14th Trays & a whitening conversation

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

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

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

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

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

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

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: