Thy's Invisalign Journey

Catch me & my dog on Animal Planet this Saturday!

2010-09-28T09:21:00.016-04:00

OK, so yes, it's been over 2 years since I last blogged. Terrible. F.

I'm still going through some refinement trays for my pesky bottom teeth. One of the center ones just won't twist. After several attempts through both Invisalign and through my ortho's own trays (since they're faster to make than Invisalign), we're doing 1 more round of Invisalign where I got attachments to 3 of my bottom teeth.

Why is it taking so long, you might ask? Well, truth be told, it's been stretched out because of my busy schedule with business trips. In addition, there were several times I had to delay seeing my ortho again because of performances I was going to be in, and a fear of getting attachments on my teeth that would be distracting.

Performances??? Yep. You see, my dogs and I are a Tricks Performing team. We travel around the area giving performances at different venues (dog events, nursing homes, military bases, fundraisers, charities, cocktail parties, and book signing parties - since my dog was featured in the book).

Through our performances, we've been able to acquire 3 different agents for my older dog, Atka, who was mentioned earlier in the blog. One of these agents chose us to be the ideal representation of Atka's breed on Animal Planet's TV show, "Dogs 101." In addition, we were being considered by the producers to be the "story dog" for the episode as well. In the end, a different dog was chosen, but BOY OH BOY were we thrilled to have been a part of this great show!

Our passion is proper breed education to improve matches with owners and pets, and to decrease the amount of dogs being surrendered at shelters because of mismatches. So, to be able to take part in a national show on a well-respected channel such as Animal Planet to address this very thing was AWESOME!

Which brings me to the title of this post. This Saturday, 10/2/10, we will be on Animal Planet at 8pm for their series, "Dogs 101." Be sure to catch us or set your DVRs for it! Atka is representing the American Eskimo Dog, but you won't be able to miss him with his skateboard and hoop jumping in the studio w/ the white background.

If you'd like to see some of his videos of his tricks and past performances, visit his YouTube page, or send him a friend request on Facebook:

www.youtube.com/AtkatheEskie

www.facebook.com/Atka.the.Eskie

Below is a picture of when we made the cover of a local newspaper for one of our performances earlier this year:

That's all for now. Will try to update you all more with Invisalign-related stuff shortly!

"See you" on TV this Saturday ;)

6th & last of the 1st set of Refinement Trays

2008-09-30T21:04:00.005-04:00

It's actually the last day of September, 2008, and I'm finally trying to get my blog up-to-date. Yes, it took over a year for me to get back on this thing.

I finished my 6th & 7th of the 1st set (you read correctly - first set) of Refinement Trays without any incident. At the end, my bottom teeth were indeed more crooked, and needed some IPR (interproximal reduction - or filing down of teeth in between) to make room for those little front guys to face straight.

Before that was done, I asked Dr. Sargiss to remove the buttons on my top teeth since my younger brother's wedding was in a few weeks. YAY - they were OFF. No more funny faces from people when they catch glimpses of the buttons and try to figure out just what the heck they are. Finally. We both decided we were happy with the uppers. They were the best they were going to get without cosmetic surgery, so we had Invisalign make the thicker and sturdier retainer trays out of the last set of upper impressions in this set of Refinement trays.

I made another appointment to get the IPR and a new mold of the bottom teeth done. The IPR and new mold needed to be in the same appointment so that there was no further shifting of my teeth. There was no pain or anything when the IPR was done. No type of anesthetic (topical or anything) was needed, either. It just sounded alot worse (and smelled alot worse, since you get that smell of your teeth getting filed away) than it actually was.

Below are pictures of my teeth after Refinement trays 7. For the life of me, I can't find the pics I took of what they looked like after Tray 6, but they weren't very different from what they looked like in Tray 5 and Tray 7. I'll add a new post about the 2nd set of Refinement trays afterwards.

Front center full smile:

Center - mouth agape:

Uppers:

Lowers:

Different angle of lowers to emphasize the how crooked they got:

Left (good) side:

Right (bad) side:

5th Refinement Trays

2007-08-25T10:34:00.007-04:00

2 more trays left!! Yeah!!!!

Unfortunately, I see a little problem possibly occurring. My center lower incisors appear to be getting more crooked instead of less. ??? Will keep an eye on that and will let Dr. Sargiss know about it.

I also had a consultation with my regular dentist, Dr. Bocian, on the cosmetic things I wanted to have done. He took some macro pictures of my teeth, and plotted out their alignment in relation to each other on the computer. What he did was pretty cool, since I never thought about doing that before, even though I'm so careful about photographically documenting this process.

Center smile, mouth closed:

Center, mouth agape:

Upper:

Lower (see how crooked that right tooth got all of a sudden?):

Left side (I forgot to take a right side pic - DUH):

4th Refinement Trays

2007-08-25T10:30:00.001-04:00

Halfway through this set of trays, I realized I was halfway done with my refinement period! Whoo-hoo!

However, I'm not really seeing too much progress, even in the pictures. I can't wait for this refinement period to be over. I certainly hope I'll be able to do all the final touches (whitening, veneers/bonding) before my brother's wedding at the beginning of October. I should be finished with all my trays a few weeks beforehand, so hope to have time to do everything else before October 6th!

Center smile:

Center, mouth agape:

Upper:

Lower:

Right side (looking a little better - unless it's just the angle I took it at):

Left side:

3rd Refinement Trays

2007-08-25T10:26:00.000-04:00

Things are looking good. No major problems to report. Invisalign business as usual.

Center smile:

Center, mouth agape:

Ugly right side:

Pretty left side:

Top:

Bottom:

2nd Refinement Trays

2007-08-25T10:23:00.001-04:00

Not much really to report on here, other than the process going pretty smoothly. Again, my teeth hurt like the dickens in the first couple days, but got a lot better afterwards.

I'm really self-conscious about my buttons. When I remove the trays, they're even more apparent, so I feel like I can't escape them, and that there's a flashing neon sign above my head with arrows pointing to the buttons, screaming at everyone to look at them. My coworkers assure me that they hardly notice them, and only do so because I'm drawing attention to them (isn't that always the case?), but I do make a point not to smile very wide in conversation, or, if I do, look away or down so they can't see me. Actually, I'll also smile with my lips closed, or will exaggerate a smile and turn it into either a laugh or an expression of surprise, both of which require my hand to cover my rudely open mouth. I'm fully aware of how ridiculous I'm being, but it's a great coping mechanism for now!

With such small movements, I honestly can't visually see the difference each tray is making, but I know it must be doing something because of the pain at the beginning of each new tray. Nevertheless, below are the results post-Refinement Tray # 2:

Center (full) smile:

Center, mouth agape:

Top:

Bottom:

Right side:

Left side:

Center (normal) smile:

At the end of the 1st Refinement Trays

2007-08-25T10:13:00.001-04:00

OK, truth be told, even though this entry has a date of 8/25/07, I'm actually finishing the typing of this in October. The summer months have flown by, and with my brother's wedding, life has kept me extremely busy.

In short, my teeth hurt like heck for the first several days with these refinement trays, but here are the pictorial results:

Full center smile:

Center, mouth agape:

Upper:

Lower:

Right side (with my ugly Flintstone-rock-like crossbite tooth):

Closeup of right side button:

Left side:

Closeup of left side button:

What my teeth look like from the bottom looking up. Notice my center line being off, and how my right lateral incisor really just has its lower tip over the bottom teeth, while the incisor on my left side is firmly and completely over the bottom teeth:

More on the 1st Refinement Trays

2007-06-12T20:19:00.000-04:00

OK, so the pain has subsided somewhat.

My front teeth are no longer incredibly sore, but my rear molars last night were really sensitive! It was odd, because by Day 3 of these trays, I felt like a million dollars. All of a sudden, on Day 4, my molars were sore to the point where it was ruining my appetite again.

