Crowding with Extractions - Indiana, IN

Sometime after my last post (it's all a blur now), I had yet another set of refinements. I think I made it to aligner 30 before it was determined that we needed to do an adjustment to the refinement, with another 32 aligners. Man am I a case. Anyway, I'm almost all done with the 2nd refinement (out of 3 rounds of trays total). I'm on the very last super-power-visualizer-tray set (or whatever weird name my orthodontist gave) which is basically squeezing my teeth together more. I had an appointment last week, and they decided to order a few more of these super trays, as I still had a tiny bit of spacing to close.

I'm feeling really mixed about being at the end. I've talked to my orthodontist about my disappointment with my lower teeth, they're tilted back more than I'd like, my tongue feels a little cramped. He said that because I had two teeth extracted on the bottom and top (4 total) that in order to get everything in place, they had to be aligned that way. I wasn't expecting a miracle, I know I'm missing 4 teeth, but I'm bummed they don't look a little better. My refinement clinchecks look better than my actual results. He also said I'd probably need some bonding to finish closing up some embrasures on my bottom teeth. You can't really tell with my aligners in, but there's still a big space at my gum line between two of my teeth due to the shape of one of my bottom incisors.

I'm also not entirely pleased with the way my smile just seems a little shorter now and pushed back. I have small teeth, so now that they're lined up, I guess that's what I get. I've had aligners for so long now, I'm used to how my smile looks with the extra aligner material helping to make it look a little bigger than it actually is. It's going to be so weird not having them in all the time. I suspect I'll have anxiety dreams about going to sleep without them in for a while after I'm done.

Clearly from comparing my first set of photos to my last, there's a huge improvement. Once I'm completely done, no more aligners, bonding all set, I'll take the final photos without my aligners.

I'm on aligner set 11 of 46 of my refinement. Going well so far, they are still fitting nicely. I'm a chewy maniac now, I've noticed that it really really makes a different how much you use your chewies. I've finally remembered to take some photos which I have attached, the spaces between my bottom teeth are getting smaller and smaller, and I can already see a difference in the stubborn tooth that caused the refinement. I have a long way to go, but at least I don't feel as self-conscious when I have the aligners out. Still using the acceledent, still a big fan. I really really like the new material that they're using on these aligners now, so much better than the old ones.

When I look back at photos of my teeth before I started this process, I can't believe I went as long as I did with such crooked teeth.

When I said I no longer have attachments on my bottom teeth, I should have specified, I no longer have attachments on my bottom front teeth (incisors). I have less attachments on my top teeth too, they also seem to be a little smaller.