Finished!

Well, I still have to wear my clear retainer everyday, all day for two months, but my teeth are done moving! I am officially finished with Invisalign Express, and I am SO pleased with the results. Speaking of results, here are some before and after pictures:

BEFORE

AFTER:

Interproximal Reductions!

I had an appointment with my ortho last week and received five interproximal reductions (IPRs) between my slightly crowded bottom teeth. Going into the appointment, I wasn't sure if I would need them...but I did. It was kind of scary to have a tiny, diamond-crusted saw blade buzz through my teeth, but it didn't hurt at all. My ortho has been in orthodontics for a long, long time, so I'm sure something like that was no big deal to him. Plus, my teeth really weren't that crowded to begin with. He only sawed a 0.2 mm space between them, so it's not noticeable to anyone -- almost not even noticeable to me...almost. :)

My ortho said everything was looking good and gave me two more sets of trays before I left. I was dying to see my ClinCheck again, so I had the hygienist/assistant show me again. It looks like, upon completion, my front, top four teeth will all be together, which is great! However, I will probably end up with a slight gap right before my canine on at least the right side of my mouth (maybe the left too...I can't remember). I wasn't thrilled about that, but that's just how my mouth is. If they made it to where all my teeth were together, my bite would be WAY off and practically all of my teeth would have to move around instead of just the front top/bottom.

I also found out that I don't have ten trays total, but only nine. It wasn't a secret or anything, I just never read the packaging and thought my treatment would require ten trays simply because it was Invisalign Express (which only allows up to ten trays). I just hope everything looks good at the end -- in real life.

That night, I put in my fourth set of trays, and, man, did it HURT! My teeth hurt for about four days, as opposed to the usual two days. Taking them out hurt a lot too. As much as I didn't like the pain, I kind of did because that meant my teeth were moving. Oh, I also had some sensitivity on my front tooth too, which was quite unpleasant, but has subsided.

Bad Breath

Alright, as you can see from my previous post about my dental hygiene, I keep my teeth/mouth painstakingly clean. (Side note: whenever I mentioned "brush" in my previous post, that includes brushing my teeth and my tongue) My last dental check-up/cleaning was about three weeks ago, and I did not have any cavities and was complimented on how clean I keep my teeth. So, why do I occasionally have bad breath?

Well, duh, it is related to Invisalign, but not because I don't keep the aligners or my mouth clean. It is because I get severe dry mouth whenever I have the aligners in (20-22 hours + a day). I read up on why dry mouth would cause bad breath, and this is what I found out:

"Saliva is necessary to moisten and cleanse the mouth by neutralizing acids produced by plaque and washing away dead cells that accumulate on the tongue, gums, and cheeks. If not removed, these cells decompose and can cause bad breath." -- Medicine.net

In order to remove those dead cells, it is recommended to drink plenty of water (which I do) and maintain flawless dental hygiene (which I also do). YET, I still find that I sometimes have bad breath, so I decided to invest in some sugar-free Binaca spray. I don't love it, but it works if I am about to talk to someone in my immediate future.

One thing I have discussed with my boyfriend and my brother is that maybe bad breath can also be caused by cleaning one's mouth/teeth/tongue TOO WELL and TOO OFTEN? Does that make sense? Like, maybe because I clean so often, my mouth has decided that it doesn't need to produce whatever it used to in order to keep my breath in check...I don't know, it was a just a thought.

My Routine

I am on week 2 of my second set of aligners, so I'm no expert (yet) on everything Insvisalign, but my routine has been working very well for me. I figured I would expound upon what works for me just in case any "lurkers" are interested.

First of all, I clean my trays three or four times a day. I clean them using regular toothpaste (gel/liquid gel) and either a tiny, pink child's toothbrush with extra soft bristles (whenever I clean them at home) or my regular soft-bristled toothbrush that I got from my dentist (whenever I am out or at work). VERY rarely do I put my trays back in my mouth without cleaning them, but when that occasion does arise, I make sure to rinse them and my mouth with water and only keep them in for the absolute shortest amount of time possible. At least once a day I soak my trays in a little water and Efferdent Plus solution for about 15 to 20 minutes. With this cleaning regimen, I have never once seen any white build-up, or any other contaminant for that matter, in my trays. They are always extremely clear (and I have to wear each tray for three weeks, not two).

Before I put my clean trays back in my mouth, I make sure to floss (I LOVE Glide Ribbon dental floss with Scope), brush using either the same toothbrush I got from my dentist that I mentioned earlier (whenever I'm out or at work) or my Sonicare electric toothbrush (whenever I'm at home), and then I swish some Act enamel-building mouthwash for about a minute. Also, I make sure to rinse my mouth out with water after I use mouthwash because I don't want mouthwash residue to etch or damage my aligners.