Last night, I finally filed down that rear part of the tray that was bothering my tongue. Unfortunately, it looks like the mold for my back teeth didn't completely get my entire left rear molar, so the trays cover only half my molar. This is resulting in a not-so-smooth feeling against my tongue, no matter how much I filed down the area. I've tried wax in the past, but it only lasts for a few minutes, and then gets dislodged, so I don't think I'm going to bother. I'm hoping my tongue will just eventually get used to this new annoyance. I looked ahead at my next 3 trays, and confirmed that they all only cover half my rear left molar. Oh well.

I'm now on Day 5, and my molars are still slightly sore, but not as bad as the day before. It's much easier to pop my trays on and off now, but will never be as easy as it had been pre-buttons. I'm very self-conscious about them, and told everyone about them so that I didn't have to deal with wondering whether or not they were staring at the weird thing on my teeth ("Hey, you got some rice stuck on your teeth there -- yes, of course I'd say it's rice because you're asian - why else would I think you'd be eating anything else?" <-- sorry, I always have to stick in asian humor in here somehow) or not. Now, I know they know.

It's much more of a pain to pop my trays out for a quick snack during the day at work, so I'm once again starving. Aaaaa!!! The sacrifices I make! Oh, the agony!! :)

Refinement - 1st Trays - just the beginning

2007-06-09T19:40:00.000-04:00

5 weeks after my last ortho visit, my Refinement Trays came in. I called to make an appointment, slightly nervous because I had a few business trips that required meeting new accounts and public speaking with training coming up. I had an inkling that I'd be getting buttons attached to my teeth, and wanted to see if I could hold off on getting the trays until after my trips.

I asked the girl on the phone if my teeth would be getting any modifications (buttons, IPR, etc.). She said, yes, 2 buttons. I literally groaned a big "Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" into the phone, to her dismay. Plus, I was at the office, and behaviour like that could really attract some negative attention. Luckily for me, I already have the reputation for being very vocal about my feelings, so my whine was pretty much ignored by the rest of the nearby cubicle inhabitants within earshot.

Next question for her: how many trays did I have? 7. That meant 14 weeks. I quickly counted to see how close that would be to my brother's wedding, and saw that would put me just a few weeks right beforehand, so knew I couldn't hold off on getting them later since I planned on whitening them and possibly getting the one tooth bonded, too. Darnnit!!

I came in Friday, 6/8/07 to get my buttons put on and my 4 sets of refinement trays. Looking at my chart, the buttons were going on my 2 canines. At least they weren't going on my bicuspids, so they were a little less obvious on the canine teeth. Good! However, the buttons for refinement trays are square, not round or oval, so they're more obvious than other buttons I would have had during my initial phase. I should really stop complaining because I didn't have any buttons during my initial phase.

They put a "cheek spreader" into my mouth for self-titled reasons, which kept my teeth as dry as possible for the application. There was a separate tray just to put on the buttons. It was pretty cool. It was the same mold as my 1st set of refinement trays, but was super thin. The goop for the buttons was spread onto my teeth, the special tray was put in, and the goop was cured with a special blue light to have it shaped and hardened by the trays. The curing time was 30 seconds. Then, the trays came out, and I was allowed to rinse out my mouth with water and Listerine, b/c the goop tastes really terrible (almost like battery acid). Next, the ortho came over and filed away all the excess button goop.

Next, I tried on my 1st set of refinement trays. Holy COW they were hard to get in (because of the buttons)!! It took the ortho a while to get them in, too! My bottom ones didn't have any buttons, but they were really snug as well. I guess I was really used to not having snug trays for too long, b/c I forgot how tight these can be. The bottom trays almost felt like they were the tightest trays I had had to date, which is weird.

The top trays? OUCH! I was given instructions on how to take them out with the buttons, and went over to the mirror to practice taking them out and putting them back in before I was allowed to go home. I felt like a complete idiot. Getting them off was easier than I thought it would be, but it still felt like I was pulling out my teeth a bit. Putting them back in felt nearly impossible! It was like they weren't fitting or something, which I knew was not the case.

In the end, I wound up lining them up in the center first, and then pushing them on from the right rear and working my way around, all the while keeping slight pressure on the center so that it wouldn't move while I pushed around my mouth. I think I was initially afraid of pushing so hard to get the trays on my teeth b/c I thought they weren't going to fit, but I needed to realize that I just needed to use this amount of force for these trays now in order to get them on. Once I realized that, it wasn't a big problem.

I was forewarned that the buttons may come off, and if that was the case, to call the ortho to have them put back on.

Can I tell you? I'm in so much pain. So much more so than any of the other trays I've ever had. These buttons make these trays SO tight, and my teeth are incredibly sore and tender. With some other trays, I had this for the 1st day or so. It's now nearing the end of Day 2 with these trays and my teeth are still sore. It ruined my appetite, and even disturbed my night of sleep. I don't even have to be doing anything, and my teeth hurt. I know!!

Granted, most of my other trays have been introduced to my teeth at night, so that I was able to take 2 Advil and have them get used to the tightness for 7-8 hours while I slept away any pain. I think the fact that I started out with these trays in the morning and couldn't sleep away any pain (I did take 2 Advil) definitely exacerbated the problem. By the time I went to bed last night, the pain was very much on the forefront of my mind, and I wasn't able to sleep away and forget any pain I was feeling.

Like the other trays, the edges were mostly smooth, but the molding by my left rear molar doesn't cover my molar completely, and the edges there are a bit rough and have been making that part of my tongue a bit sensitive. I thought it was a different part of the tray, and filed away at that part, and didn't realize it was the most rear part until pretty much right now. I'll be taking care of that shortly.

These trays definitely fit MUCH better than my 16th trays did, though. I guess it makes alot of sense that they do, since the 16th trays were made based on a estimate of where my teeth would be, and not really where they currently are. This Refinement Tray 1 was made more on where my teeth currently are. So remember that gap on the trays above my crossbite tooth? Gone. The trays fit all my teeth like a glove now. Unfortunately, it still currently feels like the same glove OJ Simpson tried on in court ;)

I've been dreading taking them out to eat. It hurts so friggin badly!! However, now that it's after midnight on Saturday, and I've taken out my trays to eat dinner and have put them back in, I can say that the pain is starting to lessen now. Finally!

16th Trays and a Refinement Conversation

2007-06-09T18:56:00.000-04:00

OK, truth be told, I haven't posted to my blog in over a month. It's currently Saturday, 6/9/07, and I had gone to the ortho on 4/30/07 for my last "initial phase" visit.

To be honest with you, I don't really recall anything particular about my last set of trays, other than the fact that my teeth didn't really move much more from my 15th trays. The difference with these trays, however, is that I got to see my ortho after I was done with them.

Armed with printouts of my blog with all the pictures of my teeth, with problematic areas highlighted and circled, I discussed what I wanted to see fixed in my refinement period. I got some more pictures taken (which I'll post below), some new molds created, and notes were taken on everything both I and my ortho wanted to see happen with my next set of trays.

When I told my ortho my concerns about my crossbite tooth sitting at an angle and jutting out with the root still way back, he said Invisalign wasn't strong enough to move roots. He basically explained that my tooth will never look the same as the opposing tooth because of the fact that it's developed its whole life behind the other teeth and not in front, so it doesn't have the same shape/size as the opposing tooth. Only cosmetic dental procedures can fix that. He said he can have Invisalign move my tooth out more, but that it wouldn't give me the effect I was looking for.

So, I decided that, after my refinement in done and I'm completely satisfied, I'm going to get my teeth whitened, and then maybe get that tooth bonded. I have to talk it over with my dentist, but I think bonding doesn't file away your tooth like veneers would -- it was just add to the existent tooth -- which is what I need. I need to build it up more towards the top. I understand that bonding doesn't last as long as veneers would, but that's OK. I think this is what would make me really really happy in the end.

I was told the turnaround time for this would be about 4 weeks. It wound up taking 5, and I'll go over my next experience with all that in my next post.

Onto the pictures! These will all be in Before and After style, from before I started my treatment, to after my 16th and last trays in my initial phase.

