Hello everyone, welcome to my journey for straight teeth. I am a 30 year old woman with two kids, (so money matters) and an outcall massage therapist, so I am up close and personal with all my clients giving them a great view of all the spaces between my front teeth. I wouldn't go as far as to say I'm insecure, but I'm definitely aware of the imperfections in my smile and know people judge you on it so I've mastered speaking with my top lip covering my upper teeth and I've also mastered the closed mouth smile. Once upon a time I had perfect teeth, then I turned five years old, my baby teeth fell out and it went downhill from there. OK, that may be a little dramatic. Here's what actually happened to start my smile demise. At six years old I was outside riding my bike when a boy said he wanted to race me. I said no and rode away. When he saw me a few minutes later he yelled "we're racing starting now!" I tried to make a quick turn on my bike to avoid the boy and ended up turning in the air (without my bike) and landing on my two front teeth. The left tooth chipped a little at the bottom, but the right tooth broke completely in half diagonally leaving me with a 90 degree triangle tooth. I remember my mom running out the house in horror to see me kneeling on the sidewalk screaming through a bloody mouth holding the part of tooth that broke off toward her as if she could put it back together. She couldn't. Teeth filing, abscess removal, two root canals, a porcelain crown and countless visits within the the next two years later, I was all dentist out. There was a small space between my two front teeth but nothing I was worried about at 9 years old, especially after experiencing barely having a front tooth! However, I was still losing baby teeth and getting my permanent teeth and the bridge of my mouth was still developing. By middle school the space between my frnto teeth was a full on gap (and the crown didn't look that great either.) I came from a single parent household so money was limited and my mom had already spent so much on getting my tooth fixed that she never even brought up braces and neither did I because I thought the metal would just draw more attention to my gap. Over the decades the gap between my front teeth has widened considerably and a gap on the other side of my crown also developed and widened leaving a lone front tooth with no companion teeth on either side. No tooth should have to go through that. My top teeth also flare out a bit, I'm sure the tongue ring I got when I was 17 didn't help with that. I know that was a long back story but hey, too fully understand my journey you have to know how it started. FOR EVERYONE WHO WANTS TO SKIP THE BACK STORY START HERE. I've wanted invisalign since it came out but for some reason it was a million dollars back then. Well more like $6,000 but to a teenager on her way to college it may as well have been a million dollars. Since I finished college, and began working I have actively been trying to get invisalign for the last five years, but my aversion to dentist due to all I'd went through as a kid left me with some oral complications that had to be taken care of first. I was going to Antoine Dental which is now Lumen Dental. I admit to a few cavities needing to be filled, some cleanings, and even a root canal, but every year after I'd saved for my invisalign this place would always come up with MORE work they said needed to be done than they initially said. After five years of this, I decided to go somewhere else and actually found some very cheap deals on a coupon site. (Not sure if I can say the name here.) After visiting a couple offices I actually paid Made Ya Smile in full for the treatment. However, they kept pushing lumineers on me, their wait times, especially once in the back were horrible and the staff were loud and unprofessional. When I did see the dentist he was so quick with me, and they kept giving me the wrong paper work to sign! My alarms were on high alert so after a bit of hassling I did get my money back and was fortunate enough to find Dr. Wilmore's office. It is a completely different experience than I have ever had at a dentist office. It's a smaller office so you really get to know the staff personally and of course the dentist Dr. Wilmore. There's a great waiting area not that it matters because the three times I've gone to the office I've never waited more than five minutes if that. In my first visit my x-rays were taken, and an assessment to see if I was a client for invisalign. I am but the office manager Nancy said I would have to get a cleaning first (which I needed.) She said I didn't have to get it with them, just to get it done before I proceeded with invisalign. Even though I could have gotten it done cheaper somewhere else I decided to get it done there just because they made a really good first impression. Second visit was the cleaning with their hygienist, I forget her name but she was awesome. It only took about 30 minutes and I could see and feel the difference. Right after my cleaning they took my impressions to send off to invisalign. The whole second visit only took 45 minutes! My time is very valuable so I really appreciate their promptness without rushing. The next visit is where I was shown the video of my invisalign treatment. I'll upload the videos and other pictures in my next post. Thank you for reading the start of my invisalign journey. As you can see I'm very open so ask me anything. Updated on 30 Apr 2015: So three weeks after my impressions were taken I went back to Dr. Wilmore's office to view my treatment plan video. It's a video showing the current position of my teeth gradually shifting into the position they will be in after treatment. I don't know if all offices show a video, but it really helped prepare me for the way my teeth will be moving and to see if I like the end results. In this case I didn't like that I would still have spaces in my top row in front of both my canines because there's too much room on my upper bridge and not enough teeth. Boooo!!!! I don't want the gaps to be moved I want them gone! Plus in between my canine and other tooth (sorry I don't know the names, I'm not a dentist) is still pretty visible. My dentist said she could try and have invisalign change the treatment plan to where the space is behind my canines instead of in front. I suppose that's better. The video also showed why I will have to have some of my bottom teeth shaved down. Nothing is really wrong with my bottom row, in fact I still have my bottom wisdom teeth, but in order to push back the top I have to bush back the bottom and since my teeth are packed tight down there (wish it were like that on top, but the Lord giveth and He taketh) I have to have them shaved down to create space. Invisalign suggested this be done at the start of treatment but my dentist said she thinks its better to do after my first round of aligners. Hey, I'm in no hurry to have that done so I don't mind, but I wonder how that works if the aligners have been made to fit shaved teeth? I'll ask on my next visit. It isn't' one of my big concerns. So ends that visit. While driving from the office I was thinking about still having the gaps even after invisalign. Not a pleasant thought even if they are in different spots. I knew I had extra space on top which is why I have the spaces in the first place, so why hadn't I anticipated this outcome? That's when it hit me, duh, I figured all the teeth would be moved together and all the space would be left in the back. Since my dentist didn't suggest this it didn't occur to me while in the office but as soon as I had the thought I called back and asked about it. She said she didn't mention it because it's really hard to move back teeth (hard but not impossible right?) and the treatment would take a lot longer, but she would see what she could do. Now I can't be certain but here's my theory; remember I am getting the invisalign on a coupon type deal for a decreased price. The longer the treatment plan, the more aligners needed, the higher the cost, and I already paid in full soooo yeah... With that said though, my wonderful dentist got back to me the next day with my new treatment plan having the spaces all in the back!!! YAY!!! I can't say how happy I am about that. The original plan length was 8 months on the top and 10 months on the bottom, now it's 14 months top and bottom. Couple questions. 1 How was my treatment longer on the bottom and there's virtually nothing wrong there? 2 Why did the treatment time for the bottom change when there are no changes being made there from the original plan? At least I don't think it is. Whatever. Again these are not my main concerns, I figure it's some sort of dentisty stuff that has gone over my head. If you watched my treatment plan videos you see all the pinkish spots on my teeth. Those are the spots where my brackets will be. There basically on all my top front teeth. My crown has two on it! They will be placed at the beginning of treatment and stay there till the end making my invisalign aligners not invisible, but if I can go through life with gaps and my teeth flaring out I think I can manage. In fact I'm happy people will notice my invisalign, at least they will know I'm doing something about my teeth. :-) It also helps to already know the brackets will be there instead of it being a surprise. If anyone has advice or insight on what's to come I welcome your comments.
Hello, I would recommend a full coverage crown for your discolored tooth. A veneer is very thin and may not be able to mask the dark discoloration of your tooth. A crown is thicker and will be able to cover the dark discoloration better. A crown would be more predictable.