The Back Story

On February 26th, I began using Invisalign Express to straighten my teeth. Since I was in junior high, I have wanted my teeth to be straightened. However, since braces cost lots of money, my parents told me that I would have to wait until we saw where my teeth would end up, all because my oldest brother's teeth, who were wonky when he was young, miraculously came together perfectly without any help whatsoever. So, I was denied.

In high school, my teeth had not straightened out, but I was in high school...who wants metal train tracks in high school? Duh, not me anyway. Plus, my parents still refused/could not afford to buy me braces...so, I figured I would just wait it out until I could afford to do clear metal braces when I got older.

In the mean time, I went through periods where I wouldn't smile with my teeth in pictures, and I got REALLY good at tilting my head "just so" so that the spaces in between my teeth were not as noticeable...this also required me to maneuver myself in pictures to make sure my "best side" was always facing the camera, which I also got pretty good at. However, I still always hated my teeth. Sure, I would forget about them from time to time, and then WHAM! Sure enough, a picture would come my way where I looked legitimately happy (a candid shot), but I looked like a doofus with bucked, spaced out teeth. What could I do about it, though? I still didn't have enough money to get braces.

Eventually, my younger-but-still-older-than-me brother, who is in the entertainment industry AND has very similar teeth (neither of us had the perfect teeth our oldest brother had), saved his money and at age 30 began Invisalign. Needless to say, I was VERY interested in his treatment. I asked all sorts of questions throughout, and after a year and half of Invisalign (and $6,000.00 paid) his teeth look GREAT!

His success with teeth very similar to mine motivated me to get a free Invisalign consultation with a local orthodontist (Dr. Stephen Sherman) recommended by my dentist (Dr. Patrica Fernandez). I knew I could not yet afford the treatment, but what the heck, a free consultation wouldn't hurt...

At the consultation I found out that I was definitely a candidate for Invisalign, possibly even Invisalign Express (10 trays upper and lower). Dr. Sherman told me that the most, the cost of treatment would $4,500 if I needed more than 10 trays (regular Invisalign) and if I did not pay all at once. It would be less if I paid all at once AND if I only needed 10 trays or less (Invisalign Express).

I politely asked both of parents (who are divorced) if they would help me get Invisalign to straighten my teeth. My father said no (the economy an all), but thankfully, my beautiful, wonderful mother said yes! She said she would find a way to pay for all of it because she knew how I always wanted it since I was young, and she felt that parents are supposed to pay for stuff like that (even though they are not SUPPOSED to pay for braces).

After crying and freaking out, I immediately made an appointment to get things rolling...maybe in October of '08. They had to take molds of my teeth, which my brother told me would be an excruciating experience, but not for me! Sure, it wasn't comfortable, but I never felt the urge to gag or felt like my teeth were going to rip out. I did have to have my bottom teeth molded twice because the girl doing the molds did not like the first mold. When I was finished, she said it would take about 4-8 weeks to get my trays in...

Two and half MONTHS later, I get a call from Dr. Sherman's office says that I needed to come in to get my top teeth molded again. I guess after the office sent my molds in, my ortho could not agree on a plan with the Invisalign people, so he thought I should come in and redo my top mold. Well, I did.

About two weeks later, my trays were in! I came in the very next day (February 26, 2009) to pick them up and view my ClinCheck (my dentist said I could not see it until I paid...some Invisaligners don't like that, but I trust my ortho...thus far). First thing my ortho did was put 8 buttons/attachments on my teeth!!!! Geez, I knew about attachments, but my brother, whose teeth were a little worse than mine, only needed two attachments on his bottom, side teeth. I ended up with 6 on the top (four on my very front teeth, two on the side teeth) and 2 on the bottom teeth were my brother had his. I was quite shocked, but too late now! Before I left, my ortho made sure that I could take them off and put them back on again -- that was difficult. I really did feel like I was going to rip my teeth out. The hygienist even felt sorry for me saying, "Aw, you have so many buttons." Yes, thanks. They were about to let me leave, but I asked to the ClinCheck. I viewed it very quickly. I was still in shock about the attachments, so I didn't pay much attention. I will make sure to ask to see it again from all angles next time I go in though. Before I left, I was given two sets of trays and told to wear each set (10u/10l) three weeks.

The first day was rough. I thought I would be so excited to finally have my Invisalign. Instead, I kind of felt depressed. That was probably because of the attachments. Sure, the trays were somewhat difficult to take out, but the attachments were so noticeable, or so I thought. Over the next few days, I gradually got used to them. The front attachments scratched my mouth a little one day, but that healed quickly and has never happened again. Other than that, I have pretty much gotten used to them and the way the look. My boyfriend says that he doesn't notice them at all, which made me feel better. I live with his parents, so I did not tell his mother that I had them, and she did not notice at all until about three weeks went by and I told her about them. All in all, I'm OK with the attachments and having them would not have been a deal-breaker for me had I known that I would them on my front teeth beforehand anyway. Mine are all the exact color of my teeth and are only noticeable if someone is VERY close to me and staring at my teeth.

Well, there you have it.