Final Tray: Before and After

It's finally that time. I completed my last tray and I'm actually in my retainers right now. And all of this took less than two years. I'll start off by talking about what's happened in the last two months. I meant to post much sooner, but I have been incredibly busy with school and just haven't had the time. I had my teeth shaved a little more and they weren't quite as stubborn this time. The first time I had them shaved, they simply refused to even out, but the ridges look a little better after the second shaving. I was also told Tray 47 would be my last instead of finishing out the last few trays. So this is when my Vivera retainers were ordered. A couple of weeks later, I went back to the orthodontist to pick them up. I was given one set of retainers and 3 more sets will be mailed to my home when it is time for me to change into a new set. Vivera retainers are stronger than the Invisalign trays since they are supposed to be worn longer than 2 weeks. According to the information on the paper in the Vivera box, the retainers are supposed to last about 3 months, which is why they mail 3 more sets for the year. However, I was told at the orthodontist's office that each set should last a year, depending on how much you wear them and take them out and other factors. When I first put the trays on, they were a little tight, which I wasn't expecting. I thought they were going to be loose like my last set of trays had been. But that tightness is just to set them in their final position. Not much else has happened, so I'll get on with the pictures. It's been such a drastic transformation. When I started this blog, I wanted to show people that, with the right provider, Invisalign could be used for more complex cases. I think I have accomplished that and these pictures show it 100%, all thanks to my wonderful orthodontist, Dr. Randy Kunik.

X-rays

Before

After

Trays

Top Arch

 

Bottom Arch

 

Left View

Before

After

Right View

Before

After

Center View

Before

After

 

Bottom Arch

Before

After

Top Arch

Before

After

I'll continue to check in with post-treatment updates, but they will not be quite as frequent as I've posted during treatment. But I will make sure to respond to any comments or questions you may have. I really hope my blog has been of some help to anyone seeking information about Invisalign and wondering whether it's for them.

Tray 44

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Unfortunately, it is also the last day of my Spring break :( Anyway, I'm getting done with my 44th tray. It's been a little weird wearing my trays for only one week each. I'm so used to wearing them for two weeks that I sometimes forget that I have to switch to a new one so quickly. But it's also really exciting when I do remember and I get to open a new package that is so close to the end. I'm really glad I've taken pictures throughout my journey. I look back at earlier pictures sometimes and can't believe the transformation my teeth have gone through in such a short period of time. I think it's funny when I see a picture and, at that time, I thought my teeth looked pretty great. And then I compare it to how my teeth look now and, well, they just don't even come close. I think I definitely owe this to my orthodontist for being able to see how much improvement could be made with a second set even with the huge transformation made with the first set. Even though it added more time to my treatment, I'm so glad we did another set because now my teeth just look amazing. I'll end this post now and let the pictures speak for themselves. Enjoy!

Facial View

Center

Upper Arch

Lower Arch

Tray 40

Wow! Is it really time for me to post about my 40th tray?! Apparently it is, so here goes. I have a bit of news for this post. First, I will no longer be wearing the trays for two weeks. Instead, I will only wear them for one week before switching to a new tray. Yay! This is because the movements are so small and I'm just about done with my treatment, so I can get away with only wearing them for one week now. This is great news for me because now I'll get done with my treatment even faster than I had anticipated. I also may not have to wear all of the trays. I am supposed to get up to the 47th tray (19 of 23 in this 2nd set) and then Dr. Kunik will decide how many more trays he wants me to wear, if any at all. I really wouldn't mind wearing all of the trays, just as long as I have straight teeth. Another thing I wanted to mention was that I also had my teeth shaved at my last appointment, although my teeth were a little stubborn and the ridges wouldn't go down as much as we wanted them to. But they do look better and feel smoother in my opinion. I had my photos taken at this last appointment as well so I will post those this time, but I will probably also use them for the final comparison since I don't think I'll have more photos taken again. I don't want to rant on since I have exams to study for and papers to write for school, so I'll end it here and post the pictures. And as always, feel free to ask any questions.

Upper Arch

 

Lower Arch

 

Right

Left

Center

I just want to say I love looking at the center view because I can see how much of a transformation my smile has gone through in just a year and a half. It's amazing. But you'll have to stay tuned for my larger post when I'll post the original pictures side-by-side with these.

Tray 36

It is once again time for an update. It's actually a little overdue. I wasn't able to post after tray 34 because I got so busy with finals and packing to go home for the winter break. I have some pretty good information for this post though. Not only is it time for one of the bigger posts in which I include more pictures from different angles and some comparisons from when I first started, but I also have something else I want to talk about first. So let's get started.

When I was first doing research on Invisalign, an interesting topic came up that caused a fair amount of concern for me. I read that many people get cavities while using Invisalign. And when I say they got cavities, I'm not talking 2 or 3. Some stated that they got 8 to 10 cavities during their treatment. This was a little scary because I had never had any cavities and I always took pride in that. So when I decided to get Invisalign, it was actually time for me to get a dental checkup, but I was unable to go. Then I was never able to get an appointment in the short times that I would go home, so it has been two whole years since my last checkup, which is absolutely HORRIBLE. But I finally went this week and I just kept thinking to myself, "Please, no cavities. PLEASE, no cavities." I got all of my x-rays done and my dentist came in and poked around in my mouth as did the hygienist. And after two years without any checkups, and a year and a half of wearing Invisalign, I am extremely proud and ecstatic to say I still have no cavities!!!!!! In fact, the hygienist was very impressed with how clean my teeth were. She even asked if I had been getting cleanings done at the orthodontist because she just couldn't believe how little buildup had accumulated over two years. I think Invisalign actually helped me with this. The frequent brushing and flossing just had to be a factor in the cleanliness of my teeth. I was so relieved when they said I had no cavities and very happy when they said I did an excellent job of cleaning my teeth. So if anyone were to ask my opinion on whether Invisalign causes cavities or not, I would have to say absolutely not. Even my orthodontist was surprised when I brought this up during the initial consultation because he said he had never had any patients have problems with this. This is still something to think about when deciding on Invisalign because if you aren't committed or simply able to brush your teeth several times a day, it may not be for you. Not brushing before putting the trays back on could lead to cavities, which will only make the treatment more expensive.