Center smile:

Upper:

Lower:

Right Side:

Left Side:

Full face smile:

15th Trays & some concerns

2007-04-15T14:16:00.000-04:00

OK, again, not too much movement with these trays. I'm actually REALLY happy now that I'm getting refinement trays. I know initially I had wanted to be completely done with this by April 30th, but if that had been the case and we stuck to it, I would have wound up with not completely straight teeth.

One detail that concerns me is that my crossbite tooth isn't snug by the front of the trays. I'm not sure if Invisalign purposely did it this way for some strange reason, but it appears that the back of the tooth isn't getting moved much further, but there's quite a gap between my crossbite tooth and the front of the tray in that area. I'd think that, either the tray should have formed itself more closely to the tooth, or Invisalign should have been pushing the back of the tooth more towards the front so that it would be more snug towards the front.

In addition, when the trays are taken out for me to eat, etc., my bite is still very off. It feels like my bottom center teeth are too close to my upper front teeth, and as a result, my molars aren't able to line up with each other. My jaw aches a bit when my trays are out because it feels like I've developed a slight overbite.

On my right side, my bottom molars have some distinguishable spaces between them. All the rest of my teeth are pretty tight, but there are 3 molars where the floss is able to super easily glide in between them with hardly any tightness.

A sneak peek at my 16th trays shows that there's really not much more movement to be expected by my crossbite tooth nor my bottom center teeth. Upon careful examination, it looks like my crossbite tooth may need to get twisted a bit AND pushed out further, and my right center tooth may need some twisting as well. Thank goodness I'm keeping this blog so I can really come with a laundry list of concerns and requests for my ortho when I see him next.

I can't believe that tomorrow night, I'll be putting on my last set of active trays. My last set!! I clearly remember the start of this whole process, and 16 trays seemed like such a long time away. The time has now arrived.

Oh, on another note...my gumline by my crossbite tooth has started to detach from the tooth. I hope this will clear the way for it to recede as well, because my smile is still visibly more lopsided because of this. You can't actually see that it's detaching, but when I use a dental pick to get at any tartar, I'm able to easily stick it underneath my gums and almost even lift a corner of it up a bit. Sorry for the gross visual. Hey, it's a blog about TEETH, so it's not like you were expecting prettiness, were you? :)

Anyway, here are pictures of what my teeth look like right now.

Center smiling:

Mouth agape:

Lower (still not as straight as I thought they would be by the end of my second to last set of trays):

Upper:

Crossbite side (I hate how my tooth looks like an ugly jagged little rock AND is angled out so severely!):

Opposite of crossbite side (look how much prettier this bicuspid is compare to the problematic one!):

Crossbite side looking up from below (see how it's mostly just the tip that's over the bottom teeth?):

Opposite of crossbite side looking up from below (notice how much this bicuspid is over the bottom teeth - check out that gap compared to the picture before!):

Looking up from below so you can see how the 2 biscuspids differ in position. Also, check out my center line. Yikes! It used to be perfect. Now, where my 2 front teeth meet does NOT line up with where my 2 center bottom teeth meet. In fact, both upper and lower center lines appear to be slightly angled in opposite directions as well. NOT good....

You can really see a difference between the way the 2 bicuspids are positioned in this picture:

Wanted to show you what my teeth look like with my trays in now that they're straighter. Do you see, however, that my crossbite tooth isn't touching the bottom of the mold like the rest of my teeth are?

With trays in, mouth agape:

Looking down from above. You can really see here how there's a significant gap in front of my crossbite tooth compared to the rest of my teeth.

And a normal smile with the trays in:

14th Trays & a whitening conversation

2007-04-15T13:56:00.000-04:00

My teeth haven't really felt like they've moved much more with these trays. No bleeding at all, either.

The crossbite tooth has moved more definitively across the bottom teeth, but I'm still not liking the angle it's taking. I know I have 2 more trays to go, but I'm apprehensive that I'm going to require a button after all during my refinement trays. That would stink!! The buttons are much more easily noticed when you have your trays off, and sometimes, I'd take out my trays if I had to do a presentation or meet someone new and important. Wouldn't be able to do that then, would I?

OK, I have to take a deep breath and slow down. I'm way ahead of myself and don't even know what's going to happen here, so I'll just relax until then and make notes of what exactly I want to accomplish with my teeth and just go over them with the ortho when I see him again.

I did take a sneak peek at tray 16, though, when I went to put in tray 15. I wanted to see how much of the upper part of my crossbite tooth (by the root) would be moved in the final tray. As it turns out - not much. Looks like Invisalign calculated teeth movement more on my bite than on the rest of my tooth, so I'll have to make sure the roots are moved more forward as well.

Speaking of bite, my bite is still off. I've noticed, however, that as the 2 weeks progress, the bite gets better. So the major movement happens within the first couple days of a new trays, but the tiny movements that affect bite more so happen gradually throughout the course of the tray.

I also saw my regular dentist, Dr. Bocian, halfway through my 14th trays. He was surprised to see how much they had moved, but wanted to make sure that I'm just as diligent about my trays usage during the retainment period, and reminded me that this period will, in actuality, last for the rest of my life. He was also concerned a bit about gingivitis, and saw a bit of it along my gumline. It's a very tough thing to avoid since that is exactly where the trays rest by my crossbite area, which explains the gum bleeding. I just need to take extra care in brushing, flossing, rinsing with mouthwash, etc., to prevent this from getting any worse.

I also talked to him about whitening my teeth afterwards, using Zoom! I always wanted to do it, and it would be perfect timing before my brother's wedding. However, he actually suggested that I try in-home whitening, which uses the same stuff they use in the office. He said that most people opt for in-office because it's fast, and they tire of the whitening at night with trays in for 3 weeks straight. Being that I'll be wearing form-fitting trays anyway, it wouldn't be something I'd have to get used to. In addition, in-home is half the cost of in-office, and insurance doesn't pay for any of it. When I asked him how much in-home was compared to in-office, I was shocked at the answer!! I had no idea that in-office was about $600!!!!! He said in-home would be a little over $300.

He told me to check with Invisalign (not the ortho) to make sure this hydrogen peroxide mixture would be OK to use on the trays without any damage to them. I believe they are. His only other concern was that the trays cover a tiny bit of my gums in some areas. This could get irritated from the whitening solution. He was, however, willing to let me test out the solution for a few days before we commit to the whole thing. He also told me that the in-home would last just as long and would get my teeth just as white as the in-office. I love Dr. Bocian!

Here are the pics!

Center smile showing top and bottom:

Center, agape:

Lower:

Upper:

Crossbite tooth (looking up from bottom):

Opposite side of crossbite tooth (looking up from bottom) - you can see it's seated in front more than the crossbite tooth still:

Side view of crossbite tooth - yes, my bite is still not flush on this side, but it's getting better:

13th Trays

2007-03-20T20:21:00.000-04:00

The first night after I put in my 13th trays, I woke up to a crossbite tooth that had definitely crossed over to the other side -- no doubt about it. I was so excited! I shared the news with my mom, who was just as excited for me.

However, as the days wore on, I noticed that the tooth would VERY easily slip back each time I took out my trays to eat. To the point where, at the end of my lunch hour or dinner, I'd notice a discernable difference in my bite. That's fast! So I made a point to wear them as much as possible, and just kept my fingers crossed that the next tray will make the new position more permanent and less likely to slip back.

The very last night I wore these trays, I woke up to a bloody smile. It was odd because they didn't bleed once - not even a little bit - until this point. I must have been grinding my teeth really badly from a bad dream or something - not sure - but there they were. Bloody. I rinsed them out and just proceeded with the rest of my day. They didn't bleed any more. Like I said - it was kind of odd.

I took some closeups this time of the crossbite tooth so you guys can see how it's hopping over to the front. I've noticed that the trays are getting the bottom part of the tooth out in front before the top, or the rest, of the tooth. Because of this, the tooth is angling out more than usual right now. I hope this gets corrected in the refinement process.

