Week #4

So I just changed in to Week/Aligner #4.

I'm concerned that my teeth aren't tracking properly. I have my next appointment in 2 weeks with my orthodontist, so I'll check with him then. I do notice a difference in my teeth (very slight, but it's something) but I'm worried that there is too much space in the plastic and my teeth.

I watched a lecture online about teeth tracking, and I got nervous. I hope everything works out! I don't want to be in these longer than I need to be. Once the wedding comes, that's going to probably be it.

The Acceledent is doing well - half the time I don't even notice it's in. I'll forget and not realize that it turned off and be walking around the house with it for no reason.

Hopefully everything is on track - I see some results and I can't wait to see the end :)

Mini-Update

I'm in the middle of Aligner #2, and I'm getting antsy.

I've noticed after about 4 days the aligners start to get loose, and I get bored and start chewing on them. I can't change them until Thursday evening, but they get looser and looser and I want to change them!

Any pain has gone away for the most part. All my gums are healed up and tough now. The only pain I have is on my tongue. The scraped bottom has healed up, but for some reason the base of my mouth is irritated. Also, when I sleep my tongue swells and I close on it more frequently, so that's annoying.

Other than that, doing well. 15 more aligners to go. I can't wait. It hasn't been two weeks and I'm tired of them. They're not painful or anything, more like annoying and I want this to be over sooner than later.

Side note - I'm having my engagement photo shoot this weekend, so hopefully I can leave the aligners out (so my teeth aren't really shiny). I also hope the attachments aren't too "in your face" either.

That's all for today - just a quick check in to complain :)

Week #2

So I'm on Aligner #2. Yes it's only been a week, but I have a secret weapon:

The Acceledent!

This little contraption makes my treatment time go so much faster! I call it my "tooth massager". It uses micro-pulses to accelerate the movement of teeth with the use of an orthodontic appliance (whether Invisalign or Braces).

You use it 20 minutes everyday, and it can cut your time in half!

So, that means if I follow my treatment plan correctly, I should be finished with treatment in April/May - meaning before my wedding! Yay!

So far treatment has gone well. After the first day it got much better. No pain or anything currently - just the feeling of pressure with the first aligner change (which the Acceledent helps with! I felt pressure when I put my 2nd aligner in, but after 20 minutes with the Acceledent, it felt like my aligners had been in for days.

The price is a little steep - it adds an additional $1000 onto your treatment, but to cut your time in half, it's worth it.

I can't really tell much difference - I was told that at week 5 I should see some differences going on. We will see!

Aligners Set #1 Photos!

So I figured out how to do pictures!

So this photo is me with Invisalign in. Can you tell?

My teeth look shiny with the plastic aligners, but people don't notice by looking - they'll notice the lisp though :/

This photo has the attachments. I have 7 on the top (on 6 teeth - 1 tooth has 2) and 6 on the bottom (on 6 separate teeth). Luckily I didn't have any on the front 4 teeth, so the only teeth you can tell are the "fangs" on top.

Even still, the attachments are tooth colored, and blend in well. They only show when you are in a certain position or light.

My Aligners!

These are the 1st week Aligners. I have the Acceledent, so I'll be able to change out my aligners every week vs. the normal two week intervals. Yay!

Welcome to my Invisalign Journey!

Welcome to my Invisalign Journey!

Today starts my first day of Invisalign! Yay!

A little back story first....

I'm Caitlin, and I'm 26 years old (well, I will be next Friday). I currently work as a receptionist and massage therapist, so I keep pretty busy. I live in NJ, and am stressed planning a wedding and figuring out my future with my med school student fiance. I never had braces when I was younger. I always wanted them, but they were never in the family budget. So I figured I'd always have these teeth. Low and behold, things changed and I was able to get them... when I'm 26.

I didn't want to have the metal braces - I'm not a kid anymore and I don't care about changing those colored rings. The clear braces they have for adults are nice, but they still have that metal wire going across that you can see. And... I can't imagine giving up those foods anymore! So Invisalign was the right choice for me.

Pre Day One

I had a consultation with my orthodontist, where he took photos, pan and ceph x-rays, and did an exam of my teeth and bite. In my case, I have a Class I bite with crowding and a protruding tooth, so I'm a candidate for Invisalign. Yay!

After all the paperwork, I was to get impressions. The normal impressions they do are quick and easy - 5 mins tops and you're done. For Invisalign, they have to be perfect. You have to make a simple mold in the tray first - just to make sure the tray lines up right. Afterwards, you have to sit for 3 minutes in both the top and bottom trays with this blob of goop. After the 3 minutes, the orthodontist has to pull it out of your mouth - I felt like he was going to pull my teeth out that's how hard it got! 

The impressions are shipped by UPS out to California for their machines to scan and prepare a treatment plan for you. The doctor goes over it and makes sure it works fine and then Invisalign prints out your trays and sends them back to you!

Day ONE

So today was my first day. I knew I had to get attachments - they are tooth colored things that attach to your mouth and hold the aligners in place and help with moving the teeth in the right direction. They give more of a force to a tooth that needs to turn or rotate that only the aligners couldn't do perfectly. He puts the attachments on with a little glue, and then has a set of aligners with composite in the area of the attachment points, and they just harden on like if you were getting a filling done.

I also found out I had to get IPR done. That was not a fun experience. At all. I had to have 4 spaces altered. For the first 3, the orthodontist took a drill with a big flat circle and "sanded" between the teeth. It is a lot of vibration and shook my head for sure.  The point of the sanding is so there is a little more room for the teeth move - either by rotating or front to back. He had to get very close to the gum line to make sure the contact points are all in line with each other. This made the fun even better - my mouth looked like a massacre. So much blood. It didn't hurt, but it was a very uncomfortable experience. The problem I'm finding now is I have 3 noticeable gaps that food keeps getting trapped in, so I carry around floss picks.

So after all that, I now have the aligners in.

It's been a pretty painful/uncomfortable day. The aligners are a tight annoying feeling on your teeth, and I'm ready to take them off. I've been taking Tylenol religiously today - it is just a really annoying feeling - there's no other word for it.

The gums are also very irritated - both from the attachments when the aligners are off and I'm eating, and from the edges of the aligners rubbing. Same things with under my tongue - it's all scraped up. It doesn't help that I keep playing with the aligner too :)

I'm having difficulty with images today - so I'll figure that out and do a separate post with that.

Thanks for joining me on my journey!