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Tray 10 out of 23---I promise I'm back to posting regularly!
I am so sorry for the late update, but I just graduated from high school and my schedule has been crazy! Just to recap, my main problems are bottom and top right rotated canines, bottom left slightly rotated canine, and overcrowding in the center teeth on the bottom. I have to admit that I have been a bit bad on wearing my trays, and have even gone a few days without wearing them sometimes. I know I know, this is extremely bad for my invisalign process. But I swear I am back to the way I first was! I even put my trays back in immediately after taking these pictures, whereas normally I'd wait until posting this… or until I went to bed.
Although (like I say every two weeks) I haven't noticed any significant differences, I did look at a picture of me before all of this and notice that my smile now seems more even. I am happy to report that invisalign has made differences in my smile, even if for now they are minor. It has improved the whiteness of my teeth thanks to the treatment my dentist included (free of charge!), and of course my oral hygiene has improved because of the frequent brushing and use of mouthwash to strengthen enamel.
The pictures above are after my first day with tray 10 in, and I can't believe how fast this whole thing is going! I love waking up and seeing on my iPhone calendar that it is time to change trays, that's how fast it goes! The main reason I did this was to improve my smile for college, and although my smile won't be fixed until December/January (and thats not including retainer time which I know will be worn pretty much 24/7 for a few months), I am confident now that I can do it! I am scheduled to get my IPR shavings done just before I leave for college (hopefully) as they need to be done before tray 20. Honestly though, they'll probably be done when I come home for thanksgiving break as that date is much closer. Either way, I am glad to finally be in the double digit trays!
I still have yet to bring up the courage to ask my dentist to send me my ClinCheck, although I'm thinking I should just email him. Thank you for all of your support and please comment below-- I love hearing questions or feedback!
Although (like I say every two weeks) I haven't noticed any significant differences, I did look at a picture of me before all of this and notice that my smile now seems more even. I am happy to report that invisalign has made differences in my smile, even if for now they are minor. It has improved the whiteness of my teeth thanks to the treatment my dentist included (free of charge!), and of course my oral hygiene has improved because of the frequent brushing and use of mouthwash to strengthen enamel.
The pictures above are after my first day with tray 10 in, and I can't believe how fast this whole thing is going! I love waking up and seeing on my iPhone calendar that it is time to change trays, that's how fast it goes! The main reason I did this was to improve my smile for college, and although my smile won't be fixed until December/January (and thats not including retainer time which I know will be worn pretty much 24/7 for a few months), I am confident now that I can do it! I am scheduled to get my IPR shavings done just before I leave for college (hopefully) as they need to be done before tray 20. Honestly though, they'll probably be done when I come home for thanksgiving break as that date is much closer. Either way, I am glad to finally be in the double digit trays!
I still have yet to bring up the courage to ask my dentist to send me my ClinCheck, although I'm thinking I should just email him. Thank you for all of your support and please comment below-- I love hearing questions or feedback!
Tray 7 out of 23… completely forgot to post!
Hey everybody sorry I forgot to post tray 7, but I've been wearing it for just over a week now. It is truly amazing how fast these trays can go by, I thought I was still on tray 6 until I looked at my iPhone calendar! I have been noticing subtle changes with my teeth, but no real progress which I'm sure is normal since I'm only on tray 7.
I'm actually kind of bummed out about my bottom teeth because they are very overcrowded and there is no room for them to do any real rotating or moving yet. I know I am getting IPR shavings done (I'm pretty sure those are what they're called), but my dentist says I won't need them until just before tray 20 which seems so weird to me…I just don't understand why they wouldn't do them sooner if my bottom teeth can't move at all from what I can see. Does this mean I won't see any progress until tray 20 for my bottom teeth??? If so I'll be pretty upset. I'll have to ask my dentist when I see him to try out tray 9.
Another reason not having the shavings done until tray 20 is worrying me is because I don't think 3 trays (6 weeks) is going to fix them the way I want. And if it only takes three trays to move them then what the hell did I waste almost 40 weeks of bottom tray wearing for! Very frustrated because even though I'm not that upset about how crooked they are, if you look at my bottom arch you can see that there is no visible change in the past 12 weeks. I know there is no room for them to move, but then why didn't the ClinCheck schedule my IPR shavings earlier. All my bottom trays even look the same :(
Oh well, so far so good I guess. I just wish that I was seeing some actually changes because some other RealSelf people I follow I see progress with and they are only on tray 4 or 5. Sorry for the pessimistic post you guys, because I do think that this whole process will end up being worth it. I just have some doubts and I'm letting the negative reviews I see haunt my nightmares!!! Above are photos so let me know what you guys think or comment if you have any questions/comments!
I'm actually kind of bummed out about my bottom teeth because they are very overcrowded and there is no room for them to do any real rotating or moving yet. I know I am getting IPR shavings done (I'm pretty sure those are what they're called), but my dentist says I won't need them until just before tray 20 which seems so weird to me…I just don't understand why they wouldn't do them sooner if my bottom teeth can't move at all from what I can see. Does this mean I won't see any progress until tray 20 for my bottom teeth??? If so I'll be pretty upset. I'll have to ask my dentist when I see him to try out tray 9.
