4/18/2013 - the future begins today - San Francisco, CA

APRIL 18, 2013 ~ Today is the second, kind of third, kind of first day of my treatment. But my treatment also kind of hasn't begun yet. Long story...

My teeth have stumped many dentists and many orthodontists. I think that over the course of my life (only 2 weeks shy of 27 years at this point), I've seen 4 dentists, 5 orthodontists, and 2 oral surgeons, and each one, after seeing my x-rays, had the same perplexed look on their face. They've all said, "Well, that's interesting," and called in their colleagues to take a look at something they've "never seen before." Kind of makes you feel special, but also just makes you think, "WTF is wrong with me?"

The good news is that they all think my teeth are perfectly healthy. My teeth, though small and with spaces between them, are straight and clean. They're white, no cavities, and strong. Which is why I've never had braces. And why it really doesn't make sense that I'm putting myself through 16 months of discomfort.

It's cosmetic. It's purely cosmetic. Whatever. I've disliked my teeth for nearly a decade now. And now that I'm (somewhat) settled in a new city, and I make enough money to get this done, I'm getting it done!

So, I found my orthodontist from the Invisalign website almost three months ago (top 1% -- only the best for me), and I went in for a consultation. I came out $4,000 poorer and a date 8 weeks in the future to pick up my trays. Even though I had been thinking about it for years, I hadn't planned on plunging in on that date. It was a bit of a spur-of-the-moment thing.

Within those 8 weeks, I also had a consultation with a dental surgeon, because as you can see from my x-rays, I'm missing bunch of teeth that never came in (ankylosis, apparently), and a couple of my wisdom teeth are coming in sideways. I guess while we're tearing things up in my mouth and moving everything around, we might as well do some preventative work, right? The surgery was set originally for April 11th, but then I had to move to April 22nd due to my work travel schedule

At the end of the 8 weeks, I called up my orthodontist and they said they needed another week or so, since my case was so "special" (there's that confusion over my teeth again!), and we set the date of April 16th for me to come in and get my liners.

April 16th was two days ago, and at 8:10AM, I went into my orthodontist's office to pick up the liners. While I was there, they attached about 8-10 buttons on my teeth. Those buttons are not the best experience in the world, but I guess they're better than regular braces, so I can't really complain. I decided to spend April 16th getting used to the buttons and didn't put the aligners in at all. It was an awkward day. I kept feeling these attachments on my teeth and couldn't help but think I looked like a vampire with them sticking out all over the place. When I left work, I put the aligners in, and then proceeded to have a mental breakdown. They were tight, they were awkward, and they were jamming into my right cheek, so they were PAINFUL. So, Tuesday night there were tears and there was regret. But I took a few Advil and went to bed, thinking I had no idea what I was going to do the next day. I was about 80% ready to say "Eff this," figure out a way to be happy with my teeth, and chalk it up as a $4,000 mistake.

When I woke up, I was still in pain, but the sleep had done me well and I made my way to work. After I got off the bus, I called up my orthodontist right as they opened and they found a slot at 4:10PM that day where I could come in to deal with this immense pain. I took out the aligners for the day. When I got to the orthodontist's office that afternoon, we took a look at my teeth, my x-rays, and my liners, and saw that the liners had spaces for two teeth of mine that I actually wouldn't have until after my dental surgery (which would be working to bring these two teeth--the ankylosed ones--down into my mouth). So, the orthodontist simply cut those two teeth off.

What a world of difference!! It was like night and day. I could actually wear them now and not break down in tears. It still felt like I had peanut butter in my mouth all the time, but at least it wasn't peanut butter filled with razor blades.

Today I wore the aligners all day (except for breakfast, lunch, and dinner), and while I know I sound funny and I still need to work on my pronunciation of words (especially those with "F" and "S"), this is the first time in these two days where I've actually been able to think to myself, and believe that I could do it.

That said, today was not pain-free--but there was a reason behind it. At around 3PM, I realized my tongue was getting a sore on my right side. I did some digging with my tongue and fingers (I looked real attractive, for sure), and the teeth that the orthodontist cut off yesterday left me with a really sharp edge on one of the aligners. I decided rather than bother my orthodontist again (I had asked him about 50 questions yesterday), I would hop to Walgreens, get myself an emery board, and shave down the sharp edge myself. It seemed like it wouldn't compromise the structure of the aligners, so didn't seem to be a problem.

Again: what a world of difference.

I'm ready to do this!!