Whitening

I haven't exactly followed doctor's orders as far as the whitening treatment goes. Dr. V told me to use the gel on the top and bottom every night. If my teeth are to get sensitive, discontinue for a day and start up again. Well, my bottom teeth get sensitive after only ONE treatment! It's not terrible but pretty annoying. Soooo, I've opted to do my top teeth every night until they become sensitive (usually after 3-4 days) and my bottom teeth every other night.

Here is a before and after, although my teeth were

much more yellow than this picture (refer to previous close-up teeth shots in this blog):

So yeah, YAY for white teeth!!!

As far as the straightening process goes, I'm pretty satisfied with the results thus far. I want my 2 front teeth to be pushed back just a tad further... we'll see if my refinements accomplish what I'm looking for.

Ohhhh I found an older picture from a couple years back from before any orthodontic treatment... WOW the difference! (yes, those are the same earrings) :)

Refinements are in!!

~ 10 Refinements, changed weekly. I go back July 8th, my dad's birthday.

I had a little bit more filing done between the top teeth this morning to recreate some gaps. I also received some whitening gel! It's time for WHITE, straight teeth Baby! haha Dr. V mentioned more refinements or "tweaking" can be done after these refinements are over. We shall see.

These new aligners feel so much better. They aren't super tight so I'm not anticipating any pain, but they are tight enough to feel comfortable. I was getting to where I was keeping the last ones out more than I kept them in (during the day, that is). Oops.

Anyway, it feels great to be progressing again!

#18 + Refinements

I'll start off by saying, #18, yeah, it wouldn't even go into my mouth. Therefore, I'm in #17's until my refinements come in (in about 3-4 weeks). I saw Dr. V today, did a couple impressions and pictures and a little gossiping about the "new" me. She was highly impressed with my teeth, particularly my minimized overjet. She predicts only about 4 refinements and removed 2 attachments from my fangs. Score! She said I could start whitening all of my front teeth now but we wont really "formally" do it until the end of treatment. I don't care either way. I only want straight teeth!

I'm almost done!!!!!!!

#17

Ahh, number 17. Should be painless, right? Shouldn't be too much of a difference between the last few, right? By outward appearance, sure, that's what it would seem... but NO. I could barely get the things in. I was looking forward to switching to these since I started grinding my teeth like crazy again as I do the longer I have on a set of aligners. Weeeellllll, at first the bottoms wouldn't snap on the left side (my left) and the top were SO tight I thought I wouldn't be able to get them on either. After some manipulating, I did get both aligners on and could feel the pain and pressure as if I was back on set #1. Fabulous!

Today, they have hurt taking them out and replacing, and I've even had bleeding! What the...?? I resorted to eating tortilla soup and queso all day. Darn the luck! Moral of the story: Just because you're toward the end of treatment and the aligners don't appear to be any different from the last, doesn't mean they'll be easy. You know what they say about assuming things!

Thursday, I will go in to have new impressions made for refinements and that "C Chain" she was talking about, I assume. *ahem* The following Monday I will switch to #18 of 18. I'd imagine I will have several refinements. As you'll see in the following photos, an upper tooth is still slanted while the same tooth on the opposite side is straight. I didn't take any more photos of the bottom but I can assure you, they're not Hollywood perfect. None overlap anymore, but they are still uneven and crooked... but perhaps the most wonderful thing of all, there's already a great improvement in my overjet! It's getting better all the time! I used to be able to fit my thumb behind my front teeth - no can do anymore!!

Second tooth from the left is straight:

second tooth from the right is slanted:

Post-Appt Update

So, as I said before, or at least I think I did, I missed my appointment on the 1st so I went to a last minute appointment on Wednesday to make up for it. Dr V gave me the rest of my little Invisalign packages! Score! I now hold in my hands the last 5 of the original treatment plan!

However, when I was in the shower the other day, where I do my best thinking, I realized that Dr V forgot that I still had a package left at home and dated the ones she was giving me as if they were the next in line... Thus, #14 and #15 are only 5 days apart. Uh oh. I called her today and she said it shouldn't be a big deal. Leave it as is since I'm at the end of treatment. I shouldn't have any problems... I should also mention #'s 16, 17, & 18 are only 9 or 10 days apart.

She did a little filing between my top teeth, but not much. My left front tooth was fairly sensitive so she didn't play with it too much. The attachment on my right fang (sorry, no technical terms here) wasn't matching up with my aligner again so it was replaced and made quite a bit more noticeable on the bottom of my tooth.

My next appointment is April 15th @ 9am (just in case I forget), when we'll take new impressions right before I switch to #18's on the 19th. Dr V said she'll likely order a couple refinements and something equivalent to a "C Chain" in regular orthodontics to pull my teeth into my head and close any remaining gaps. I'll keep on #18's for probably 3 weeks while waiting for the new stuff to come in.

Now that I'm almost finished, I'd have to say I've been pretty pleased with the whole Invisalign process. It's a bit pricey, but boy it's FAST! Having my teeth straight will seriously be a dream come true!

Comparison Photo

I switched to #13 last night. Curiosity struck and we dug out my beginning aligners. What a difference! It's more apparent in person, but this will give you an idea. The shape of the #1's (bottom) are more of a V and the 12's (top) are more of a U.

I go back to the dentist on Wednesday after a no-show appointment last week. I didn't realize I had an appt last Monday! I still have aligners to last through the end of the month so I'm not sure why I'm going back early... maybe to get more filing done. Yuck. The 13's I put on last night aren't very painful, but they're also not clipping over the attachments on the top right... which means another visit of tugging, filing, scraping, pulling aligners on and off a bazillion times... all of that means a lot of discomfort. It's getting difficult to talk again. The lisp has returned and I tend to send spit flying if I speak without aligners in. Hot! Ah well, it will all be over soon!

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!!