Speaking of which, I've come to accept that I won't technically be done by April 30th. And I'm OK with that now - really. I'd much rather have perfectly perfectly straight teeth than anything else after all is said and done, so now I'm on the lookout for minor details that I want fixed before I'm ready to say to my ortho, "Yay! I'm 100% happy with the results!"

For one thing, I want to make sure my bite on my right side is flush in the end, because it's far from that right now. Like I mentioned in a previous post, I think it's because the crossbite tooth's position is temporarily interfering with it, but I still need to be sure.

Another thing is the angle of my crossbite tooth. As mentioned above, it's jutting out from the bottom right now, and I want to be sure it's nice and straight in the end. I also noticed that the right rear side of the tooth itself isn't moving forward as much as I'd like. Again, I'm jumping the gun because I still have 3 more trays left, but it's a detail I just noticed in looking at my 14th trays last night. It seems like Invisalign is moving my tooth towards the front by angling it both from the bottom and from the right side. Sort of like twisting a large object through a doorway. In the end, I want to be sure that large object (my tooth!) is straightened out in every way possible and mimics the angle and placement of its corresponding bicuspid on the other side, and doesn't remain slightly twisted.

I also hope this doesn't mean I'm going to need a button, or attachment, to help with straightening out this twist. Ugggg. I'm getting myself all worked up, though, and I have 3 more trays to go still.

And speaking of trays, I'm going to be getting new molds of my teeth taken after the end of my 16th trays. I wonder what the turnaround time for those trays will be, and how long I'll have my 16th trays in before I move onto the next set? I hope not too too long. That would stink. OK, enough ruminating, and onto the pictures!

Center smile showing top and bottom:

Center, mouth agape:

Lower:

Upper:

Closeup of crossbite area:

Crossbite area, looking from the bottom up so you can see the tip of the tooth completely crossed over to the front:

Crossbite area - side view. Here you can really tell that it's just the bottom portion of the tooth that has moved and angled out. The top part, closer to the root, still needs to move more:

Random FYI's

2007-02-23T21:53:00.000-05:00

I thought it would be a good time do a posting on some random FYI's, especially since some time has passed now since I first started this treatment.

Cleaning
I still use Efferdent daily to keep the trays clean. They're usually film-free, but after a week or so, I touch them up with a toothbrush (I use the Efferdent solution to dip the toothbrush in) and they're sparkling clean again. It takes just a few seconds with the brush to get them this way.

Smelly Trays
I don't make a point of smelling my trays anymore. I guess that lost its luster with me really quickly (go figure?), so I really don't know if they still stink sometimes.

Smelly Breath
To make sure I have fresh breath, I've taken to always having Listerine strips with me around. Obviously, I can't chew gum with the trays in, but the strips ensure that my breath is acceptable. I've also, on occasion, sucked on a starlight mint as a last resort, but I don't like doing that too much because they do tend to get sticky and stick to the trays a bit, and all the sugar in them makes the trays get yucky and filmy quickly. Imagine without the trays, all that sugary, yucky film would simply be on my teeth, eating away at my enamel! Wow -- I never thought about it like that. Of course, this is never going to stop me from snacking on sugar after my trays are out ;)

Eating
Speaking of food, I've never tried eating a piece of chocolate with the trays in again. It's just not worth it. I pop the trays out and pop them back in when I'm done with the chocolate. I used to make it more of a pain for me, since I'd go to the bathroom to pop out the trays, and then go back in to put them back in. But now, I just go to take them out. When I want to put them back in, I grab a cup by the water cooler, fill it with water, and head back to my desk. I grab my trays, dunk them in the water filled cup, and pop them back in surreptitiously. At least I hope it is. Hee hee!

Spit
Because the trays are fitting better with my teeth getting straighter (AND me clenching down on them once in a while), I also haven't noticed the spit collecting in them too much, either. Of course, I could just be getting used to it and not bothering with it, too.

Clenching
I've noticed that I sometimes clench my teeth at night. Not sure if I'm grinding them, but sometimes, I'll wake up from a particularly intensive dream (I'm a very intensive dreamer) and find that my teeth are clenched tight. I'm really glad that I'm wearing my trays at that point, and wonder if my alignment problems had been exacerbated by my nightly clenching before. I know one of the issues people with alignment problems have is with teeth naturally trying to occlude, or "fit together", regardless of whether or not it's the proper way to fit. I'm actually looking forward to wearing my Invisalign retainers (same trays - just heavier duty, I think) at night after my treatment is complete to prevent my teeth from moving again. I'm such a geek to have said that. For those of you who know me, I know you didn't expect any less, of course.

Lisping
I hardly lisp with my trays in now. It will happen immediately after I put new ones in, but after the first night, my teeth have already moved, with the trays fitting better, so the lisping disappears. What was kind of odd is the fact that, with the earlier trays, I'd lisp AFTER my teeth had already moved. Whenever I'd put in a new set of trays, I wouldn't lisp because the trays felt really tight around my teeth even though they actually didn't fit as well because my teeth hadn't moved to their new positions yet. Now, it's the opposite. Weird, huh? I'm glad it's this way, though. I wind up lisping only for a few minutes with each tray -- right before I go to bed. For the remainder of the 14 days that I have them on, I don't lisp!

12th Trays

2007-02-23T21:17:00.000-05:00

I was really hoping these trays wouldn't hurt as badly as my previous ones had been hurting. Wouldn't you know it? I hardly felt a difference between these and my 11th trays!

(BIG sigh of relief................)

As with my 11th trays, I can feel my crossbite tooth moving the slightest bit more in front of the lower tooth. Again, if I move my lower jaw back in an extreme way, I can have the sensation of what that one tooth would feel like if it were in front of the tooth beneath it. I know it may sound really stupid to get so excited about how your teeth would feel in a certain position, but for someone who's pretty much always had crooked teeth, the sensation is really exhilirating! I really can't wait for the next set of trays, where I'll REALLY be able to feel my crossbite tooth set firmly in front of the tooth beneath it.

Fortunately, I have yet to experience my crossbite tooth and the one below it hitting each other accidentally while eating. I had been forewarned about this from both the ortho and one of his assistants, Trish, who did Invisalign for the same problem. Luckily, I'll keep my fingers crossed (but NOT my teeth! sorry -- corny dental humor had to rear its ugly head at some point in this blog of mine) that this doesn't really happen to me.

I encountered the slightest bleeding towards the end of these trays. Once, Hubby and I were at a pizza parlor, waiting for our order to be ready, and he notioned that my teeth were slightly pink. Since he knows about all my bloody gums with the previous trays, he knew I must have bled the tiniest bit, but that the blood had gotten really diluted within the trays. I sucked on them, like I was trying to get the excess spit out, and it was gone.

However, once I got home that night, they started bleeding a bit more. They stopped again after about a 1/2 hour or so. Weird, I know. It's just such a little amount, though, and happens only along my gumline where it's lower from the crossbite tooth, that it doesn't concern me in any way. My teeth aren't loose in any way, so all the more reason for me not to get too worried about it.

What's kind of weird is that, although I hardly felt any pressure or movement with this set of trays, something about the movement that was made really makes the changes in my teeth more obvious than I had originally thought. It wasn't until I actually posted all these pictures that I noticed the major differences in them. This prompted me to edit my posting, and to add some comparison pictures between post-Tray 12 and post-Tray 1. The pictures below will have Tray 12 on the top, and Tray 1 pictures on the bottom.

Center smile. You'll notice an indentation on my gums right in between my 2 upper front teeth - this is because I had just removed the trays from my teeth. Do you also notice that, even in this picture, my crossbite tooth is right on the cusp of jumping over to the front side? In general, it's just more visible, so my smile is more symmetrical:

Center, mouth agape. Even in this picture you can see that my bottom teeth are lining up nicely:

Lower. Getting closer to that perfect "U" shape, and away from the "W" shape they were starting to get into:

Upper. Do you see how my crossbite tooth has been inching forward to meet up with the rest of the front teeth?