Before I put up the pictures, I wanted to mention that I wasn't able to have my teeth smoothed out yet because my orthodontist was at his other office when I went in for my appointment. So I just got two more sets of trays and will have them smoothed out at my next appointment.

And now the pictures...

Facial

Center

Left

Right

Upper

 Lower

     Upper Trays                             Tray 1                                 Tray 36

Lower Trays                               Tray 1                                  Tray 36

Tray 32

Well, another four weeks and another two trays completed. Before I get into the events of the past month, I want to mention one thing that I keep forgetting about. I actually only have 20 bottom trays and 23 top trays with this 2nd round. This makes a lot of sense since my bottom teeth were never really as bad as my top teeth. Now onto this past month.

Like last time, it's been a pretty routine month. Every day consists of me getting up in the morning and soaking/cleaning my trays while I get ready. I brush my teeth and pop them back in before I leave my apartment. I take them out to eat and brush my teeth before I put them back in. And I take the trays out and brush them along with my teeth before I go to bed. I think when you have such a large set of trays, you get used to all of the brushing and cleaning and rinsing. It just becomes part of your daily schedule. But it can also become cumbersome when you've been wearing the trays for so long (about a year and a half in my case) and you just want to be done. I think it really takes discipline to keep up with the routine and make sure you are actually wearing the trays enough. This is really something to take into consideration when weighing the options between Invisalign and traditional braces. You don't have the choice of taking off traditional braces like you do with Invisalign, but this means you could forget to put the trays back on, which may prolong treatment. I just wanted to point this out. If you have teeth that you know will require quite a few trays, think about whether you will actually be able to keep up with it through the end.

Anyway, enough of my lecture. I did have an appointment with my orthodontist this past week. I received more trays; enough to get me through the holidays. If you do get Invisalign, be sure your orthodontist does this. This is especially important for people like me who go out of town for the holidays. I go home once school lets out for winter break, so an appointment during that time would be a little inconvenient because I live almost 6 hours away from Austin. I actually know of a situation in which a woman was not able to take her daughter to an appointment because the orthodontist left town without informing his patients and she was not able to get another appointment for a month. The daughter was having her lower jaw pulled forward by her braces. By the time she finally got to see the orthodontist, her lower jaw had been pulled forward too far and her orthodontist told her she would need jaw surgery in order to fix it and he took no responsibility for what happened. This was NOT my orthodontist in case anybody was wondering. And although this does not relate to Invisalign per se, I think it is just a good example of choosing your orthodontist wisely and making sure you get everything you need for the holidays so nothing bad happens. But this woman and her poor daughter had no choice in the matter. I'm the type of person who likes to have a plan, a backup plan, and a backup plan for my backup plan so I just want everybody to be cautious and prepared. So that's basically the moral of that story.

Also at this past week's appointment, my orthodontist told me he would start the process of smoothing out my teeth at my next appointment. I mentioned in a previous post that my top front teeth are shaped a little weird because the edges are very thick (marginal ridges), causing there to be a dip in the center of those individual teeth. So he will work at smoothing down those ridges so that my teeth do not dip and look a little more normal. But since it is holiday season, I'll have to wait until January before this happens. Oh and before I forget, I will be doing the bigger posts every 8 trays for this set instead of every 10 trays since I have 23 top trays. That should be it for this post. If I think of anything else or remember something I'm forgetting, I'll make sure to include it in my next post. As always, here are the pictures (I found my actual camera so I was able to take pictures of my teeth this time. Yay!) I also included a picture with the trays on so you can compare these to the first set that had attachments and were made using traditional putty molds whereas these new trays were made using the iTero scanner. All of this makes the Invisalign trays even less visible than the first set in my opinion, but you can judge for youself.

Facial

Center

Wearing Trays

Not Wearing Trays

Top Arch

 

 

Lower Arch

Tray 2 again...(Tray 30)

A new post is well overdue so here it is. I meant to post after Tray 1-(2) (Tray 29), but I got so busy with presentations, papers, and exams. But I'm now on my 2nd day of wearing Tray 3-(2) (31) so I knew that I really had to post. I'm still wondering how I should number the trays for the posts. Should I start over and number them according to the number on the tray? Or should I just number them continuing from where I left off? I think I'll have it settled by my next post because it'll probably get confusing if I post both numbers. Now onto my past few weeks of being back in the trays. It actually hasn't been very eventful. It's been painful, but not too bad. Just enough to make me feel like my teeth are being straightened. Aside from that, nothing exciting has really happened. But then again, I've worn so many trays already that I don't think I'll have many more exciting events happen to me, but we'll have to see. I suppose it's better for nothing to happen than for something bad to happen, right? Anyway, I couldn't find the camera I use for close-ups of my teeth so I could only do the facial view. I usually like to take both types of pictures because my teeth look great close-up, but the facial view is where you can really see the imperfections that are still there. I hope to have more to post next time. Until then, happy readings.

Facial