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:
29 comments:
i think your teeth look beautiful. i have looked over your invisalign journey. you are a trip, i cracked up several times. I think its so funny how each person is worried about different things with invisalign. for example, i have noticed that many bloggers are worried about the attachments.. this is not a concern for me, i just want my teeth straight, and if that means having little white boxes on my teeth for a while.. so be it. anyway, your blog is great! http://invisalignvoyage.blogspot.com/
Hey, excellent Blog, have enjoyed reading through it. I am only on the 2nd trays, about 3 weeks through so far, am blogging all the way - finding it moving slow at the moment, I ust want to get there and see some progress.
I have also linked to you from mine, in a hope others can fine you.
All the best,
Adam
Hi, at what point did they do the molds again for your refinement? (after the second week of your last tray)? was it the same as when you did molds for the initial trays?
love your blog and your dazzling smile =)
ps. i read some reviews on whitening strips by Crest and Opalescence, heard they're pretty good for a cheaper alternative.
I had Invisalign for almost 2 years and I finally figured out how to clean the aligners so they are like new every night you put them in (wearing at night now) Soak in diluted hydrogen peroxide!!!!!!!! wish I would have thought of this sooner, no amount of scrubbing gets them this clean so easy too. Also there's a tool to remove them now that works so great, called OUTIE, www.outietool.com
I refused attachments on my 10 month refinement go round. It didn't make any difference.
Your teeth look great and I'm so glad I did it too!
Hi Thy, I love your blog! I have just started the invisalign treatment- I am only on my 1st tray though! 11 more months to go and I hope my teeth will look as beautiful as yours.
Hi Thy, just wanted to thank you for such a detailed + funny blog! I've also started my Invisalign treatment, though only on my 1st set of trays! Hope in 11 months time, my teeth will look as beautiful as yours!
Hey this is a great blog. I enjoy reading about Invisalign users experiences to help prepare me for my upcoming treatment. I was just fitted for Invisalign and am eagerly awaiting for the trays to arrive! It will be amazing to have straight teeth with no gaps as I know that is what most people see when I smile.
http://my-invisalign.blogspot.com/
Hi Thy, your teeth look great. What happened with the second set of refinements? I would love to see some pictures. I am on my 10th tray and made my decision to go with Invisalign partly based on your blog.
Thanks for all the great information.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience. I am on tray 3 of 15 on top and 23 on the bottom. I have three buttons on top on the left side and four on the bottom - three on the left side and one on the right.
I think your teeth look amazing and I wish I would have come across this blog earlier and I was delaying the process because I had heard that Invisalign didn't really work. I also appreciate your candidness with the bleeding teeth, as I have a tooth on the top that keeps bleeding as my left side back three teeth need moved out to the front to be more visible when I smile. They were so hidden that they looked as if they were missing.
Thanks so much for sharing your journey!
Julie
hi thy great blog i was just wondering did your arch widen much or is it more or less the same as when you bstarted thanks
Thanks for sharing your Invisalign experience. Those teeth are looking pretty straight.
http://klaudiabracesjourney.blogspot.com/
My journey. I hope do do my blog just like yours.
I can say that invisalign is one of the great art of cosmetic dentistry (Chicago). Unfortunately not all people can be candidates of invisible braces because we all have different teeth alignment.
Hi Thy,
I just wanted to reach out and say you have a great blog! I recently launched my own blog about invisalign since when I was searching for a good informative site, the only sites coming up were from orthodontists themselves. A bit biased for me! So I built this site: http://invisalignfacts.com and am trying to spread the word about it. I was wondering if you could be kind enough to help me and place a link somewhere on your site? I would be so grateful! Please let me know what I can do to make this happen. And thanks for getting great info out there! If you'd ever want to post a review on my site or share your info with others, that would be so helpful!
Hope you have a great weekend,
Irina
I read over your blog. Interesting post and good looking site. I'm definitely going to visit again!
What a nice blog thanks your nice post.
Your teeth already look amazing! Congratualtions!
Excellent Blog, have enjoyed reading through it. You're teeth looks awesome! it looks like invisalign can be very effective. Thanks for sharing!
Your teeth look amazing! I can't wait for my teeth to look that straight. What a relief it will finally be!
Lookin' Good!! I can't wait to finally start my invisalign journey - I start next month!
you already have a great teeth, i bet invisalign do really work..
Your teeth look fabulous, such improvement. I am on the fence though about getting them done on my teeth. I am just wondering though what was cost of your invisalign? I live in Edmonton and was wondering if it would be the same or not as well?
Thanks so much for all the compliments, everyone! Obviously, this post you all replied to is many years old, as I have not been keeping up with my blog (tsk, tsk, I know).
However, to answer George Puzo's question about the cost of Invisalign for me, please refer back to my couple posts about this with lots of other details, too. Bear in mind that I made this purchase about 5 years ago, though, so prices have likely changed significantly, and geography plays a big part of that, too.
Enjoy the read!
http://thyinvisalignjourney.blogspot.com/2006/09/details.html
http://thyinvisalignjourney.blogspot.com/2007/02/random-fyis.html
Oops! Make that --> 7 <-- years ago that I made this purchase. Time sure flies!!
I enjoyed reading about your Invisalign experience. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Thy... first of all, you are truly beautiful. Coming to the point, I think that's really great improvement in your teeth. I am an Invisalign dentist in Midtown and I always share your blog with my patients.. such blogs from real people like you help a lot to our patients in gaining confidence while their Invisalign treatments. So keep sharing .. Thanks :)
Invisalign aligners are the clear alternative to metal braces for adults, kids and teens. These clear aligners are the virtually invisible way to improve your smile.
You got in on the Invisalign train ages ago. I would love to hear about your teeth now. How are they doing?
Theresa N | Lisle Dental Center
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