My Invisalign journey (34 year old)

This review comes a little late as I have started Invisalign in February 2018. In hindsight, I should have done some more research on the various Invisalign providers since many of them have special deals. (Not that I'm not happy with my provider.) All I could think about was getting my teeth straightened and just wanted to start it. The journey started with a consultation that included molds (which was uncomfortable but nothing that I couldn't handle) and pictures of my teeth. They were shipped off to Invisalign and a few weeks later, I received a call from the office saying that treatment plan was in. I went in shortly after to review the plan (buttons, IPRs, black triangles, times I should be careful when eating due to risks of teeth chipping, dental hygiene) which was to be a total of 32 trays to be worn 2 weeks at a time each. The office also checked with my dental plan to see if it would cover any portion of the cost and thankfully, they covered almost half of the cost. I went ahead and signed the papers and the trays came in a few weeks after.

The first tray was basically a test tray which allowed me to get used to having them in my mouth. I was told that the movement of my teeth would be minimal. I didn't notice much discomfort the first day. However, the next day was a different story. Having this foreign material in my mouth for hours cause my tongue to constantly probe at the edges of the trays inside the front bottom teeth. My tongue felt sore and very dry. I researched possible remedies to lessen the discomfort and found that dental wax could help. It did. I put a small amount on the ridges of the trays where my tongue tended to explore and it made a huge difference. The tongue discomfort went away about a week later. Even without the dental wax, my mouth didn't feel sore nor dry. There were also major improvements in my dental hygiene. I invested in a Sonicare electric toothbrush as well a bulk supply of dental floss. I had a cavity filled just prior to getting Invisalign and didn't want to risk getting another. I brushed my teeth after every meal and flossed every night. On the days I didn't have time to brush after a meal, I rinsed my mouth out with some mouthwash which I carried in a travel kit. I was always sure to floss at night.

I went back to the office 2 weeks later and got my second tray as well as my buttons. I got a total of 8 buttons. Fortunately, none of them were on my front teeth and the dentist did a very good job of matching my tooth color and smoothing them so that the inside of my mouth wouldn't get too sore. Inserting and removing the trays was a little more difficult, but I was able to get used to them in no time. Feeling the buttons for the first time without the trays on did feel weird. I could see one of them when I smiled in the mirror or for pictures since it was on my left upper canine and kind of stuck out. But no one ever noticed that I had trays in. My lisp was sometimes more noticeable than other times. When I was in a conversation with some people and had a hard time saying a word, I would apologize and tell them I had Invisalign. They were surprised since they couldn't tell that I had anything in my mouth at all.

The weeks went by and I progressed to my third then fourth tray. I had become completely used to them by then. Even to the point where I thought it would feel weird not to have them in my mouth. I did notice that my bite was a little off. Eating rice or anything that was made of small grains was a slightly cumbersome. I also noticed that my middle teeth of the top and bottom were slightly off-center. I brought it to the attention of my dentist who checked pictures of my teeth prior to the treatment and said that my teeth were off-center to begin with. He wasn't too concerned because they will align as the treatment progressed. I'm a pretty laid back person so I didn't worry too much about it either. It was at this point when I noticed huge improvements with my teeth. My bottom front teeth were pushed inward and the middle upper and lower two teeth had a gap. The bottom teeth were slowly straightening out and the gaps were closing. I was excited to see progress.

At this point, my dentist saw me about every two months. I would get a new tray at the office and have 3 more trays to take home with me. I had a couple of IPRs done which were always a little nerve-racking, but my dentist always did a great job. Never had any pain or discomfort. It was around the 15th tray that I noticed that my bottom teeth were completely straight. My uppers still had a ways to go but showed some improvement with the gap between my front teeth. I also noticed that I no longer felt that my bit was misaligned. I was able to again without feel like I didn't completely chew my food.

During one appointment with my dentist in October, he seemed surprised at how well my treatment was progressing. He did mention at a previous appointment that I may need to have a refinement. He was a little worried about my bite being misaligned but changed his mind at this appointment since my bite has sorted itself out. He even said that I may be able to finish my treatment early since everything was looking so great thus far.

My most recent appointment was last week 12/13. Again the dentist said everything was looking great. I am to have another two buttons attached to my upper lateral incisors. They still need to come down a bit and straighten out. Again the dentist asked me how satisfied I am with the progress. He said we can end the treatment early, but I opted to finish it out. I did after all pay to get straight teeth and I would like to get them to be as perfect as they can possibly be.

So far, I am very pleased with my Invisalign journey. It was a little hard to get used to at the beginning, but that just needed a little time and patience. I would definitely recommend Invisalign to anyone (especially adults) who are thinking of investing in their smiles. I will update as I get closer to the end of my treatment plan.

So, this past Tuesday I had two more attachments bonded to my teeth. One on each upper lateral incisor. Up until this point I thought this whole process was going to be pretty easy with minimal concern for my appearance when I smile or show my teeth when I talk. I'm a little disappointed by the size of these attachments. They seem a lot bigger than the other attachments and are definitely more noticeable. They also seem to be lighter in color than the rest of my teeth, but upon close inspection, they are pretty much the same color. I guess it's just the angle of the attachments. Anyway, I am a little worried that my upper right lateral incisor will not straighten out by the end of the treatment. It doesn't look terribly crooked but when I run my tongue against the back of my upper teeth, it definitely feels out of place. I received 5 more trays including #25 at this appointment. The plan is to see how satisfied I am by #29 and if I am, I can finish the treatment at that point instead of going all the way to 32. I don't know how I feel about this. On one hand I would be happy to finish early, on the other hand I wonder why Invisalign would make the treatment go up to 32 trays instead of a lesser number of trays. If I'm paying for 32, I think I should just go ahead an finish it. Not sure if there are other Invisalign users whose providers had them finish early by not using all prescribed the trays.

Went to the office today to get my last 3 sets of trays. These are marked 30+, 31+, 32+ on the packaging as they are over-correction trays. I can definitely feel the tightness of these compared to the previous sets, especially in my lower teeth since I've been wearing passive aligners for a while. I'm still concerned about my upper right lateral incisor as it has not moved to the degree I have hoped to achieve at this point in the the treatment. It doesn't look bad overall, but I can still feel that this tooth is out of place when I run my tongue along the back of my upper teeth. I am still quite pleased at the overall progress of my treatment. The bottom teeth are exactly what I have envisioned. But I still thinking that I will need a refinement to get that one tooth to where I want it, which I don't mind. I can't believe how quickly time flew and the possibility that I might be done in as few as 6 more weeks.

I uploaded a few pictures that I took when I got home today. I apologize for the blurriness of some of the pics.