My Smile's History

Hi everyone! This is my very first blog, so please go easy on me as I try to figure things out. :) I guess I will start off by giving you a brief history of my teeth, and then I'll bring you along on my current Invisalign journey.

Unfortunately this is not the first time that I have had braces. When I was little I sucked my thumb, and that sufficiently messed up my teeth. My front upper and lower teeth did not come into contact with each other when I bit down, and I remember my parents finding that particularly noticeable when I attempted to eat corn on the cob. Although I had no particular interest in getting braces, my parents knew that it would be best for me to have orthodontic treatment. I don't have a good "before" picture from those days, because I used to only show my upper teeth when I smiled in order to hide the gap that existed between them and my lower teeth. What I do have is a picture of myself with the so-called "train tracks":

1997

Luckily in those days I wasn't so vain, and I didn't care that I had a metal mouth. However, once I got the braces off, I fell completely in love my new smile! I also loved the fact that I had a proper front bite when eating food.

2001

Of course, after I got my braces off I was told that I would have to wear retainers for the rest of my life. I remember thinking "surely I don't really have to wear them forever". I started out wearing the retainers every night as I was told, but then I started wearing them less and less....figuring that my teeth were set in their lovely new position despite what my orthodontist had said. Eventually I misplaced my retainers and went quite a few months without them...I think this happened when I moved away for university. Anyhow, when I came across them again they were so tight and uncomfortable (= my teeth had been moving). Instead of dealing with that discomfort, I decided not to wear them. Big BIG mistake! Later down the road, they no longer fit on my teeth and therefore had no chance of retaining my once beautiful smile. However, it wasn't until last summer (2007) that I really became aware of my changing smile. I saw a picture of myself in which I knew I was biting my teeth together, yet it looked like I was doing an "open" mouth kind of smile with my tongue showing:

2007

My overbite had returned! It turns out that I'm a tongue thruster, which basically means that when I swallow, I push my tongue up against the back of my upper teeth instead of putting it on the roof of my mouth. Additionally, my lower teeth have become more crowded...something to do with some muscle in the chin area that I unconsciously contract more than the average person. Basically this means that without a retainer, my teeth most definitely will not stay put. Anyhow, after seeing that picture I became more and more bothered by my overbite. Then in the summer of 2008 I decided that I would seek out orthodontic treatment again. This was not just an appearance issue; I was once again experiencing difficulty when eating food. I don't feel like fully explaining it here, but let me just say that I have become very self-conscious about taking bites of food in front of other people.

So that's the story of my smile that has lead up to my Invisalign treatment.