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

JULY 22, 2013 ~ I wish today's appointment went better than it did. I went back to the orthodontist because my back two feet, the ones that are acting as anchors for my molars that had to be exposed and bonded, were absolutely and unequivocally not fitting in my aligners. And apparently haven't been for quite some time. The doctor and his assistants took a look in my mouth, poked, prodded, and pushed around my aligners (which got painful at moments), and came to the conclusion that I need all new aligners with new molds. The whole kit and kaboodle.

When I had molds originally done, it was before my wisdom teeth surgery, before any exposure and bonding, and before any attachments or buttons or anything was on my teeth. And it was easy. Let me tell you, it's not quite as easy when you have all that junk in your mouth. Pulling the dried molds off my teeth was nothing short of terrifyingly painful. It got caught on my buttons, pulled on the bonding bands, and I basically had to get cut out of the mold.

But, we got the molds. Or so I hope. My new aligners should be here in four weeks, which is basically an eternity right now.

In the meantime, I'm going back to aligned 6 (6!!) on my uppers, with explicit instructions to bite on chewies like crazy to get those back teeth fitted in the aligner. I only have to wear each for however long it takes the teeth to fit into the grooves, and then I can move up, eventually coming back to 9 on my uppers to match my lowers, at which point they're hoping my new set will have come in.

Basically, I feel like I just took four huge leaps back. I feel completely disheartened and hopeless and disappointed and I'm incredibly unhappy, and in a lot of pain to boot. My orthodontist is fantastic and I couldn't ask for a better one, but this is one of the hardest things I've ever done, and I feel basically all alone in it.

I thought things were going so well and I had my eye on April 2014. As far away as that sounded, I was (starting to be) okay with it.

(Picture from July 3, 2013) JULY 11, 2013 ~ Another quick update. Things are going well. I'm on tray 8 now, looking forward to getting through the next three or four aligners and going back to the orthodontist. Looking forward to going to the orthodontist?? Who have I become??

Seriously though, I do look forward to going to the orthodontist. It means things are progressing. And, on a non-Invisalign note, it means my molars that have been exposed and bonded get reactivated and tightened. And the more those get tightened, the sooner I can get the damn things off! This metal crap and bands in my mouth are really putting a cramp in my style--it's just so uncomfortable still. Yes, I'm more used to them than I was, but it's still super inconvenient. That, and I think my Invisalign will work a lot better when it can actually work on my right side. I've realized that for all intents and purposes, my right side isn't moving with the Invisalign, because we're having to chop down each aligner and basically get rid of the right side to make room for the metal buttons and bands.

And that's what makes me nervous really. I'm afraid that because we're chopping down these aligners that my right-side teeth (beyond the canines) are falling seriously behind when it comes to progress. I have to keep looking at the ClinChek to make sure what I see in my mouth reflects what is on the screen. I think everything is going well, and the orthodontist says it is, so I think I just need to trust in that. Sometimes it's hard though.

Still, can't wait for this all to be over!!

JUNE 10, 2013 ~ Just wanted to make a quick update. There really isn't that much happening. I'm on aligner 4, going to my orthodontist tomorrow morning, and switch to aligner 5 on Thursday. I'm not seeing any changes, but after (obsessively) watching my ClinCheck video, I won't be actually seeing any changes until aligner 12 or so, which happens in late September/early October.

Which means I'm just chugging along until then!

A quick word on my particular case and discomfort: a lot of what I griped about in my earlier updates really have nothing to do with Invisalign. Thus far, Invisalign has been relatively painless. I miss being able to snack, I miss leisurely drinking coffee and tea throughout the day, I get really sick of having to brush my teeth--but all in all, it's not bad. Just inconvenient. The gripes have to do with the exposure and bonding work that was done/is still being done on my upper and lower right molars to bring those teeth in and actually give me all the teeth I was born to have (they just didn't come in). Exposure and bonding sucks. I have metal glued onto my teeth, I have constant pressure, and I have all sorts of sores and cuts and scrapes on my tongue and cheek. It's not fun, not fun in the slightest. But, for all you people reading this who are considering Invisalign, it's not actually part of the Invisalign process. It's my own special journey I have to take because my mouth is so messed up.

To sum it up: Invisalign = inconvenient, but not all that bad; exposure and bonding = absolutely terrible (but hopefully worth it).

Have uploaded a snapshot so people can see the status of my teeth at the end of aligner 4. Not much change like I said, but I can feel in my mouth my bite is changing, so something's happening! Just gotta stick in there.