Fixing my Gap with Invisalign and Acceledent. Portland, OR

Join me as I embark on my journey to my perfect smile. A little background on my teeth so whoever may have similar issues can relate. As a toddler growing up, I had straight perfect teeth with no gaps. Along the years, my front two teeth have shifted because of my Frenum, which is a tissue that connects the gum to the lips causing a space between the front teeth. One of them is straight while the other one is slightly crooked. So over the years of constantly comparing my smile to others, my insecurity of my teeth just kept growing. I never smiled with my teeth for pictures and if I did, I used the flash setting to blur out the gap. Haha, there goes my secret.

Anyways fast forward to finding the right dentist, I have been to a dozen of orthodontic offices and every dentist had suggested braces and I would need to remove my 4 of my baby teeth. Yes, to make this more complicated, I was born without 4 of my adult molar teeth so today at 23, I still have my baby teeth ? two of which are protected with silver caps. So after 3 years of searching and being rejected, I was able to find Dr. Doleac to take me as patient for Invisalign. He said I would be a perfect candidate and get this…I didn’t have to remove any of my baby teeth. Woot woot! Boy was I happy! I went in for my digital scans, X-Rays, and Financial appointments over a course of a month. Thanks to this website and reading the stories of others, I have also decided to add Acceledent to my treatment plan, which was an extra $900. But $900 is soooo worth it when it cuts your treatment time in HALF!! And now I play the waiting game to receive my trays, Acceledent device, and the attachments I’ll be needing at my next appointment. I have included a picture from a good angle *wink* (because a side view of my crooked tooth is not a pretty sight) to get an idea of how my teeth look before my treatment starts.

*Drum roll* So yesterday I went in for my appointment. The moment I have been waiting for years. I couldn't sleep the night before because of the excitement, that’s normal right? So I go in and I received 7 attachments on my top teeth and four attachments on the bottom front. My treatment is a total of 24 sets of trays (24 on top and 24 on the bottom). And thanks to my Acceledent investment, I get to change my trays every week instead of every 2 weeks. I went home with 6 trays. So after the dental assistant attached all of my attachment and showed me how to remove and out put my first tray, I looked in the mirror and BEHOLD….let’s just say Invisalign is not as invisible as I was envisioning. Having all your attachments in the front of your teeth, especially when you have small teeth like mine and ENORMOUS attachments, it’s pretty noticeable -_- They look like small trapped bubbles on my teeth. My family and co-workers said it was not noticeable until I told them but anyone in close breathing space would notice it. Thank god I’m single during this process lol I hated it yesterday but it grew on me today and I’m more accepting of it.

Even though it’s been 24 hours, I have a lot to say about the pain level associated with Invisalign. So the first 2 hours on, it felt weird to talk because of the attachments poking against the inside of my lips, I do have a slight lisp but not that noticeable. No pain yet. So I had to eat lunch and had to pop the bad boys out and let me tell you, IT WAS SOOO PAINFUL. My teeth were just throbbing but they felt good to be let free at the same time. But chewing is very painful, I have to eat slow. Putting the trays back on was just as painful. It makes you wanna cry and regret the whole thing. I was instructed to bite down on my chewies 3 times a day for 20 mins each. I also found that it helps ease the pain to use the chewies exactly right after I put my aligners on.

So I went through the same process for dinner and decided to use my Acceledent after brushing my teeth before going to bed. And let me tell you, after the 20 minutes of use…the pain in my teeth went away. It was a miracle. The vibrations were very soothing. Haven’t had any gum issues or the trays cutting against my tongue so far. A minor gross detail but be prepared to have saliva get in between your aligners if they aren’t tight enough. My doctor said I should salivate less after my mouth gets used to this foreign object so I’m not worried. My next appointment is in 6 weeks and I will be having a frenectomy procedure to remove my Frenum and that’s to make sure my gap doesn’t ever re-open again.