27 Years Old Starting Invisalign with Acceledent. Manhattan Beach, CA
I never had braces as a kid, but my teeth were...
I never had braces as a kid, but my teeth were relatively straight. That is, until my wisdom teeth came in and now my top front teeth make it look like I'm the Wicked Witch of the West! I finally decided to bite the bullet and get Invisalign. Turns out I have a lot of issues besides my wonky top front teeth: sever crowding on the bottom, overbite, underbite and crossbite. I have a total of 53 trays (sad face) and my estimated time was about 2 and a half years with refinements. After having my first tray in for only a week, however, I caved and asked for Acceledent (because I'm a baby). It cost $1,000 through my orthodontist who is doing my Invisalign.
Tray 1 was hard, not necessarily due to the pressure but because of the sharp edges of the tray and the feeling of all that plastic. (also not being able to snack!) I bought some dental wax and that fixed the sharp edges and I was cleaning them regularly with toothpaste but they still ended up smelly after the first week so I bought some Hydrogen Peroxide which worked wonders when mixed with water and used to soak my trays.
Right now I'm on tray 2. Definitely felt more pressure but my lisp isn't as bad as the first, so that's a plus! However, my teeth feel way more sensitive. They feel quite tender and unstable. I'm assuming that's normal, but could use some reassurance. I'm having dreams that my teeth fall out haha!
I get my attachments in the middle of next week, one attachment on each tooth except the front four (thank god!) PLUS elastics, ugh! Will try and post pictures and video soon.
mishcheev's provider
Pictures
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So, I was poring over your pictures (thanks for all the great angles!!!) and I see crowding, and overbite (looks like 100%, just like my daughter :)), and overjet, and crossbite. But underbite? How…and where? Please educate me, because I do not understand how you can have both under and overbite!
I hope you've already had time to look around the community, and have found it at least a little bit useful!
I look forward to watching your lightning fast progress!
Tray 3 of 53
The elastics, however, are killing me. My jaw felt like it was locked and it was so painful. My jaw and sides of my face felt tired and achy. When I close my mouth I can't close it properly; my teeth meet in an uncomfortable position on the right side of my face and don't meet at all on the left so sleeping has been difficult because I can't find a comfy position for my jaw. Advil has definitely been my friend.
Also, the tray was SO hard to get off my attachments. It was so painful, I was just standing there crying and it took me a good 40 minutes to get them off those first couple of days. I felt like I was ripping my teeth out. It got slightly better but still uncomfortable to take them off as the week wore on. I was able to take them out in about 5 minutes but it's just such a chore! I've lost some weight because I started skipping lunch. I was drinking a little bit of smoothies and swallowing bits of avocado whole. :(
The Acceledent has been interesting. I can't say that I'm in love with it, but if it does its job then great. The 20 minutes seems sooo long, though. I feel like it vibrates my whole head. Everything I look at is slightly vibrating when I have it in so I can't watch TV or read because I get a headache. Afterward, my teeth feel a little numb but it goes away.
Just switched to Tray 4 last night, hopefully it's not as bad as Tray 3 was and hopefully I start seeing some changes soon - that would be such a huge motivator!
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