Crossbite side. Again, my gums are a little puffy because I had just taken out the trays. You have to realize that the top of the trays are right above my gum line where my crossbite is, so it's going to swell right around there the tiniest bit:

Closeup of the crossbite. You can really see here how the bottom of that tooth is just about to officially jump over to the front side in this picture. You might also notice that my molars aren't really meshing well on this side. I'm thinking that this might have something to do with that crossbite tooth temporarily interfering.

Either way, I'll bring it to my ortho's attention when I go back to see him in 8 weeks. I'll be finished with my trays, but he just told me tonight that he'll be taking new molds for a "refinement" process, which I'm delighted about. I had been told he was a perfectionist, as am I, so I wouldn't want anything less than absolutely perfect teeth at the end. My basic movies didn't make me 100% happy, since, as I've mentioned in previous posts, my gumline didn't show recession above the crossbite tooth to match the corresponding tooth on the other side. I know the movies are meant to show tooth movement and not fleshy tissue movement, but I'm just glad to hear that any slight tweaks in getting my teeth totally straight are going to be done.

Speaking of done, can you believe I'm 75% done now?????

11th Trays

2007-02-23T20:51:00.000-05:00

The 11th trays hurt a bit. My teeth were sore in the beginning, but I'm starting to realize that I'm just feeling it more now because most of the movement is now happening in the front, whereas all my other trays had my back teeth moving, which weren't as exposed to tearing action as much during eating as my front teeth are. Now that my back teeth have shifted to make room for my front teeth to do their moves, I'm experiencing all the joys of moving teeth on my incisors and canines instead of my bicuspids and molars. Yayyyyyyy.................

Interestingly enough, these were also the first trays where I developed a slight sore in the back of my mouth. One of the edges of the upper trays by the rear left side of my mouth was a bit sharp and rough around the edges. I didn't really notice it until the end of the 1st full day of wearing them, and simply filed down that trouble spot with the nail file part of a pair of nail clippers. 2 seconds later, they were totally fine. I'm so glad these trays are so low maintenance, and don't need anything fancy to keep them clean, or to fix them if they need some adjusting.

What was especially exciting was the fact that, with both trays in, I could actually feel that my crossbite tooth was crossing over to the front side! With my jaw closed, I ran my finger from top to bottom of that crossbite area. It was SO exciting to feel the crossbite tooth as the slightest protrusion instead of being flush with my bottom tooth. YEAH!!! Without the trays in, the tooth wasn't exactly in front of the bottom tooth, but I knew it was inching its way over there. If I moved my lower jaw back drastically, I was actually able to get my crossbite tooth to go in front of the lower tooth, even for the tiniest bit. I don't think I've felt that ever since I was a kid and still had my baby teeth!

What was also kinda cool was something my mom said to me. We had gone over to her house for the Lunar New Year on Sunday, 2/18/07, for dinner, and when I smiled, she commented that she could hardly tell I was wearing them. What I noticed was that, the straighter my teeth got, the more invisible the Invisalign trays became! I guess it was just easier to fit, without weird gaps of plastic, since they were straighter now. For instance, by my crossbite area, the plastic had to suddenly go inward to conform to the position of my teeth, making that area more visible than other areas of my teeth, where the fit was as tight as a glove. She was so glad that things were working out so well with this treatment!

I only had these trays in for 12 days instead of the standard 14. It's not too bad. I know my ortho would hate to hear about that, but most of the movement has already occurred, and the latter part of the trays time is more to allow the bone to grow back after the teeth have moved. 2 days isn't going to make a huge difference, especially since I won't be cutting any more tray wearing times for future trays after Tray 12!

Anyway, here's what my teeth looked like after Tray 11:

Center smile:

Center, mouth agape:

Lower:

Upper:

Crossbite side:

10th Trays

2007-02-23T20:34:00.000-05:00

OK, these trays didn't hurt in the beginning, but OMG!!! For some strange reason, toward the end of my time with this set, there was a day where that one area of my gums (by the crossbite tooth) wouldn't stop bleeding!!

I had just left the house and was on my way to work when I noticed the taste of blood in my mouth. I looked in the rearview mirror, and saw that my upper trays were almost filled with blood! Now, again let me reiterate that a very small amount of blood in the trays winds up looking like alot more only because it's really spread out and can't go anywhere, but it was still alot more than I've ever had. I took them out while I was driving, and just kept on playing around in that low gumline area (where the blood was coming from, of course) with my tongue, and swallowing any more blood that was coming out. I figured a capillary popped, and it just needed time to clot.

Well, I kept on tasting blood pretty much throughout my 1 1/2 hour commute (don't get me started on the length of my daily commute to work), so I waited a bit before I put my trays back in. Around 10:30am, I figured I was in pretty good shape to put them back in, and went to the bathroom to do so. As soon as I got back to my desk -- yup, you guessed it -- I tasted blood again. Sometimes, I'm able to kind of suck it out of the trays and make the little amount in there dissipate, but when I whipped out my pocket mirror, I could see that this method wasn't going to work this time. There was too much blood.

I wound up having to keep them out for pretty much the whole day. I popped them back in before I left, to have on during my loooooooong drive home. I was really worried, and was about to call the ortho if this bleeding didn't stop. Surprisingly, there was no more blood on the way home. And the next day? No blood. Nor has there been any further bleeding since then, too. Odd, but I'm glad it's over, and I'm not worried anymore, either. Like I said before, I have a feeling that there was probably a pesky capillary that just needed some time to heal.

Despite the bloody ending, I still only wore these trays for 12 days. Since I wore the 9th trays for an extra 7 days, I decided that I'd cut back on tray time for the next 3 trays (trays 10, 11 & 12), in order to still be able to be on time for my final set of trays. I have it set in my mind that I'll be finishing my 16th (and last) trays on the last day of April, and I want to be able to stick to that as much as possible. I can technically say that my treatment only went from September to April at that point. Granted, I may wind up needing some fine-tuning trays done, which would technically then extend my treatment time, but if I can help it, I'd like to stick to the original schedule.

What was sort of cool was that, with my trays in, my crossbite tooth and the lower tooth were flush with each other. Prior to this, when I ran my finger from top to bottom in that area, my crossbite tooth was always an indentation, with the lower tooth jutting out in front.

Now, here's what my teeth looked like after this set of trays:

Center smile:

Center, mouth agape:

Lower:

Upper:

Crossbite side:

9th Trays

2007-02-23T20:19:00.000-05:00

I have been VERY remiss on my blogging - tsk tsk tsk - I know. Well, let me get right down to it, then.

Got my next set of trays - trays 9 through 12 - at the ortho's. He said he visited my blog, and was impressed with my record-keeping. He also forewarned me about some movements and issues to expect in the upcoming trays.

My teeth are nearing the point where my crossbite tooth will soon make its "jump" from being behind my lower teeth to going in front of them. At one point, they'll be right on top of each other, and it will feel very strange when my trays are out and I'm chewing, since my teeth might hit each other there. I just need to be a little more careful during this time. Everything else looked good, and I made an appointment to see him again in 8 weeks.

My 9th trays really hurt at the beginning. In fact, I think they were the worst trays for teeth soreness so far. My 1st tray and 2nd were rough on my tongue and cheek at times, but WOW were my teeth sore with these trays! They were ultra sensitive the next day after the first night of being in, and I had to eat my lunch very gingerly. Mind you, my lunch was just chicken salad on soft white bread. I had to maneuver the sandwich to the back of my mouth in order to take a good bite without hurting myself. Luckily, though, it went away after 2 days, and my teeth were back to their normal strong selves.

I did experience gum bleeding with these trays again, though. Again, it was minor, but kind of annoying that it was happening. It still only happens by my crossbite tooth, and by the area where my gumline dips down. I know that part of my gum is loosening up, since that's where the tooth movement is the most dramatic.

