Eleven

I'm on #11, right? Right. I started these aligners late...but who's to blame me? We were in San Francisco the weekend I was to switch and there was NO way I was going to miss out on some "scrimps 'n scrabs" (as my family would say) & other yummy food. No way! So instead of trying them on Friday night, I waited until we got home Monday night.

I, of course, compared the new with the old and found the Top Elevens are SMALLER than #10's. As in, when I over-laid them on top of each other, the top front teeth were brought inward making the aligner smaller. Does that make sense? Other than that, no change. Not a whole lot of pain, some pressure, the usual. Somehow I always end up getting head-butted right in the mouth on the first day of every change. Ouchie! ... but never any other day.

I can't wait until I'm done and I have perfect teethies! Not too much longer now but I'm getting impatient! I'll just keep reminding myself - I would have to wait TWO YEARS if I was in regular metal braces. 2 Years!!

#10

I couldn't think of a clever blog title this time. Sorry, guys. haha

Ahhh, number 10. As usual, my gums were sore the first day (Feb 2). No unusual bleeding or anything. Most of the soreness was concentrated in the back upper right. I had to resort to taking out the aligners on the opposite side so it wouldn't feel like I was pulling out my teeth!

Unfortunately however, I had to make an emergency trip to my dentist's office this morning. My bottom aligners were rubbing my tongue RAW and the top one wasn't snapping over my attachments on the right. My next appointment wasn't until next Wednesday. Well, she ended up canceling that one and filed more on my teeth and reattached some of the buttons. Fun, fun. Oh, and she cut off the back tooth on the bottom aligners to help with the irritation on my tongue.

All is well now. I think Nick will become a dentist when he grows up... He is so intent on watching EVERYTHING the dentist does in my mouth. Maybe he knows he'll have braces one day... with his 3 front teeth and all........

I looked ahead at my March 18th set #14 (I think) and boy oh boy the changes we'll see! I can't wait!

Cheerio,

Why is 6 afraid of 7? Because 7 8 9!

I changed Invisalign aligners 7 & 8 during our trip to/from Texas for the Christmas break. Those were easy. Not much pain, just the usual tension & pressure. My family hardly noticed them and kept forgetting. I'd have to remind them I couldn't just taste test food or randomly drink a soda unless I was ready to do the whole remove, eat/drink, brush teeth, replace ordeal. Family also noticed an improvement in my teeth I couldn't see! They were very encouraging about the whole process.Last night I switched to #9. They were tight, as usual, but actually a lot easier to snap in than prior aligners. I thought, "Oh these should be a breeze!" Wrong, wrong, wrong. Typically I take them off first thing in the morning but when I tried a few minutes ago, it hurt like the devil! I have this trick to taking them off with minimal pain but that didn't even work. I had barely pulled down on the top when I quickly put them back where they belong. That hurt! I'd imagine once I take them off, that will be the worst pain and then when I take them off again throughout the day, they wont hurt much at all. I hope.

I should have known better. By looking at #10 in the package, my bottom front 3 teeth will be lined up. That will have to take some pain... but it doesn't explain why the top hurts. I guess it's doing something I can't see!

No pain, no gain!

A before picture from the beginning:

***Embarrassing "after" pictures below:

The "overjet" is getting better, but I didn't take a before picture of that. Umm.. Oops?! hahah

Most of the improvement we can see are the teeth next to the top 2. They are slowly coming out from behind and getting lined up. Also, the lower teeth are not quite a slanted and over-lapping each other.... I never realized how much the lower teeth were going like / that.

Still have a lot of work to go! I'll add more pictures of the differences in the aligners (which are amazing!) and more after #10's if I see a difference.

#6

I switched to the #6's last Friday, the 18th... It was the first (and only so far) night I lost any sleep over my Invisalign. It's not because it was terribly painful, just whichever way it was pressing on my teeth was causing a pounding headache that lasted a couple days. It's Tuesday now and they are already loose and I'm back to the grinding.

