30 Yrs Old - Invisalign for Snaggletooth & Overcrowding - New York, NY

I turned 30 years old and finally decided that I want that perfect smile. When I was younger I was one of those people who knew my teeth wasn't perfect (not even close) but somehow it never bothered me enough to actually want to get traditional braces. But I would say the past couple of years it seems as though my teeth started shifting even more - making the overcrowding and the snaggletooth I have on my upper teeth even more noticeable.

I went to get an Invisalign consultation about 2 years ago and was told by the dentist I saw that I was not a good candidate for Invisalign. I was so disappointed because there was no way I would get traditional braces at this stage of my life working in a professional corporate environment. Fast forward to the end of 2015, I decided to get another consultation and see if there are any advancements in the Invisalign technology that would maybe somehow make me a possible candidate for Invisalign.

I was ecstatic when Dr. Wonnie Rhieu told me I was a good candidate for Invisalign and that it would help me achieve the perfect straight teeth I've been wanting. I was excited but nervous because this was a huge commitment that I know I have to stick to. So, my Invisalign journey began. The cost for the Invisalign was about $5000 and I had to put down half and finance the rest during the remainder of my treatment. Retainers after my treatment is completed will be another $500. We did the traditional molding of my teeth with the pink putty and we reviewed my treatment plan about 2 weeks later.

My estimated treatment time for my top teeth is around 10 months (20 trays) and my bottom teeth is estimated to take about 15 months (31 trays) and refinements if needed.

I started on my first tray on January 7th and my dentist also put on all of my attachments on that day as well along with IPR on 2 areas of my top teeth. I think I have about 9 or 10 attachments all over my teeth. The attachments by itself doesn't look like much and is not really noticeable at all but once you put the aligners on, it does somewhat remind you of traditional braces. So I was very happy my dentist managed to not put any on my two front teeth. At tray 16 I will need IPR again on 3 more areas of my top teeth. My dentist sent me home with a total of 5 trays and after that I will go back in to see her and get more trays.

I am currently on Tray 2 and going into Week 4 of my Invisalign. The first few days was most definitely the hardest for me. I was overwhelmed with emotions and not to lie - regret as well. My teeth was so sore and my head was hurting and I kept asking myself am I really able to do this for another year or more? But once you get over that first week, everything gets better from there. I'm feeling very determined and honestly starting Invisalign has forced me to eat better and portion my food better as well. I used to be a major snacker and my meals were almost never in portions - I just ate whenever & whatever I wanted.

I think for me, the biggest challenge was removing the aligners to eat and brush. With the attachments on from the get-go it was such a pain to remove. I remember my first day I literally cut my lips and chipped all my nails trying to remove them. But now, I'm slowly starting to find my momentum on removing these bad boys.

That's all for now, I will update again when I switch over to tray 3 or 4 probably.