I also had to keep my 9th trays in for an extra week. I won a national award at my company, and my prize was a week in NYC with some fellow winners. If I had stayed on track with my tray schedule, I would have just started tray 10 at the beginning of the trip. I didn't want to leave new trays out for the majority of the day (which I knew I was going to do for this trip), nor did I want to deal with really sore teeth when there were many dining engagements I was committed to, so I opted to leave the 9th trays in until after the trip, and really only wear them at night so NO ONE would notice at all.

Instead of changing them on Monday, 1/22/07, like I was supposed to, I didn't go to my 10th tray until Sunday, 1/28/07. More details on this later.

Here are the pictures of what my teeth looked like after the 9th trays:

Center smile:

Center, mouth agape:

Lower:

Upper:

Crossbite side:

8th Trays

2007-01-09T21:00:00.000-05:00

Thank GOD these trays were more like the rest of them. No pain, no bleeding, no anything.

I can't believe I'll be halfway done with my treatment after I'm done with these. HALFWAY DONE!! Time has really flown by with this whole experience thus far. I can't wait to get my next set of trays from Dr. Sargiss!

No major movements. I just noticed that I can see even more space between my crossbite tooth and the adjacent incisor. I took a picture of it for you all to see, too.

Front smile, closed:

Center, mouth agape:

Lowers:

Uppers:

Side view of my crossbite area. Notice the small difference in the amount of space I've gained in this area for that tooth?

7th Trays

2007-01-09T20:35:00.000-05:00

YOWZA -- these trays were pretty rough on my teeth. Up to this point, I had no major aches when I'd take out my trays for eating. They'd feel a bit sensitive, but nothing significant.

Well, whatever movement was called for these trays made every single one of my teeth feel so tender, that biting into a chicken salad sandwich on white bread was painful.

In addition, my gums started bleeding more than any other trays, mostly by my crossbite tooth, since that was moving a good bit. Here's a gross fact you may not have thought of: When wearing Invisalign trays with slightly bleeding gums, the little amount of blood that comes out has nowhere to go, since it would normally simply be swallowed. However, with its escape route blocked by lots of plastic, it just gets caught in the trays and stays there....swishing all around the surface of our teeth, making you look like you've got ALOT of red lipstick stuck on your teeth....or a vampire who forgot to brush and rinse after eating. Yes, this is exactly what happened to me at work one day. First thing in the morning, someone from my group comes over to ask me a question, and notions that I've got alot of lipstick on my front teeth. I grab a pocket mirror to look, and Lo and behold! It's not lipstick after all, but blood! Muhwahwahwhawah. I quickly head to the bathroom to rinse out my trays. Thank goodness it was a trusted friend who noticed it first!

These trays also showed me how much my back teeth were moving so that there could be enough space to push that crossbite tooth over to the front. It was such a slight difference, but I noticed my spit (sorry - gross, but true) swishing around in between my crossbite tooth and my canine. COOOOOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It felt so different when flossing, since some teeth I knew were tight, now felt so spacious. Yay!

Onto the pictures!

Center, smiling:

Center, mouth agape:

Lower jaw:

Upper jaw:

Right side, crossbite area. Notice how my teeth have moved apart to make room for this tooth to push ahead? And yes, I'm biting down in this picture. My bite will be flush again once movement in both jaws have ceased.

Compare this to what my teeth looked like after my 1st tray:

Not extremely noticeable to you, but very noticeable to me. I'm so excited!

Atka's Smorgasbord of Tricks

2006-12-24T10:22:00.000-05:00

With Christmas nearing, thought you'd like to see a little video of my favorite furball at his best in a slightly Christmasy background.

Atka shakes paws, lies down, rolls over, pounces, waves goodbye, begs, jumps up, plays dead (hear him groan as he covers up his nose, even tho his tail is still wagging), gives me kisses, then waves goodbye again.

Enjoy!

Atka's Smorgasbord of Tricks
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Santa & Mrs. Claus come to town!

2006-12-09T23:52:00.000-05:00

And here is the amazing Santa procession I mentioned in my earlier post. Count 'em - 15 cars!!! Santa and Mrs. Claus are on their own motorized sleigh, complete with lights and Rudolph driving. For a little town like Barnegat, this is truly spectacular. I LOVE this event - it's what kick starts my Christmas season for me! Check out the movie I posted below on YouTube:

Santa & Mrs. Claus come to Town!
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6th Trays

2006-12-09T11:42:00.000-05:00

Again, a pretty unmemorable set of trays, which can be a good thing! The only thing that I noticed this time was that my top trays were actually giving me the tiniest bit of discomfort on my tongue for the first time. I had been really trying to clench my teeth to get that "good fit", and had been sucking that stupid extra spit out of them alot, and my tongue was getting caught up in the upper trays more so than usual. Before it could get really noticable in any way, it was already time to change the trays.

Thanksgiving occurred during these trays, and my relatives came over from OH and PA. My 2 cousins are teenagers, with one still in her braces. No one noticed my braces until I pointed it out to them - yay! Here's a picture of me (in red) with my mom (in orange), aunt, and 2 cousins on our stairs. I love the fact that I can smile as big as I can, and not have to worry about my braces being noticable in pictures!

Now, for the closeups!

Center with mouth agape:

My right side (so you can see my teeth moving back and making way for the crossbite tooth to push to the front):

Upper jaw:

Lower jaw:

And finally, a smile:

We'll be getting our tree today from Home Depot, and might start on some decorating. I think I want our Christmas cards this year to be our puppy by the fireplace decorated with the garland and "PEACE" stocking holders. I'll have to get crackin' on that in order to get them out in time!

Later on tonight, Santa makes his way around our part of the neighborhood. I LOVE this event. I've seen Santa come through many different towns, but this one is, by far, the BEST! Not only do ALL the firetrucks come, but all the ambulances do, too! AND, Santa and MRS. CLAUS go around in a motorized sleigh all lit up! It is definitely the grandest local Santa visit I've ever seen. If I get a video of it tonight, I'll be sure to post it.

We might also visit "Santa Paws" as well. A neighboring town holds this event as a fundraiser for the First Aid Squad. It's pictures of Santa with your pet, and you can buy the pictures on snowglobes, frames, etc, afterwards. It's cheeesy, but it's a worthwhile cause, and has become a bit of a tradition now, so we'll probably do that, too.

Til next time!

5th trays & my 1st Oops!

2006-11-21T22:30:00.001-05:00

Now, for my 1st Oops!

I had been warned about it from my ortho, Trish, and everyone else with Invisalign: "BE CAREFUL ABOUT THROWING OUT YOUR TRAYS BY MISTAKE IF YOU HAVE THEM BALLED UP IN A PAPER NAPKIN!!"

Of course it had to happen to me at least once. Luckily, it happened on the very last day of my trays, so there was little of any harm done.

Again, no problems whatsoever with this set. I can't believe how quickly time is flying by with this treatment! I love it! I know I'm not going to see real results until the last 4 sets of trays, but it's still really exciting that I'll be about halfway done with my treatment at the beginning of the year. We all know how quickly the holidays go by, and the holiday season is definitely upon us.

Going on a tangent.....I love Christmas -- it's my birthday (besides someone else's....what was his name again? lol), so I'm totally into it. But, some people (like our neighbors) are TOO into it. It's not even Thanksgiving and they have ALL their Christmas decorations up. And I mean all. One has a bay window in the front of their house, where they proudly display their all white Christmas tree, which is very nice, except for the ROTATING BASE UPON WHICH IT SITS AND SPINS. I kid you not.

The day after Thanksgiving, our neighborhood turns into Disneyland with all the lights people put up. It's a major competition around here. My husband and I decided we'd do something different from the rest of the neighbors the first year we moved here, and love our decision. We got a GIANT 8 foot wreath that goes around our door! Yes, you have to walk through it to get through the front door.

Here's a picture of it with our furry American Eskimo son, Atka:

Adorable, isn't he? Anyway, I can't wait for Thanksgiving to be done and over with, and am looking forward to a nice and quiet Christmas and New Year's this year!

