Tray 12

I am finished with Tray 12 today and have a little bit to update. After Tray 11, the attachment on my bottom left tooth was removed and another was placed on my right tooth. I don't know if it is because my right tooth hasn't been moved before, but Tray 12 was so painful: more so than any other previous tray. The bottom tray was really tight when I first put it on and very difficult to remove, which was new for me since it had always been pretty easy to take off compared to the top tray. That first day with it was terrible. I had to eat food that didn't involve any chewing and I avoided eating all together because it hurt so bad to brush my teeth. But after a few days it did stop hurting and I'm hoping my next tray won't hurt as much. And hey, at least I know my teeth are moving! I can't wait to get to the 15th tray when my left front tooth will start to straighten out. I will also have attachments moved around then as well, but that isn't for a few more weeks so I will update then. Here are the usual pics!

(sorry for the blurriness, I couldn't find my better camera)

Tray 10

Hello again! This post is actually a few days early. It is only Saturday and I am not supposed to change trays until Tuesday, but that is going to be a very busy day for me so I figured it wouldn't hurt to be a little early in my post. Well as you know, this is the week I will be finished with tray 10, and since I have 31 trays total, I am about 1/3 of the way complete. I also thought this would be a good tray to compare to when I first started so this posting will have just a few extra pictures than normal. But before I get to the goods, I want to talk about my experience so far. I have been wearing the trays for almost 5 months now and I think it is amazing how much progress has been made already. I no longer feel any pain when I switch to a new tray. It is a bit uncomfortable because of the pressure, but my teeth do not hurt anymore like they did when I first started. It is becoming a little frivolous to maintain my routine. There are times where I have only a few minutes to eat and it is becoming increasingly tempting to just run out without brushing my teeth before putting the trays on. But then I think of getting cavities and decide to just brush them really quickly. But the maintenance issue would never make me want to switch to metal braces. I also want to mention that nobody has been able to tell I am wearing the trays unless I tell them. Every person I mention it to is shocked and amazed that they haven't noticed the trays before and more of them are becoming interested in getting Invisalign for themselves. All I tell them is that I absolutely love it and would 100% recommend it to anybody. Ok, now we can get to the pictures. I will have my normal pics, but I am also including a few that will show a comparison to when I first started. Have a great time!!

 Tray 1 is on the left and Tray 10 is on the right.

Tray 1 Upper 

Tray 10 Upper. The major differences I can see are that the right front tooth is straighter and the left lateral incisor has been pulled forward. But remember the tray is upside down so the right is on the left in the picture.

 Tray 1 is on the left. Tray 10 is on the right.

Tray 1 Lower

Tray 10 Lower. The main difference I see is that the left front tooth has been straightened out.

Tray 8

Well it's now 8 trays down, 23 to go. So I am now about a 1/4 of the way through. I am so pleased with the progress so far and it is absolutely exciting to be able to see results already. Obviously they are still crooked, and the changes are small, but I can definitely notice them and that is all that matters to me. Anyway, here are the usual pics.

Facial View

Center View (please excuse the pink on my lips - my lips get super chapped so I wear lip balm all the time)

Top Arch

Bottom Arch

Tray 6 Complete!

It's been another 4 weeks and I've finished Trays 5 and 6. I'm about 1/5 of the way done already! I finally noticed a TINY difference in my teeth compared to before I started treatment, which is exciting to see after 13 weeks (it would have been 12 but I had that one week where my orthodontist was gone and I couldn't get Tray 6). Well I did get Tray 6 and I've finished it. The difference that I noticed was in my right front tooth. It is just a little bit straighter compared to the left tooth, and compared to when I first started. I admit I was getting a little impatient because I wasn't seeing any change, but now that I have seen it, no matter how slight it may be, I am so happy and so excited and I can't wait to see the end result. I was forecasting when I should change into each new tray from this point on and I SHOULD be finished in August of next year. Now remember, I only started in July so my total treatment time should be just over 1 year, which I think is unbelievable and amazing. I just switched into Tray 7 a few minutes ago and I can tell my front teeth are really going to start moving because the tray is so tight around them. But I look forward to that uncomfortable feeling every time I make the switch. As promised, this post includes pictures and hopefully you can see the change in my right front tooth too and it's not just my imagination. Happy reading!