Of course, there's no obvious visible difference between these aligners and the previous ones. Trust me, I've scrutinized every indention on the trays... BUT this morning I pulled out the last ones in this package, #10, and I CAN see a difference. By February, my front 2 bottom teeth (the one that's currently in front of the rest and the one next to it on my left) will be aligned with each other! The top tray also seems to get a little wider and the teeth next to my front 2, a little more lined up. I can't wait until I can see my top teeth pushed back. After that, I'll be heading back to the dentist to get more. Looking a month ahead, it's too bad these changes won't be visible during our trip to TX to see family. Oh well, one step at a time.

Can't wait to get through January now!!!

The boys have started to call my Invisalign "Mama's glass teeth". Nick likes to examine them in my mouth nearly every day and asks to put them in his mouth. Ew! LOL

I slack on how many hours I keep them on during the day, but not enough to mess up treatment... I'm just not as paranoid about it, I guess. Instead of leaving them out for strictly 1 hour per meal and a snack mid-afternoon, I keep them out roughly 2 hours per meal and for a little bit first thing in the morning while I wake up... and for a little bit for snacks all day long.

That's all that's new! I hardly think about the things now... they really have become just another part of my life.

#5

Dr. V filed more on my teeth today. Fun, fun. Nick went with me and now I think he wants to be a dentist! He laid on my chest and watched every move the dentist made... he even assisted by giving her a few tools! I love how the office is so kid-friendly. They didn't mind one bit that I brought my month-shy-of 3 year old boy with me.

Dr. V informed me that she won't be filing on my teeth every time but that it's needed right now to create space to un-crowd my teeth. She also told me I'll probably start to SEE a difference around the 4th or 5th month mark, which is about half-way through my treatment... so that's what? February or March? Sweet. I'll put up new progress pictures whenever I cross that milestone. I really could care less about my crowded bottom teeth... shove my upper teeth back and I'll be a happy girl!

These aligners feel tight, but no tighter than the last ones have been when I first put them on. We'll see how the pain is during mealtime. I'm anxious to see how that goes - to see if the filing and stuff made my gums more sore than usual. Oh yeah! She did say she could tweak the aligners some how if the teeth grinding becomes too bothersome. I told her my jaw is popping and hurting so to go for it but she didn't do anything. I'll just deal with it.

Otherwise, today is yet again, pretty uneventful... aside from the rain! It's raining in Sun Diego! The boys were so excited they were squealing with joy! I think we'll even walk to Sam's school to pick him up... after all, it's not too often we get to use umbrellas and hop in puddles around here!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today I'm thankful for Invisalign! I was able to pop my aligners off and stuff myself silly. I'm now on set #4 and all is well. Different teeth are sore, but nothing like the first set. Nothing new to report. Hope you all had a wonderful Turkey Day!!!

~~Love from San Luis Obispo/Avila Beach, California ~~

#3

I haven't posted as there's nothing noteworthy to say about the 3rd set of aligners. I definitely felt new pressure on a bottom side tooth making the tray more difficult to get off, but the associated pain went away in under 2 days.

I'm not sure if this will change but I actually look forward to putting on a new set of aligners. As the old set gets looser, I grind my teeth more and more saliva collects under the trays. I'm finally able to bite directly into a regular sized sandwich rather than using my side teeth, but I still can't open my mouth very wide due to the jaw pain I've had for years... that's now aggravated by the teeth grinding. Getting the aligners on and off now are not a problem. I've discovered if I place my thumbs behind my fang teeth and press up and back, the top tray slides right on. The bottom aligner is a little more tricky - I have to press down and to the left for it to comfortably slide onto my teeth, probably b/c of my front bottom tooth that is angled in that direction.

I can't help but wonder how miserable it might be if I were to catch a stomach bug. Seriously. Throwing up with these aligners? Are you kidding me? It's probably not as bad as someone with regular braces but the thing is, I wouldn't be able to keep the aligners off for very long and I wouldn't be able to take them off quick enough. Yuck! I know it's gross but it's flu season.

Anyway, there's obviously no visible change to my teeth at this point. It will be nice when I can see progress rather than just feel it! :)