Back to my teeth. Here 's what they look like after the 5th tray:

Center, mouth agape:

Top:

Bottom:

Smiling:

Hope everyone has a happy and safe Thanksgiving!

4th trays

2006-11-21T22:09:00.000-05:00

After the end of my 4th trays, I was able to get my next 4 sets from the ortho while they did an intermittent checkup of my progress. So far, so good. The ortho told me he was looking for a nice tight tight fit, and that it would help to bite down a few times a day to make sure the trays are where they should be.

Since I've been applying that towards my trays, I've found that they definitely "settle" into their new positions MUCH more quickly. What a difference some grinding makes! It didn't hurt that work was pretty stressful for me lately, and gave me a reason to grind my teeth in order to figuratively bite my tongue :)

My ortho and the girl who works there with similar dental issues to mine were really surprised that I had started a blog. I promised them a link, so hopefully they'll be reading about themselves and about my experiences on here. Hi Dr. Sargiss and Trish! :)

Some of the concerns I had about my treatment were answered by Trish this time. I was worried about my bite aligning properly after all was said and done. She said no problem, it all works out in the end, and that it was something Dr. Sargiss had ensured with Invisalign before he approved my treatment as well.

The other concern I had was about my crossbite. Eventually, the tooth that had been behind the other teeth will be pushed over to the other side. There will be a time, however, when this tooth will neither be behind the other teeth, nor in front of them, but right on top of them. With the trays in, it's impossible to hit your teeth against each other, but what happens when I take them out to eat? Is this going to become a major problem for me? How do I chew if this tooth may be getting in the way?

Trish said it was going to be rough period when that happens, and that I'll just have to be extra careful during that time. She said it happened to her while her company was having their Christmas party, and it was painful to eat at the party because she kept on banging her teeth against each other. She said she went through a period of about 3 weeks before it finally made it "to the other side" completely. Ouch! I'm already getting a taste of it, because that tooth of mine is already moving closer to the front, and there are times when I catch myself wincing a bit when my teeth clash with each other. I'll just have to be more careful about it when it really starts to happen.

So, here are the pictures of my teeth after my 4th set!

Center with mouth agape:

Top:

Bottom:

Smile with bottom teeth showing:

3rd trays

2006-11-21T21:55:00.000-05:00

My 3rd trays have been pretty uneventful. The great thing is that my tongue didn't get scratched up! Before I put them in, though, I ran my finger along all the edges to see if I could feel any rough spots right away. If I did, I was actually able to kind of scratch it away with just my fingernail. All in all, though, this was a great set. No problems whatsoever. The pressure and "itching" I felt with the 1st tray was hardly there.

A few things I've noticed, though. My teeth have pretty much moved to their positions after the very first night. All the nights after that seem to be more focused on getting the teeth to stay there instead of trying to revert back to their original positions, and giving them the rest they need in order to build the bone back up.

The other annoying thing in the spit collecting inside the trays. I literally have to suck it out intermittently throughout the day. How gross is that??? Sometimes, I can even hear myself doing it, and wonder if anyone else around me hears it, too! I had read that you salivate more at the beginning of trays because your body is trying to get used to a foreign object in your mouth that might be food, but maybe I'm just a prolific salivater (is that a word?). I don't want to call myself a drooler, because I like to think I'm not (except when I see, smell, or think about food, which is alot), but maybe I'll have to surrender to that term for now.

One of the reasons why I try to suck out the spit in the trays is because it seems to make for a better fit around my teeth. The other reason is because the spit collecting inside the trays looks gross, and I don't want people talking to me to be distracted by something gross happening inside my mouth. I think that's a fair expectation to have -- to not be grossed out by something inside someone's mouth, don't you?

By the way, I've given up completely on trying to cheat at snacking on chocolate with the trays in. It just doesn't work, and it makes my trays incredibly yucky afterwards. Even if I brush, which is really difficult to do at work when you just ate one piece of chocolate, the trays themselves get funkified alot easier, and Efferdent only doesn't cut it when it comes to cleaning. Lazy me has decided to just lose weight temporarily during my treatment and pig out more during mealtimes instead. I also started to supplement my diet with Ensure again, so that I don't lose too much weight. That could be dangerous for someone my size! Besides, my husband hates it when I start looking gaunt, which can happen within a mere 3 pounds of weight fluctuation with me. He says I look sickly, and I certainly don't want to be viewed as sickly!

Enough chatter. Here's what my teeth looked like at the end of Tray 3!

I left my mouth slightly agape so you can get a better idea of how crooked my little guys are on the bottom:

Top:

Bottom:

Smile with bottom row showing:

2nd trays

2006-11-21T21:43:00.000-05:00

My 2nd trays have definitely been the worst so far in terms of pain. Not pain from my teeth being sensitive, but pain from my tongue getting sore.

The area at the bottom center of my bottom trays usually catches the underside of my tongue somehow, and this tray was relatively brutal. I had a sore for days, and was lisping badly because I was trying to alter the way I talked to avoid contact in that area. Funny thing is, one of the girls at the ortho's had forewarned me about the 2nd tray being the worst.

She had been the one giving me my free consultation, and coincidentally enough, had similar dental problems to mine. She was also going through an Invisalign treatment, and was nearly done. It was great to be able to talk to someone who understood on that level what kind of treatment I would most likely be going through. She and I were able to relate to each other in many different ways, so it was a nice bonus. She was definitely right about alot of the experiences so far!

So here are what my teeth looked like at the end of the 2nd set of trays. Notice I'm posting this now, in November, when I ended my 2nd set back on October 4th. Yes, I've been extremely busy and haven't had the time to pay attention to my blog. Better late than never, though!

Front center showing top and bottom:

Upper:

Lower:

Normal smile:

Not much movement so far, but I know they're working my back teeth first in order to make room for all the ones in the center that are crooked and need space to get straight.

My little secret unveiled

2006-11-21T21:28:00.000-05:00

I had decided from the very beginning that I wasn't going to tell anyone about my Invisalign trays (except for my husband), testing to see if anyone would notice. My chance to try it out on my mom came about a week and a half after I had gotten my 1st trays.

We went over to her house for dinner, and talked and talked for a while before that. Right before we started to eat, I excused myself to go to the bathroom to remove my trays, and discreetly put them back in afterwards with no one noticing.

Finally, before we left that night, I told her I had something I wanted to show her. When I pointed them out to her, she was really excited, but mostly relieved. RELIEVED?? Yes, relieved. She admitted that she HAD noticed something a little odd about my teeth right from the start, but couldn't pinpoint what it was. She said that she actually thought that, get this, I hadn't brushed my teeth in days, because the spaces between my teeth were so close together that she thought I must have had all this gunk stuck in between them. ?!?!?!?! I have to say, I did know what she was talking about, because having the trays in does make your teeth less....outlined individually. But to think that it was the result of a total lack of dental hygiene? I'm not sure I would have jumped to that conclusion, but it was pretty hilarious nevertheless.

My husband thinks they just make my teeth look really wet, and therefore, unnatural in that way. However, he's still pretty astounded that they are so undetectable.

Computerized Befores and Afters

2006-09-25T21:03:00.000-04:00

So I thought you guys might want to see the computerized versions of the Before and After pictures. These were taken from the simplified movie files of my plan.

Center before and after:

I'm hoping my gumline above my right canine gets moved up eventually, too. That will really even out my smile.

Upper before and after:

Lower before and after:

Pretty cool, right?

In other news, I'M STARVING!!! I can't snack all the time like I'm used to doing with these trays in my mouth, and my stomach is constantly growling at work, in meetings, and on conference calls (yes, the other parties heard my stomach growl on a conference call - that's pretty bad).

I had tried eating a semi-big piece of chocolate at work a few weeks ago, and that was a huge mistake. I started to try to chew it, and it just got stuck on my trays and semi-dislodging them from my teeth. So I had to lick the inside of my mouth and teeth like crazy, because a member of my staff asked me a question that I had to answer right away. As one other fellow Invisalign wearer noted, I felt like a dog with peanut butter stuck inside its mouth.

