Video Blog #2

Main Content of Video: Showing the state of my teeth at the start of the refinement stage.

Start of Refinements: 1 of 12

I just got back from my latest Invisalign appointment and I have some mixed feelings about this so-called refinement stage. The one positive thing is that I do not need any more attachments! I am VERY happy, and somewhat surprised, that I don't need attachments for the duration of my refinements.

Now onto the things I'm not so happy about....

First of all, I didn't get any refining aligners for my upper teeth. The reason I'm not impressed by this is because for my original treatment plan, I was supposed to go through 2 more sets of aligners (I only made it to 22/24 before my dentist took the molds for my refinements). So I feel like my upper teeth are not getting that last bit of proper positioning. Also, now that I am essentially "done" with the alignment of my upper teeth, I'm supposed to continue wearing the last set of aligners that I used on my upper teeth (#22) until the end of my entire Invisalign treatment. I have a couple of issues with this:
1) Although I no longer have attachments, I have to wear an aligner that has the "bubbles" where the attachments were previously located. I would much prefer a new flat aligner, as that would make the aligner much less noticeable to others.
2) Aligners are typically used for 2 weeks at a time. Now I'm expected to wear this set for several more months, during which time they'll inevitably become worn and more noticable due to my efforts to keep them clean. I may address this with my Invisalign dentist at my next appointment in January (I only dealt with the dental hygienist today), as I am thinking that I may be able to start using this aligner as a retainer and perhaps only wear it at night.

Second of all, I am a bit disappointed that I have 12 more aligners for my lower teeth. That's half the length of my original treatment plan!

The first 4 packages of refining aligners for my lower teeth.

On the bright side, I am getting what I paid for in the sense that my lower teeth should be properly straightened by the time I'm done. Speaking of which, if all goes according to schedule, I should be done these refinements by May 13, 2010! :) I can't wait!

I suppose another positive is that this first "refining aligner" isn't hurting at all. I always like it when there's no pain for the gain.

Awaiting Refinements

Just as I suspected, my attachments were removed and new molds were taken of my teeth when I went to my Invisalign dentist yesterday. When I had my first set of molds taken in December last year, the molds of both my upper and lower teeth worked on the first try. This time, the first mold of my lower teeth worked, but it took 4 tries to get a suitable mold of my upper teeth. Other than that, the process was pretty uneventful. Until my new refining set of aligners arrive (in about 3 weeks), I will continue to wear the 22nd set of aligners that I've already been wearing for two weeks. I hope I don't have too many more aligner sets to go through for this refinement stage--but as long as my teeth end up straight, I'll be happy no matter how long it takes.

No attachments for the time being :)

22 of 24 aligners

I went to my Invisalign dentist yesterday and he seemed to notice something that I'd made note of recently: 2 of my lower teeth aren't moving properly. Now I am due to go back in 2 weeks so that he can check the progress of my teeth. If my teeth aren't doing what they're supposed to be doing by that time, my dentist (or more likely the hygienist) will remove the attachments and take a new mold of my teeth. Then that mold will be sent to the Invisalign company so that a refining set of aligners can be made to correct this problem. I am pretty sure that my teeth are not going to be rotating into their proper positions with my current set of aligners, so I anticipate getting a new mold of my teeth on Remembrance day. Here are my teeth as of today:

The two lateral teeth of the middle four are not in line with the rest of the teeth. Since my teeth are fairly crowded now (due to the aligners moving them closer together as they approach their final position), the refining set of aligners will likely have to push my teeth back outward again to create room for them to rotate. Once the refining aligners have rotated those problem teeth, everything would be pulled back in again--in correct alignment. Below I have depicted how the teeth need to rotate in order to get into their proprer places.


On a positive note, my overbite is gone. Take a look at the difference:

February 14, 2009
(while on aligner set #3)

October 30, 2009
(while on aligner set #22)

P.S. My teeth are hurting as a result of the aligners I put in yesterday. I am popping pain killers and making sure to only eat soft foods and soup. Usually any pain subsides after 2 days, so I just have to get through tomorrow.

Comparison of Smiles: Then & Now

Left: My current smile.

Right: My smile before Invisalign.

In both pictures, my upper and lower teeth are in as much contact as possible.

18 of 24 aligners

When I was wearing my 16th set of aligners I finally felt my upper and lower front teeth coming in contact with each other. What an amazing feeling! Now I am 9 days into wearing my 18th set of aligners.

Here are my teeth as of today (while not wearing the aligners):

There is no longer a space between my teeth when I'm biting down, and look at how my lower teeth are no longer crowded! :) I'm very pleased!

