My Invisalign Treatment... Finally! - Goffstown, NH
I am really excited to be starting Invisalign. My...
I am really excited to be starting Invisalign. My parents couldn't afford braces for me when I was a kid so now being 28 years old, I can afford to take care of it. I have wanted to fix my teeth for as long as I can remember because it really affects my confidence. I feel weird meeting new people and doing what I love most which is singing in my band. I hate taking pictures, especially when someone shoots one of me laughing or talking. I'm hoping that my treatment will give me confidence and a sense of normalcy that was always lacking in my life. The Invisalign will also give me something I was always afraid of with braces... discretion. I always pictured big metal braces over my big gaps. I felt like that would make me look even worse than I already do. Invisalign gives me a lot more confidence to fix my teeth in a more discreet way, especially being an adult now.
My dental situation is that when my adult teeth came in, I never got my right and left Lateral Incisors. This left a gap in my front teeth and a bigger gap in between my right front tooth and right Canine. The ideal treatment plan would have been two implants or bridges to replace the missing Incisors. Due to cost however, we've decided on doing 1 implant on the right side. The plan is to pull my right side teeth from the canine to the molars backward; this will make the right gap big enough for an implant. The whole left side will be moved forward, closing the gap in the front two teeth. These will be reshaped so with my one implant, my teeth will all look correct. During the process, I will also have the ability to have a "dummy" tooth in my trays as my right gap increases. This will give me the appearance of a complete smile later in my treatment instead of a huge gap until I get an implant. I was very excited about that! So far my treatment is estimated to take around a year. I'll find out for sure when I go get my trays later today.
So far, I have learned through others that the first trays of every set will be painful because they will be the tightest so I will probably need pain medication those days. I also should not drink dark beverages that will stain the trays (coffee, soda, alcohol, etc). I will have to remove them to eat. This may affect my eating socially later in my treatment when my right gap is much bigger since the dummy tooth that is in my tray will suddenly not be there as I eat my meal. I'll have to see how that goes. I also was told I could do whitening at the same time because the trays for whitening are similar to the Invisalign. I haven't made a decision on that yet.
I'll try and check back in when I get further along. I hope all goes well!
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I got my Invisalign yesterday! I went in and was...
So far so good! Although they are tight, I haven't gotten the terrible headaches I was warned about. I feel a little funny with the trays though. They make me talk with a lisp but I read that it goes away within a few days. You definitely can see that something is there... even more-so up close. Right now I don't have the little buttons (dots, attachments) yet so that makes it look a little more funny with these weird bubbles coming off my teeth. The dentist wants me to get used to the trays for a week before putting the buttons on. They assume it will take about an hour to put them on since I need a lot. I also get a little grossed out that the trays fill with spit so I'm constantly aware of that. Sleeping with them was no problem though.
One good thing is something the assistant told me based on her own Invisalign experience. With Invisalign, she lost a little weight. I can understand that because you become more aware of the fact that anytime you eat, you will want to brush before putting them back on. So is that handful of M&M's worth it? Probably not. So I found that to be the case already. I wasn't tempted to eat beyond my meal because now it meant more damage control.
From just wearing them from 3:00pm-5:30pm, when I took them off for supper, I already felt that my bite was different! It was nothing major, of course, but I could feel that my teeth weren't sitting on each other as usual. It didn't cause any problems... it was just noticeable.
So far that's all I've observed. I'll check back if anything else comes up, if not, it'll be a week when the buttons are on.
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Woohoo for getting your trays!! I'm glad they are giving you a week to just get used to the trays. That seems better than having everything thrown at you all at once and feeling overwhelmed by it.
Hoping your next appointment goes smooth - looking forward to hearing!
So yesterday was my 1 week visit where I got my...
My trays are much tighter now with the buttons. Not super painful but achy. What I noticed right away was that taking my trays off was more difficult. Also, the buttons themselves are really rough feeling. I’m sure they will smooth with time but I don’t like how they feel without the trays on. The real con though came with eating. On my left side, I have a button on my top teeth and a button on my bottom teeth that line up. Since I have a small overbite too, my cheek kept pinching between the buttons when I chewed so it felt like I kept biting my cheek. It happened often. I’m pretty sure it will turn into a sore in that spot. I’ll have to figure out how to prevent that in the future but I’ve only had that one meal so far with the buttons. We’ll see how breakfast goes today.
Also yesterday I found out that my tray system is going to be 16 trays. So that puts me at the beginning of April to be done. The assistant told me that 1 out of 5-10 people will need adjustments during their process due to the teeth not moving according to plan. So as long as that doesn’t happen… I’m looking at 32 weeks.
So far after 1 week…
I have been in a few social settings involving eating. Taking my trays out isn’t always a hassle when there is a bathroom nearby but when I was at the beach for hours, it was. I didn’t want to run all the way to the bathroom to go take them out so I had to discreetly find a way to remove them so I wouldn’t gross out anyone in my group. Also, I don’t always get a chance to brush my teeth after eating in social settings, so putting my trays back in grosses me out. I just have to suck it up and brush down everything good when I get home though. The hardest part is being at a party or at the beach where people snack for hours instead of having a set meal. I really don’t want to keep them out that long so it just takes a little more planning in those situations. I still have a noticeable lisp but people are getting used to it.
So far, it has all been worth it because I know the end result will be great! I’ll keep updating as I go on.
Replies (9)
Specky343, the sore on the inside of your cheek looks so uncomfortable. :( I'm sorry you are having to go through that. How was eating breakfast today?
Breakfast and lunch were both difficult. I tried really hard to be careful but I would catch my lip/cheek regardless. I realized after that it wasn't button over button causing it. It is that my top tooth now rests and closes down on the bottom button where normally nothing was there. So in order for my cheek not to catch, the button would have to be filed down from the top so my tooth doesn't come down and close on it when I chew. I'm worried that filing it that way would make it less effective in the tray but if I really can't deal with it though, I plan to talk to my dentist.
Something you could try, as a very temporary fix while your teeth move and your cheek toughens a bit to the buttons, is holding a tongue depressor in your cheek while you eat. Obviously you wouldn't want to eat with a bunch of people you don't know, but it might be a way you can get by in the meantime(??).
It feels weird to have the attachments with the trays off. Mine are just too rough/sharp I think so I'm going to ask to have them filed when I go in for my new trays tomorrow. Just keep an eye out for that too. If they feel too rough and are cutting your mouth at all, try to go back sooner than I am lol
How exciting that you get to start your trays today! I'm glad you were reading up on what to expect - very smart of you! If you have them already, I'd love to hear how you are doing. :)