I have to admit I did manage to eat some Candy Corns today, since they were small enough to me to just suck on. I'm also going to try Hershey Kisses, M&M's, and Reeses Pieces. I'm so bad!!!! But, I'm starving. There goes my stomach again.

*Note: I am not condoning this type of eating habit for other Invisalign wearers! I'm the worst model to follow! Just laugh at my blog and don't do what I do!*

Some observations & my stealthy mom

2006-09-24T00:35:00.000-04:00

I have to admit my dental habits have improved tremendously because of Invisalign. I brush 3x a day, and floss twice.

I have not always been a good caretaker of my teeth and gums, though, and actually skipped going to the dentist for 9 years once. When I came back, my gums were in such poor shape (especially for my age), they had to do some major scaling and peel them back to get all the tartar buildup and whatnot from underneath there to give them a fighting chance. Thank goodness my gingivitis hadn't gotten too much worse.

Suffice it to say, gum bleeding wasn't a very big deal to me since I knew my dental habits were hardly there to speak of. However, I've noticed that, since the Invisalign, I've actually started to bleed even worse than before. I'm currently attributing it to the fact that my teeth are moving (hello?), but hope that's the only reason why. I do notice that it's heavier when I start new trays, which helps my hypothesis more, but I still found it curious that my bleeding is now worse when my brushing and flossing are better than they've ever been.

I started taking Calcium supplements because I had read on some message boards that it helps with rebuilding of bone after your teeth have moved so drastically in such a short amount of time. Even if it is an old wive's tale, it doesn't really hurt to get this supplement in me.

As a funny side story, my family went out to a Vietnamese restaurant today for lunch in honor of my mom's birthday. We take it for granted that we can speak in Vietnamese when we don't want the rest of the public to hear what we have to say. When we're in a Vietnamese setting, however (which isn't too often here in NJ), we sometimes forget that our "secret language" isn't so secret anymore.

Right before we got up to eat, I mouthed to my mom that I had to hit the ladies room to "take out my teeth." My brother was trying to figure out what I had said, and my mom, being the helpful little lady that she is, stated boldly in Vietnamese (the secret language), "She's going to the bathroom to take out her teeth!!!" The whole Vietnamese speaking restaurant turned to look at me.

Thanks, Mom! :)

The Details

2006-09-22T21:59:00.000-04:00

OK, for those of you who want details on the whole process, here they are:

1) I'll be going through 16 trays each for my upper and lower teeth. Since each tray is to be worn for only 2 weeks, this means my treatment is only going to be for 16 x 2 = 32 weeks! That's less than 8 months total! I'll be done by April at the very latest! And I say "latest" because my treatment may be refined midway so that I may actually finish even earlier. That means I'll be WAY done before my brother's wedding in October 2007. S-W-E-E-T

2) The cost was $6500. My insurance picked up $1500 (luckily for me, it covered adult orthodontics, which isn't always the case), which left me with $5000 to pay. My ortho offered a good payment plan where I could save 7% (or $350) if I paid a lump sum upfront. We decided to go that route, because we knew we wouldn't be making that much over a year with that particular amount in any of our banking accounts. So, I wound up paying $4650.

3) Some Invisalign patients need to either get some teeth shaved/slimmed down on the sides to allow for movement (called IPR's, or Interproximal Reductions), and "buttons" glued onto some teeth to give the trays more leverage, but lucky me did NOT have to have either. Bonus!

4) Food cannot be eaten with the trays in. Trays should be left in approximately 21 hours each day (24 hours a day minus 3 hours for all 3 meals), only to be taken out for meals. Some people cheat with the drinking, especially since the trays are temporary and will be replaced in 2 weeks anyway. I'm not a coffee drinker, and the fluids I intake are usually clear-ish, so I don't really have an issue with that here.

5) The first few days of a new tray are usually the worst. However, the pain I've felt so far (knock on wood) has been really minimal at best. From what I gather, the sensation is NOTHING like the pain of having metal braces tightened. That was apparently something that hurt pretty badly, while the Invisaligns only seem to exert very gradual pressure that goes away pretty quickly and can also be eradicated with a simple pain reliever like Advil. Other areas of conern are tongue sensitivity to some edges. This can be alleviated with a nail file, if the case calls for it. Other people have just let their tongues get used to the trays for a few days, and any sore spots go away on their own quickly.

6) Trays are easily cleaned with Efferdent. A tablet a day keeps the plaque away! Efferdent is very cheap - it's just embarrassing to buy at the store when you're not even 33....

Below are some pictures of the trays themselves.

Here's both trays, top and bottom:

Here's a side view of both trays:

Here's a closeup of one of the trays:

Hope that clears up some of the questions you may have had. If you have any more, let me know and I'll edit the post to include the answer!

1st trays

2006-09-22T21:30:00.000-04:00

OK, so I got my first trays on Wednesday, 9/6/06. They popped in very easily, and popped out just as easily.

I immediately noticed that I started talking with a slight lisp, and became extremely self-concious about it. However, my excitement about the whole process just made me beam, and I was all smiles, especially to Jimmy, who had decided to come with me for moral support. It's tough getting braces as an adult - Invisalign or not!

I took home 4 sets of trays with me that night, with instructions to graduate to the next tray after 2 weeks. Below are pictures of what my teeth look like after finishing the 1st set of trays. Actually, they are what they look like right now, which is technically 2 days after my 2nd set of trays, but it's close enough.

Here's my current smile (you'll notice that my 2 front teeth are smooth on the bottom edges now from the ortho filing them down to even them out):

Here's my upper, then lower teeth:

Here's my right side, with the crossbite:

Here's what my closed mouth looks like WITH the Invisaligns in. They bulge the slightest bit because your lips stick out a hair more, and you can't fully clamp down since the trays prevent your teeth from completely coming in contact with each other. I'm self-concious about it (I'm self-concious about everything!), and have read from message boards that others are, too. You probably won't notice any difference when you compare it to my other picture where my mouth is closed in the previous post, but it's good to show it in any case:

Next are some closeup shots of the trays in my mouth. You might notice some spit bubbles collecting inside the trays (sorry about the gross factor), but these were the best pictures I could get:

Finally, here's a picture of me smiling with the trays in, but not as close up, so you can see how invisible they practically are, especially for what they're accomplishing:

I'll continue to post more pictures at the end of each tray so you can all slowly see the results.

The Beginning

2006-09-21T21:58:00.004-04:00

Hi everyone,

Welcome to my first-ever blog, which I've dedicated to my new Invisalign Journey.

I'll be 33 this Christmas, and passed up on braces as a child, to my regret. I have some relatively minor alignment problems, notably a crossbite on one side of my upper teeth, and slight crowding in the middle of my lower teeth.

I decided to pursue getting Invisalign several months ago, and have really been pleased with the whole process.

Below are some pictures of what my teeth started out looking like, and will continue posting new ones to show how they've progressed with each new tray. The new pictures won't really show my teeth as exposed as they are below. I don't have the plastic mouth spatulas or the fog-free pocket mirror that the ortho had to aid with that :)

If you look at the movie files ( <-- Edited on 9/28/10 to state that the movie files are outdated/faulty since the site only retains the latest file on record...but TRUST ME, they were cool!) of the progression of my teeth, it doesn't look like they move much when you first watch them. However, if you replay them, you'll see the big difference in my teeth placement between the last tray to the first tray very easily. Be sure to watch all 3 angles: the front, lower, and upper views. The ortho started off by filing the bottom edges of my 2 front teeth, evening them out, since I had slightly chipped one, and the other just never smoothed itself out and still had the "Pacman ghost wobbly edges" on the bottom for whatever reason from when they first sprouted when I was a kid. It helped with the molds that had to be taken of my teeth (front teeth that are too jagged make the Invisalign computer program get confused), and made my smile better in under 30 seconds. After that, it was up to the trays to do their magic. Wish me luck, and enjoy reading! Current smile, closed mouth and profile:

WARNING: Gross horror-house-like dental photos ahead!