Only 6 more aligner sets to go through before I face the final "refinement" stage.

8 of 24 aligners

I put my 8th set of aligners in 3 days ago. I did experience more discomfort with these ones than with previous pairs, but the discomfort subsided after the first two days. While wearing my 7th set of aligners, I realized that there is a noticeable difference in my overbite as made apparent by how much of my tongue can be put through the overbite space.

Left: BEFORE starting my Invisalign treatment.
Right: On day 2 of aligner set #8.

"Before" and "Predicted After" Images

Predicted Tooth Movement - Front View

5 of 24 aligners

I put my fifth set of aligners in 3 days ago. I haven't felt any discomfort at all from these ones...it makes me worry that they aren't doing anything and that I'll be wasting two weeks, but I guess they must have made some subtle (& painless) change to the positioning of my teeth :) With the last two sets of aligners I had a little tear happen in the same place near one of the attachments. I now remove my aligners starting on the other side of my mouth and make sure that I don't twist them when pulling them off of the attachment areas. So far so good with this fifth pair!

4 of 24 aligners

I put in my fourth set of aligners this evening. Nothing new to report right now...just excited about the continued progress. :)

3 of 24 aligners

I got my 3rd set of aligners two days ago! :) I am always so happy when I get to start wearing the next set of aligners. After all, each new set gets me closer and closer to the finish line.

As mentioned previously, I did get attachments put on my teeth. I have a total of 8, equally distributed in each quadrant of my mouth:

I realize that it is very difficult to see the attachments due to the quality of the images, so I have outlined them in red in the lower picture. What is nice is that I don't find the attachments to be that noticeable in 'real life'. They completely match the colour of my teeth, and I think they'd only be visible to someone who is a short distance from me. If I can get my hands on a better camera, I will post other pictures of the attachments.

And for the record: So far Invisalign causes much less pain/discomfort than the train track braces.

Update (Feb 11, 2009):

I wanted to quickly mention that I have had no problems with the attachments so far. I thought that I might experience some mouth sores due to the attachments, but I have had nothing of the sort. The reason I thought I might get mouth sores is because I recall that the brackets from my traditional braces used to cut my cheeks. So this is yet another instance of "Invisalign: 1, Traditional Braces: 0".

Update (Feb 15, 2009):

As an example of how unnoticeable the attachments are, there have been a few times when I've been brushing my teeth in front of the bathroom mirror and panicked that an attachment had fallen off...only to realize that it was still there...they're just so well camouflaged! Similarly, there have been a couple mornings where I have woken up thinking that I forgot to put my aligners in my mouth the night before,...but the aligners are actually in my mouth! I guess that means that I'm really used to the feeling of the aligners in my mouth :)

A Downfall of Invisalign

For those of you who are considering Invisalign treatment, and are looking to weigh some pros and cons, I thought I would share an issue that I have with Invisalign. It's nothing serious, but I think that it's worth consideration.

I find it very difficult to wear the aligners for 22 hours a day. That only gives me 2 hours a day to do all of my eating, drinking, and brushing of my teeth. If we say that I'm having 3 meals a day, with no snacks in between, that gives me 40 minutes for each meal (for both eating and brushing). You may think that that sounds like a lot, but think about when you're eating with other people. I'm not the type of person who would jump up abruptly in the middle of an after-meal conversation to head off to the washroom to pop the aligners back in. I guess it's different if you don't mind the people around you knowing that you're getting this treatment, but for myself, I am keeping it secret so I don't like taking my aligners out or putting them back in in front of others. Besides, you're supposed to brush your teeth before you put the aligners back in, so you really do need to go off to the washroom so that you can brush your teeth after each meal. Also, as I mentioned, it's 40 minutes per meal if you're not snacking during the day. I have tended to stay away from snacking now that I am undergoing the Invisalign treatment because even to eat just one cookie, I think about how I'd then have to go to the washroom to brush my teeth and floss my teeth all over again. That just seems like too much work and too much time taken away from my meals. So it's very rare for me to now have any snacks, whereas before I would snack regularly throughout the day. Also, I don't feel like I can grab a coffee any time that I want because that also takes away from my meal time. So I have had to change my previous dietary habits of snacking and drinking coffees (or any other non-water beverages) while undergoing this Invisalign treatment.

