Tray #7

August 5th 2010 - My 4th Invisalign appointment!

Today was my appointment for a checkup on the advancement of my teeth. I was a little nervous to tell you the truth. I hadn't gone to see her in about 1 month and a half and I was scared that she would do more "polishing". Luckily for me she didn't!!!!!!

A little side note; My appointment was at 3pm. I got there about 10-15 mins early and was seen almost immediately.

So she checked the alignment of my teeth, put in the new trays (aligner #7), which by the way I didn't even feel. Then she asked me a few questions about the process and how I was doing. For those interested in knowing, I've been doing quite well actually! Thanks for asking!

Seriously though, I only feel my aligners for about the first 10 minutes of changing into a new set, and for the first few days when taking them out and putting them back in. Otherwise I completely forget I am wearing them! So far the only sets that really, really hurt, were set #1 and 2. I've been breezing through the rest of my aligners, thankfully.

My dentist then gave me sets #8-10 (#10 being my half-way point). She also gave me a compliment about the cleanliness of my aligners, then we were off to the front to schedule my next appointment and make my 4th payment (of 10). My next appointment is now on the 1st of October, 2010 at noon. When I was walking out the door, I checked the time and noticed it was only 3pm. Quickest appointment of my life, good thing I'm not paying for these appointments directly!

EDIT: In October I will have pictures to show of my clincheck, so you will see what I saw on my second consultation and understand why I am truly doing this.

Update, Tray #6.

July 30th, 2010 - Here's an update finally!!!!

So I am now halfway through wearing tray #6, and a little more then 25% through the entire process!!! Wohoo!!

I've got to say that so far its been relatively simple and nearly pain-free! Trays 4-6 have gone well, I feel some pressure and discomfort for the first few minutes of putting in a new tray, after-which the pressure subsides and I forget I'm even wearing my aligners!

I have to admit though that I've been having some trouble with regularly flossing, and keeping track of the time....

I've never gone without wearing them for more than 5 hours in a day, though I do try to stay within the 2 hours allowed. It's much easier to do this when I am working! While I was on vacation, it was much harder to obey the 2 hour rule, it's funny because I was certain it would have been easier to follow while at home!

YES, I have noticed a change in the positioning of my teeth. Although not much has visibly changed with the bottom teeth, the front top teeth have continued to flatten out. They have yet to be pushed straighter towards each other though. I am desperately looking forward to this process, but I anticipate more pain when that begins!! Nothing Advil can't handle!!! ;P

My next appointment is Thursday, August 5th (2010) @ 3pm, hopefully she will tell me that everything is progressing well and give me my next few sets of aligners.

June Photo Updates

June 2010 - Tray #3

My smile during aligner #3
(June 2010)

The top view of my teeth, notice the rotation of my
 front teeth. They've been pushed in as well.

My first filling & other surprises.

June 11th, 2010 - Today was slightly stressful, and little did I know I had a surprise waiting for me....

Well as mentioned today I had my appointment for my very first filling. Certainly I was nervous, which I made sure everyone at the dentist's office aware of!!!  But it went by super smoothly.

First, my boyfriend went to get his done (he had to replace 3 older fillings and got a new one), originally his appointment was suppose to last about an hour due to all the work required. Lucky for him it only took 30 minutes! I have to admit I laughed my ass off when I saw him enter the waiting room; his mouth was partially frozen, so he talked funny and he couldn't move his lip properly on the left side (it was a great afternoon, watching him!).

Next, it was my turn to get my filling done. I am sure everyone knows the procedure for this but I'll discuss it a little, from my experience. Since this was my VERY first filling EVER, I YouTube'd the procedure to get a better idea of what was involved, and luckily I wasn't too freaked out by it. Honestly, what I was most nervous about was the needle that numbs the work area. That being said, once it came around, it was a cinch! I felt nothing during the whole procedure, and seriously speaking it took about 1 minute to fully complete. I probably hold the fastest filling time ever!!! After the filling was complete she showed me the before and after pictures of my cavity infected tooth. Amazing! I'm just glad she didn't fill my tooth with metal, so it doesn't even show that I have a cavity! Awesome! 


Just to add a small note about the numbing cream and shot; I didn't feel as though I was frozen nor numb. Don't get me wrong, I did not feel a thing during the whole procedure, but I didn't have the classic droopy face and numbness at all. Truthfully I was disappointed.

Once all the cavity filling fun stuff was done, she told me she wanted to examine my front top teeth, which she proceeded to do. She then told me she was going to "polish" my front top teeth. She instructs me to keep my mouth open as wide as I can and to keep my tongue at the back of my mouth. What happens next, I would NOT call polishing!!!!! She starts to shave the gaps between my teeth. OH MY GOD!!! I knew I would eventually have to get this done, it's part of the invisalign program, but holy hell, I had no idea it was going to be part of today's appointment!!! Polishing to me does not mean grinding away my teeth in order to increase the space between my teeth. It hurt. In total she "polished" 6 gaps, each of which hurt. Not the end of the world type pain, but enough to shock me.

After all that polishing was over, she proceeded to give me my next 2 sets of aligners (set 5-6). By the way, she cancelled my next invisalign appointment (which was July 9th) and pushed it to the beginning of August instead. So now I have in my possession sets 3-6. Set # 3 is the one I am switching to tonight after supper.

Side Note:

I will upload pictures of my new gaps and what my teeth look like after my appointment and set #2 this weekend.

Drinking & Eating.

May 30th, 2010 - My thoughts and experiences about food and drink.

So on my very first consultation, my dentist told me that I had to remove my aligners to eat, but I could drink whatever I wanted with them in. This was great news to hear, considering I had read almost on every blog and forum that you could only drink water with the aligners in.

All my dentist told me was to use a soft toothbrush to brush my aligners and if there are any stains, to use a small amount of peroxide.

So since I've gotten my first set of aligners, I have been drinking whatever I want while wearing my aligners; beer, soft drinks, tea, chocolate milk, juice, I've even drank a mint milkshake with them in, you name it, I'm drinking it! Although I will admit that when I am at work I have a tendency to solely drink water, it is just more convenient. 

I've noticed when I eat that I can only eat on one side or the other, and I have to chew slowly, otherwise I hurt my mouth and teeth. I can no longer eat anything too hard or crunchy, like toasted sub sandwiches. In fact, anything that requires me to take a bite out of something has now become a no-no for me to eat. The other day I had to eat my hot dog (which wasn't even toasted) with a knife and fork. I couldn't take a bite out of it! I haven't had any kind of chips or cookies in over a month now. I miss them!! Oh well, it is (hopefully) well worth it in the end.

I brush my aligners before I put them back in, every single time, since I have noticed with the first set that they can get pretty grimy with time and usage. With time, I have to brush them for longer periods of time in order to get them clean, but I have of yet to see any stains on my aligners. I just make sure that after every meal, I thoroughly brush my teeth before putting my aligners back in.

We shall see what the outcome of this will be...