Not in Love with Invisalign (Yet??) - Raleigh, NC
Refinement Tray 11 of 13, the home stretch!
My retainer slowly came to fit me, so much that I wasn't even able to put in the replacement retainer they sent away for (although I think THAT one would have fit perfectly before!). And since it's been months now and my teeth haven't moved, I don't think, I am ok with the retainer I have. And although I did wear it for a few hours during the day at first, I quickly went to night only and that seems to be just fine for me.
My bottom teeth have improved a lot. I feel like the arch I was seeing before has greatly reduced, I'm not exactly sure how but I'm also not complaining! My dentist says she will file down some of the bottom teeth when I'm all done, to make it a little flatter, but I think I'm going to be ok with it either way. Right now the main concern is that my bite is all strange. My teeth only touch in three small places in the back and mostly hit in the front, which won't be ok at all. I do have about 5 more weeks of trays to go through so we'll see if anything changes.
Hawley Retainer Issues 1/22/15
I'm just wondering, am I overreacting? I'm terrified that if I am flexing the retainer when I clench my teeth at night won't that screw it up? Won't that pull my nice straight teeth out of shape or break the retaine?? Am I crazy? I'd love to hear opinions on this, whether anyone else with a Hawley has this gap issue and if it's really ok! GRRRR, I thought this was going to be the easy part!!!
Replies (1)
My Hawley definitely stuck tight to the roof of my mouth. Plus, part of the plastic is actually holding your teeth in place. The plastic on one side and the wire on the outside. There should be impressions of the insides of your teeth on the plastic, and those should be flush against your teeth. Is that the case?
I remember the Hawley moved my teeth in the beginning as well. I was, like, isn't it supposed to just keep my teeth the way they are? But then they kept moving, too--just a tiny bit--so that flossing got harder. I freaked out :D. But yeah, I'm interested in hearing how the new one works as well.
I don't think the wire can damage your teeth, but you'll have to ask the doctor about that. I never even considered it! Clenching is not good--it might be because the retainer fits so strangely.
As for your top teeth, what are you talking about?! They look fantastic...? Am I missing something?
Okay. So the bottom arch I definitely agree with, which was why I only mentioned the top arch. :) In the top arch, that right lateral incisor is so subtle, I thought it was just a different in perspective in the picture :D. So if that's actually a height difference, then I see what you mean, but it's soooo subtle. I stare at teeth too, but I just do that because I love teeth--not to judge. I only stare at teeth I think look beautiful. And your teeth are looking beautiful! A little more work and you'll be there. If you wanted to bring that lat. inc. down a hair, they'd have to put an attachment on it, wouldn't they?
First (and hopefully only!) set of refinements
The top teeth are DONE!! At my last appointment (Jan 2nd) my dentist removed all of my upper buttons and took impressions for a retainer, hooray!! My bottom however, will apparently require no less than 13 more trays!!! Ridiculous!! So she did IPR between all of my bottom front teeth and just a day later I can feel they are already tight again. But she says that as soon as my retainer arrives I will no longer have to wear a top tray during the day at all so at least that's good!
My biggest disappointment right now, well, I have three actually, but the worst may be that she says now she cannot fix my chipped front top tooth : ( She is afraid to take too much off by grinding it down a bit and she thinks any bonding she would put on there would get quickly knocked off. I am really upset because I was always told that if I got my bottom teeth fixed then they would NOT knock off the bonding and all would be well, but I guess it is not to be.
Also, my back teeth are still not touching at all. My lower front teeth are considerably arched and the left front teeth are the only ones in my mouth that are hitting (and it has been this way for at least 15 weeks!!). This has not yet been addressed by my dentist or Invisalign. I am hoping that by not wearing a top tray during the day that my back teeth will come back down a bit but I just don't know.
Replies (1)
I empathize :(.
From my experience, not wearing the top tray really helps with allowing the teeth to extrude in the back, so that might do the trick for you. It worked for me. I'm just not sure why they are allowing you to not wear the top tray during the day at this point. Usually one would be in 24-7 retainers for a period of months post-treatment, to ensure a solid set. I didn't do this, because of the extrusion problem, but my teeth also tended to shift a lot during the day, so it was uncomfortable putting the retainers back on at night. My results are still good, but I wear my retainers religiously every day for at least 8 hours a day and it's nearly 3 years post for me.
You might want to contact a cosmetic dentist after your treatment to see if they feel differently about bonding that front tooth. I guess it might also be possible for you to insist, and then see whether it comes off. But if they prep your tooth for the bonding, it'll look worse when the bonding comes off and, frankly, the chip is hardly noticeable now (I didn't notice it when I looked at your teeth before reading your update.) One would hate to make that worse.
As far as 30 aligners, I don't think that's too crazy, for what you were dealing with. If you go look at my review, you can see how little I needed done, and that took just about 20 aligners. I think the initial estimate of ten aligners was a bit...optimistic. But your are really looking great, now! Once you've been in retainers a couple of years, all of this will fade and you'll just be thrilled with your smile :). Which will last forever now, since you have retainers (as long as you keep replacing your retainers as needed.) People's teeth who don't have retainers' will naturally shift with age.
I had a Hawley for a while to help with the extrusion as well. I loved the way it looked, and preferred the way it felt to the way the Viveras felt. I wore it all the time :D. I had piercings in my face anyway so it all matched ;). But I ended up having to go back to the Viveras because the Hawley allowed my teeth to shift ever-so-slightly and I hated the way the floss felt when my central incisors got too tight :(. Hopefully they will work better for you :). I'm extremely sensitive to any shifting in my teeth.
They took new impressions for the hawley. For my Viveras they used the info on file.
Replies (3)