Having said all of this, I do still like Invisalign. I still wouldn't choose to have train track braces just so that I could have snacks whenever I wanted... I like the fact that they are pretty much invisible, and that when I do take them out, that I can eat whatever I want. If I want to eat a hard and sticky candy apple, then I can do that--I just have to time how long it takes me to eat it hahaha :)

Also, my boyfriend finally figured out that I am having the Invisalign treatment. However, it was mainly due to the fact that he was tipped off by seeing the aligner case in my bathroom. He thought that I had purchased some sort of mouthguard to wear when I play sports. Even when he approached me to ask me about my purchase, he didn't notice that I was wearing the aligners. It wasn't until I started smiling uncontrollably during the conversation that he got close up to my mouth and said "You're wearing them now!!!". He was quite surprised and is very impressed with how unnoticeable they are :)

I get my attachments on in two days (my appointment got moved to February 5th).

Video Blog #1

Main Content of Video: Taking aligners out & putting them back in.

2 of 24 aligners

My second set of aligners!

I have been anxiously awaiting this day! It marks the completion of my first set of aligners. That means that I am done 4.2% of my Invisalign treatment (I like thinking in percentages).

So I put the second set of aligners in no more than half an hour ago. I can already feel more pressure, but it is not uncomfortable yet. Hopefully I will be asleep during the time when it would start to be unpleasant or cause a headache. With the first set of aligners I did not feel as though any of my front teeth were affected, but this time I sense that my lower front lateral incisor (purple arrow) is going to be on the move. I say that because I am feeling pressure in the area of that tooth. I am also noticing some pressure that is specific to my upper front central incisor on the same side.

Wearing the second set of aligners (January 20, 2009)

As with the first set of aligners, I feel that my vertical bite is more open. I believe that this happens during the first day or two of wearing new aligners because the aligners need to move the teeth a bit before they can really settle down into their intended positions.

Here's hoping that the next few days don't bring me too much pain! :)

1 of 24 aligners

My first set of aligners!

I got my first set of aligners on January 6th, 2009. When I put them in at the dentist's office, I was surprised to find that they didn't hurt at all. Fast forward a few hours and I was singing a different tune! The pressure being put on my teeth by the aligners started becoming uncomfortable, but at least that meant the aligners were doing something. That night I also noticed that my teeth were not able to bite together as closely as normal. However, the next day the aligners had settled further down onto my teeth, which improved that aspect of my bite. On this second day my cheek started to get cut by the edge of an aligner at the back of my mouth. After contacting my dentist, I was told that it should go away in a few days as the aligner settles even more into place. Sure enough, that problem has gone away on its own :)

I am now on day 8 of my treatment, and I must say that I am already quite used to wearing the aligner. In fact, this evening I had a moment where I thought that I was not wearing the aligner when I was! I also feel pretty used to my new tooth care regime that involves timing how long I have the aligners off (I'm supposed to wear them for at least 22 hours a day), as well as brushing and flossing after every meal. During the first few days I thought that my speech (lisp) would tip people off, but so far nobody has noticed my aligners (or at least nobody has said anything to me about them). I still feel as though my speech is a bit different than normal, but it's improving every day. With regards to the visibility of the aligners, I don't think they're that visible. I have not informed my boyfriend of my Invisalign treatment, and he has not yet realized that I am wearing the aligners. He did notice something about my teeth on Sunday (day 5 of my treatment), but he dismissed it as a problem with his vision. I am waiting to how long it takes him to truly notice the aligners, since I know he will tell me when he notices them (as opposed to co-workers who may choose not to say anything). Perhaps he and others will discover my secret after I get my attachments on February 4th.

I have 24 aligners for my upper teeth and 24 aligners for my lower teeth. That means that I should be done my treatment and into the refinement stage by December (2009).



First day with aligners (January 6, 2009)
Believe it or not, I am trying to bite my teeth together in this picture.

Second day with aligners (January 7th, 2009)
My teeth come closer together than the previous day.



View of bottom teeth with aligners (January 10, 2009)

"Before Pictures" of My Teeth

To give you a clear idea of the "before" state of my teeth, I'll share a few pictures. I am not including full head shots because showing off my teeth in this way is not at all flattering :p

So, to start with I'll show you my current smile:

I don't think my teeth look that bad from this "regular angle". In fact, all of the photos I typically saw of myself looked pretty much like this...so I think that's why I hadn't realized that my teeth were getting so bad.

Now onto the other angles that depict the sorry state of my teeth:

Full front view

Looking up at overbite

Side view of overbite

Sticking tongue through overbite space

While I am rather ashamed of the current state of my teeth, I realize that it's pictures like these that will let us all assess the progress of my teeth over the course of treatment. In addition to my overbite, you may have also noticed that my bottom front teeth appear to be on a bit of an angle. I am really looking forward to having my teeth back in their proper position! :)