Fixing crowding, severe overbite and minor cross bite- Athens, GA

My motivation to start was to 1) be able to floss better and 2) have a nice smile.

The first few days of the first few trays hurt really bad and I actually regretted starting. But from tray four on the pain was not bad at all except it also hurt really bad when I started elastics (tray 10). Otherwise I don't experience much pain after a new liner has been in for about 30 minutes or so. When I did have pain I treated with Tylenol and Anbesol.

Went to my ortho today and he said my teeth had responded to the elastics so well that I could stop wearing them. I wore them for trays 10-15 so for 12 weeks total. I am glad to be done with them because I hated how they made my upper liners dig into my lip.

I am really please with my progress. I compared my most recent picture with the computer model to see how close I am to the treatment goal and it matched pretty much spot on. I am hoping this means I won't have a long refinement.

Not wearing elastics these last two weeks has been great. I am so glad Dr. Russell told me to stop them at my last appointment.

I have noticed a few changes in how my liners feel these days. Early on it was really painful for a few days and then I wouldn't notice them at all. Some trays in the middle didn't bother me at all - so much so that I was afraid they were not working. The last few trays haven't been what I would call painful - definitely felt some pressure when they first went in but nothing truly painful compared to the first trays - but then they rather feel like I have something caught in my back teeth. While I am glad to not have any true pain - it is a little obnoxious to constantly feel like I need a tooth pick and I can't do anything about it. I think the difference may be that early on a lot of the trays were moving teeth where I was really crowded on the bottom and now they are moving my molars.

Thankfully my bite is finally closing again. I had a really terrible open bite for most of my treatment - I feel like I can actually grind my food properly and I am not swallowing huge pieces of food. That was probably my biggest complaint with going through treatment. They warn you that an open bite will happen but until it actually does happen you don't realize how annoying it will be.

I have 6 trays left and I am really excited to see how everything looks when I am done. I really feel like my liners have always tracked really well and at my last appointment two weeks ago my teeth were pretty much spot on with the computer model, so I think I will be pretty on target when these trays are over. While I hope that means I won't have a lot of refinement to do - I am a little annoyed that my price was set with the expectation my treatment probably taking 18months and it looks like I could be done within a year instead. My ortho does not charge more when cases take longer than expected but they also don't give refunds if your treatment goes more quickly than expected.

Over all though I am so glad I started invisalign.