29 Y.o. Brit with Wonky Teeth. Cliche! Sacramento, CA

This website has been a god-send to me over the last month as I've gone through the process of making the decision to embark on my teeth straightening journey. So I thought I'd join the community both to help myself and others through the journey. I don't know what the road ahead will be like but to find out I had to turn into that road and take the first steps. Let me tell you my story.

So I did it. After weeks of research, fact finding missions and online blog reading I took the plunge and handed over the biggest check I've ever written to a dentist. It was not a decision I made lightly. I didn't wake up one day and think 'gee wouldn't it be fun to get braces and have straight teeth, lets do it.'

So why am I doing this? Apart from the obvious answer of 'to get straight teeth'...to be honest I'm not sure how to answer this question. I'm not someone that can claim to have 'always wanted straight teeth' but at this point in my life I feel it is time to have this done. To make things a bit clearer to you all (and maybe to myself) I'll fill you in with the back story of my wonky teeth.

I have always had weird teeth! My mum gave up trying to fill in my baby book as my teeth came through because what I had didn't match the picture in the book! I then sucked my thumb thoughout childhood and into early adolescence. So that messed up my messed up teeth even more! I had crazy teeth and a large overbite.

I was opposed to braces in my teens. Although I did have braces to correct my over bite, I refused to get fixed metal braces. While I always quote the fact that because I played the clarinet at quite a serious level and I didn't want to jeopardize that, it was probably because I was having a tough time at school without adding a mouthful of metal into the mix as well.

I went through my late teens and early twenties without giving a second thought to my teeth. I knew they were crooked, but I just didn't care. I thought my smile was ok (it helps that my top teeth are in better shape than the bottom set). During my mid-twenties my dentist did mention braces. I was mildly interested and asked how much. I nearly fell out of the chair when he quoted £3000. No thanks. At nearly a quarter of my annual salary (a small PhD stipend) there was no way that I could entertain spending that much on something I wasn't too concerned about.

Fast forward a few years. I am now in my (very) late 20s. I have a decent job with an ok salary. I am now at the stage of my life where I am thinking 'hey, maybe it would be good to get these bad boys straightened'. But as to why, I can't really pinpoint it.

As a bit of an aside, but one that is somewhat relevant I think back to late 2011. I was overweight. But I wasn't concerned about it. I was me and I was happy. Fast forward a few months to Feb 2012. I was overweight but I no longer wanted to be. So I lost weight. 42lbs of the stuff. And boy did I feel better once I was slimmer, my confidence soared. Confidence that in late 2011 I would probably have said I already had. I just didn't know that more confidence was round the corner. It was hard. It was inconvenient at times. But I did it. So here I am at the end of 2014. A few months ago I was happy with my teeth. Now I am no and I'm going to do something about it.

When I told my parents that I was thinking of getting braces my mum said 'but you have a lovely smile and your teeth don't look that crooked, are you sure you want to spend all that money?'. There it is. They don't look THAT crooked. Imagine if back in 2012 she'd said 'you're not that fat, are you sure you want to put all that effort int losing weight?!'. I think it's because she sees teeth straightening as a purely vain and cosmetic change whereas losing weight was for 'health benefits'. But I didn't lose weight because of some health scare, I did it because I wanted to look better. Is it not the same thing?!

My first visit
After a bit of online research I made an appointment for a free consultation at a local clinic to see if I'd be eligible for Invisalign braces. The dental assistant took photos of my teeth and bite from all angles. Then I was x-rayed with a super cool machine, unlike any dental x-ray I've ever had before. That done, I went on to see the 'real' dentist and he thought I would be a good candidate for Invisalign and because of the likely length of treatment, he suggested 'Propel' treatment too to speed things up a bit (where they drill microperforations in your jaw to help things move quicker). Then I was passed to the finance team, who handed me the piece of paper with the 'damage' on it. Around $5500. I was expecting a number in that region but it still came as a bit of a shock! I had some thinking to do.

That was a Thursday. I spent the weekend thinking things over. I broached the subject with my parents (see above comments). I did lots of research and came across this website. I you-tubed videos of invisalign and propel treatments. I learnt things that the dentist had 'omitted' to mention...like the buttons/attachments on your teeth. But I wasn't put off. I had a list of questions that I wanted to iron out with the clinic. The girl I spoke to was super helpful and I was 95% on board with going ahead.

The scan
I went to the surgery a week later with a blank check in hand, but also with a willingness to pull out if something came up that I didn't like. However everything seemed in line (pun intended). Check written. Scan performed.