Another reason not having the shavings done until tray 20 is worrying me is because I don't think 3 trays (6 weeks) is going to fix them the way I want. And if it only takes three trays to move them then what the hell did I waste almost 40 weeks of bottom tray wearing for! Very frustrated because even though I'm not that upset about how crooked they are, if you look at my bottom arch you can see that there is no visible change in the past 12 weeks. I know there is no room for them to move, but then why didn't the ClinCheck schedule my IPR shavings earlier. All my bottom trays even look the same :(
Oh well, so far so good I guess. I just wish that I was seeing some actually changes because some other RealSelf people I follow I see progress with and they are only on tray 4 or 5. Sorry for the pessimistic post you guys, because I do think that this whole process will end up being worth it. I just have some doubts and I'm letting the negative reviews I see haunt my nightmares!!! Above are photos so let me know what you guys think or comment if you have any questions/comments!
Sorry for the wait… Tray 6 out of 23
First of all I'm so sorry I forgot to update last tray, I was super busy! But hopefully now I'll be able to see some real changes from the pictures of tray 4. I've noticed recently that I don't wear my trays as often but I'm still able to to fit the next tray quite comfortably. I went to my dentist to get trays 6,7, and 8 on tuesday and when I put in tray 6 he said it fit perfectly! I'm definitely not saying you can get away with doing less than the 20-22 hours a day recommended, but don't beat yourself up if you have a busy week because chances are (especially if you wore the trays more often at the end of the treatment) that bad habits during one tray will not effect your invisalign process at all.
So my senior prom is next week and I think I'm going to be using the crest 2-hour whitening strips beforehand. I've used them before, but never while I had the attachments/buttons on my teeth. Although my dentist reassures me it shouldn't make any difference, I'm a bit cautious. Luckily my attachments won't be off until december, so my teeth will have time to go back to their normal color that best matches what's under the buttons. I'm thinking maybe I should switch back to non-whitening toothpaste when I get closer to the end of my process, any thoughts?
I also feel kind of bummed out because not only do I not see any real progress, I don't feel any. I don't feel like my problem teeth are ever really being moved by the trays and there's never really a tightness on them. My top right canine is super rotated and like I stated in my last post it almost looks like it's protruding more. I also have noticed that on some of my teeth my gums have almost receded… It's like there was a little blood and they were sore while brushing for a few days and now the gum line is higher on some teeth (I'll post a pic along with this. It's only on one side and the easiest way to see it is by comparing the gum line on my two front teeth).
Lastly, my dentist is recommending that I don't put a permanent wire behind my teeth to keep them in place after invisalign, but I feel like if I go through all of this I might as well do something to keep them this straight! He reassures me that I'll be able to keep up with wearing my invisalign retainer after the treatment to keep them in place, but why can't I just get a wire? He said something about people developing dental problems from not properly being able to floss or clean their teeth with it, but my friends with wires don't have any problems. I just don't want all of this to be for nothing!
Sorry for the long post everybody! I'd love to hear any feedback or answers to my concerns as I feel like I'm not seeing any progress, although that may be because I look for it everyday. I promise to go back to posting every two weeks as well!
So my senior prom is next week and I think I'm going to be using the crest 2-hour whitening strips beforehand. I've used them before, but never while I had the attachments/buttons on my teeth. Although my dentist reassures me it shouldn't make any difference, I'm a bit cautious. Luckily my attachments won't be off until december, so my teeth will have time to go back to their normal color that best matches what's under the buttons. I'm thinking maybe I should switch back to non-whitening toothpaste when I get closer to the end of my process, any thoughts?
I also feel kind of bummed out because not only do I not see any real progress, I don't feel any. I don't feel like my problem teeth are ever really being moved by the trays and there's never really a tightness on them. My top right canine is super rotated and like I stated in my last post it almost looks like it's protruding more. I also have noticed that on some of my teeth my gums have almost receded… It's like there was a little blood and they were sore while brushing for a few days and now the gum line is higher on some teeth (I'll post a pic along with this. It's only on one side and the easiest way to see it is by comparing the gum line on my two front teeth).
Lastly, my dentist is recommending that I don't put a permanent wire behind my teeth to keep them in place after invisalign, but I feel like if I go through all of this I might as well do something to keep them this straight! He reassures me that I'll be able to keep up with wearing my invisalign retainer after the treatment to keep them in place, but why can't I just get a wire? He said something about people developing dental problems from not properly being able to floss or clean their teeth with it, but my friends with wires don't have any problems. I just don't want all of this to be for nothing!
Sorry for the long post everybody! I'd love to hear any feedback or answers to my concerns as I feel like I'm not seeing any progress, although that may be because I look for it everyday. I promise to go back to posting every two weeks as well!
Provider Review
Dr. Louis Theodorou
My dentist/orthondist has won some awards for his dental work, although he doesn't do braces which made me skeptical at first. Although he does have a lot of experience with invisalign patients and oral surgeries, I still worry that the teeth that need to be rotated may not turn out like I want.