25, Complicated Invisalign Case - Iowa

My top teeth were straight during childhood, I was never uncomfortable with them. The bottoms were okay since no one saw them. I lost my last baby tooth in highschool. It was an eye tooth and came in too big and a different shape than the baby tooth. Neither eye teeth grew in down where they were supposed to be. Then when my wisdom teeth came in it caused more crowding on bottom and the beginning of crowding on the top. Since then I've never liked my smile, mainly in pictures as the snaggle tooth effect seemed to be intensified.

Flash forward many years add a marriage and a child. And insurance! We decided now was a good time to fix my teeth since we'd have some help paying for braces with insurance. I got the ball rolling with a free consultation. Learned about care credit which was invaluable with affording the down payment! My ortho wasn't sure invisalign was the best route for me because he said my case was complicated. After reviewing the treatment plan invisalign came up with and taking a closer look at my X-rays and pictures he decided invisalign could do the job. I first had to have four bicuspids(sp?) removed and while I was at it had all four wisdom teeth taken out. 8 teeth in all and it was horrible. Wouldn't recommend doing that, especially not during winter sickness season! But that's a whole different story!

So I had the extractions and a week later got my first trays. That was tough as I was still extremely sore. My ortho said It was up to me to wait another week to start on my trays. He was very understanding and didn't realize I went ahead with the 8 extractions. He thought I just had the four bicuspids removed. I went ahead and popped them in. The obvious pain and tenderness ensued but that didn't stop me from eating all the soft delicious foods on Christmas!

So now Im on tray seven and everything is tracking well. No cavities so far and I've flossed and brushed more than I have ever done! There has been frustrations and pains like headaches an teeth soreness. The occasional jagged edged aligner. The irritation of my being able to nurse an iced coffee all day. But that's all minor to me because I feel lucky to be having my smile fixed! I did a lot of research before I got them so I was aware of all of these things. Feel free to ask questions!

So I've got attatchments and eventually there's gunk buildup that I need to brush away with a soft bristle toothbrush like invisalign says to use. I'm finding that a toothbrush doesn't get into the nooks where the attachments sits. I've thought about getting a denture brush thinking the shape of the brush would do a much better job at getting in the nooks. All the denture brushes I've seen do not specify whether they are soft medium or hard bristles. Does anyone know? Does anyone have any suggestions for a better type of brush for cleaning the inside of the invisalign tray?

So these are some screen shots from the clin check video I got in my email from the orthos office. Results looks good to me! It's hard or me to believe my teeth will ever be that straight. Ive heard of instances where with a case like mine, the teeth eventually get crooked again to some degree even with nightly retainer wear. Or even that the teeth are stubborn and you have a hard time getting good results in the first place. That gives me anxiety! I wear my retainers well and so far everythin is tracking right. My ortho has been said to be very persistent so that's good. Plus, he's confident that we will attain good results. He did say my teeth won't actually like up perfectly and by that I believe he meant the bite will still be a slight overbite but that didn't bother me.