The scan was super cool. A magic wand took a 3D pic of my teeth. I'd never seen anything like it before. Gone are the days of dental molds in this surgery! It blew a lot of air and made my mouth dry but I loved seeing my 3D teeth emerge bit by bit on the screen.

So the journey has begun. I go back in 3 weeks (Dec 5th) to collect my trays. I purposefully chose a Friday afternoon appointment so I can adjust to them over the weekend before hitting work with them in.

Here goes nothing!!!!

My December 5th appointment to collect my trays has been cancelled because my trays haven't arrived yet. Hurry up Invisalign I want to get started!

On the plus side, I am off to a house party on Friday night and was dreading that being my first night and outing with the trays in. Now I can drink and eat to my heart's content. However it's really only putting off the inevitable, as there will always be 'one more event' that you'd like to squeeze in before facing up to dealing with parties+Invisalign.

Hopefully I'll get to upload my 'just got my trays' post soon. Til then...adieu

This is a hot off the press update...ok it started as hot of the press, it's now more lukewarm of the press as I ran out of time to say all I wanted to and upload it before heading to the gym! My mouth is still completely numb from the Propel process and I can't talk at all. But I can type! So here is my first update of my Invisalign/Propel journey.

So the long and the short of it...number of Invisalign trays...50. Yes 50!!! That would be 2 whole years in non-propel world. But Propel is going to make this much shorter...much much shorter as I will explain.

When I went for my appointment today I didn't know if I was actually getting the propel treatment on this visit or not. I knew I was picking up my first trays but I wasn't sure if there was going to be a 'get used to the trays before we drill your mouth' time. Apparently not. Within 10 mins of getting through the door I was being numbed up for my Propel treatment. I've had lidocaine injections before at the dentist for cavities but it's only ever been on one side and either top or bottom. But Propel requires full numbing...both sides, top and bottom! My mouth was completely numb and talking was out of the question.
Well good job I was completely numb because the procedure is pretty brutal, although I felt nothing. I had my jaw bone drilled in 10 places top and bottom to help speed the movement of my teeth. All I felt was pressure, which is really quite amazing seeing as my mouth was literally being drilled. In one place I felt a little 'twinge' but nothing I would call pain. (I did take one Tylenol before the procedure on the recommendation of someone from this site, maybe it helped, maybe it didn't...given that I lost control of all the muscles around my mouth I think the lidocaine would probably have been enough).
All in all I guess it took around 40 minutes. I was then bombarded with information for the care of my trays, how often to change them etc etc. Thank goodness for this website is what I say as I really don't think the place I go to does a great job of explaining things.

So with the propel treatment I have been told to change my trays every FOUR DAYS! I was expecting weekly changes. I don't think I've seen anyone with a 4-day change schedule!!! The Dr. also said she wants to monitor me quite closely because of some difficult teeth that are being moved. Fine by me. It was very hard (impossible) to ask any questions with my numbed mouth as they all came out sounding like this: shdfoehawt;oh sklzdjf dl w;e? Again, I'm so glad I had done my research on this website prior to the whole process. My mouth was then stuffed with gauze to stop the bleeding, she said to keep it in for 20 mins! And then that was that, one tylenol and I was on my way. I only have 2 sets of trays (only 8 days worth...so I'm back on the 26th Dec to get attachments and more trays. It was very difficult/hilarious trying to book this appointment with the receptionist what with no working mouth muscles and it stuffed full of gauze I had to resorted to pointing and sign language. The 20 min bike ride back to work was interesting - gauze soaked in saliva and blood. Lips dry as a bone. Couldn't wait for the numbness to go...but on the flip side...would that mean things would start hurting?

Suffered through the last hour and half of work and slowly noticed the anaesthetic wearing off. Still no real pain. Gums were still bleeding ever so slightly. Went to the gym. Was definitely 'aware' of my mouth but still no pain. So far so good. Home. Dinner..made something smushy - didn't hurt as much as I thought it might. Next step - put the trays in! Now I was only shown once how to do it at the dentist. Little bit nervous. But on they snapped and on they will stay til breakfast now. That's if I can get them off!

I haven't done the maths yet on how long 50 trays will take with a 4-day change schedule, and I don't think I will till I know for sure that that is what it's definitely going to be as i don't want to get my hopes up. She did warn me that due to the complexity of my case I may (read probably) will need a half way assessment to see if things are all on track.

So we are off and running...here goes nothing!