Computerized Befores and Afters

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

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

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

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

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!