pics and text together**

I've been told that my gap "is cute" and that I shouldn't have it fixed. I tried whole heartedly to brainwash myself into being comfortable with my black hole, but have always remained self-conscious about it when smiling at someone or taking pictures. Then, quite noticeably, my teeth began to shift about a year ago and food would collect in the spaces on the sides of my mouth. I've never been one to pick in or "suck my teeth," so this was quite annoying. There's nothing like having a lunch meeting at work and a big chunk of chicken is chillin in your chompers; all the while you're trying not to blatantly display you're dental disasters. It's painful, annoying, and embarrassing to try and maintain proper table etiquette while a rep attempts to sale you on a product. So, that experience led me back here to document.

FIRST...Ok long story short: I had a consult, then the doc took x-rays, photos, and impressions (casts) of my mouth to send to Align Tech for my case workup. It took about a month to hear back & see my ClinChek, which is a computer model program detailing my course of treatment and showing my teeth gradually fill in and straighten. The video was probably like 8 seconds long. (I tell you it almost brought a tear to my eye.) The doc approved my case and gave the OK to Align Tech to proceed with making my trays (aligners). They should arrive in a week or two!!

PRICE...This is the part that I was terrified about. I've read how some folks had to shell out between $2000 and $8000. As far as I understand it, this is based on where you live, length of treatment, and how money hungry your doc is...sad, but true. Well, I live in Tx, near Houston and I'm estimated to have the bottom straight in 5 months and the top squared away in 8 months. My doc's charge was $4000 total, which includes the Zoom whitening when complete, any additional aligners, cleaning products, and a retainer. He required a $1000 down payment and the rest paid monthly based on treatment time. So I guess you all know who will be cashing my Economic Stimulus check...lol.So at this point I'm waiting for the aligners. I've taken a ga-zillion pics to compare now and later, but I've only put up a few to give a general idea of what my grill looks like in this preliminary phase. I'm thrilled and can't wait for it all to come to fruition. I've become almost obsessed with teeth (mine and other people's). It's crazy! I'll be posting when the first set comes. God bless...