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.