Top Arch:

Bottom Arch:

Left and Right Side Views:

Front:

Tray 4 Complete

I have finally finished tray #4. Trays 3 and 4 took a little longer than the 2 weeks each. At my last appointment for the orthodontist, I was given trays 3, 4, and 5. However, when they scheduled my next appointment, it was for a week later than I needed it to be. One of my attachments came off so when I went to get it back on I asked if I could move up my appointment date or get tray 6. I was told to just wear the trays I already had for an extra 2 days each. I wasn't very happy about this because I don't want anything to prolong the whole process, but I couldn't do anything to change it. So now that I have finally finished tray #4, it is time for an update and more pictures. I still can't really see any visible changes compared to when I first started, but hopefully I will with the next few trays.

Facial View:

Center Smile:

Top:

Bottom:

I just started school again this week and it doesn't seem like any of my friends have noticed the trays. I'm trying not to let people know so that I can see if anyone notices them without me mentioning them. It's still early in my treatment, but so far I am so happy I made the choice to get Invisalign and have absolutely no regrets so far.

Tray 3

Ok....before I get into everything for Tray 3, I want to apologize for how long this post will be. I have a lot of info to add this week along with lots of pictures. Now, with that being said, we can get into the good stuff. I went into my appointment and got a couple of things done to my teeth. I got my teeth shaved a little more. It hurt this time just because every now and then the assistant shaving my teeth would get my gums with the strip, which cut them up a little. So when I got home and brushed my teeth, there was a good amount of bleeding and I couldn't really floss. But it's 2 days later and they are feeling much better. I also got my attachments at this appointment (well some of them anyway). I got 4 of them for now and around Tray 11, I will have 1 or 2 taken off and a couple put on different teeth. They advised me in the beginning to switch trays at night, but obviously I couldn't do that with this tray. Since I got the attachments, Tray 2 would not have fit, so I needed to switch to Tray 3 after the appointment. As far as the attachments being visible, they really aren't that big of a deal. When I have the trays off, I can't see the attachments at all. I have to look super close and at just the right angle to see them. However, with the trays on, they are a little more noticeable. Not a whole ton, but yes they are more visible than when the trays are off. I wasn't really sure how the attachments really help the movement so I did a little research. Apparently, the attachments will help the teeth they are on move a little more quickly and easily and make movements that the trays alone can't do. I also wanted to explain the process of how they put my attachments on. The assistant first took Tray 3 out of its little invisalign bag. She then filled the bumps on the tray with some opaque gooey substance. Then she put the tray on my teeth and had me bite down on a cotton ball to hold it in place. She let it sit for about 30 seconds then brought out this little handheld light and shined the light on the attachments while the tray was still on. This hardened the substance. We did all of this again for the bottom tray. Then she had me try to take off the trays just to make sure that I could do it. Before I even tried, I knew I was going to have a difficult time because the trays were extremely tight. The bottom tray was a little difficult compared to the first 2 trays, but the top tray was just ridiculous. I sat there for about 5 minutes struggling to get it off. Eventually I did when the assistant told me to try to pull it down and out at the same time. That was basically all we did at the appointment. She showed me the video to see what movements happened with the first 2 trays. They pretty much moved my premolars out a tiny bit to widen my smile. The real movements that will straighten out my teeth will start with this tray so I am pretty excited to look after a few more trays and see if I can notice a difference. Here are a few pictures from different angles to show that the attachments are not visible from all angles and distances.

NO TRAYS:

 WITH TRAYS:

Hopefully you can tell from these pictures that the attachments aren't really a big problem (in my opinion). They do bring up a huge problem for me in regards to the pain though. The next morning after I got the attachments, I didn't even want to brush my teeth because I didn't want to have to take off the trays. I could tell from the second I woke up that my teeth were going to hurt, and boy did they. When I finally worked up the courage to take them off, it was very painful. The teeth with the attachments hurt so much and I could barely brush my teeth because the pressure from the brush made them hurt even more. I tried eating a pickle with my sandwich for lunch and had to just use my back teeth because there was no way I could use my front ones.  I ended up taking a nap for a good part of the day so I wouldn't have to feel the pain. But that is the reason I waited an extra day before I posted this info. Today, they do still hurt, but not anywhere near as much as yesterday. The trays are also a little easier to remove.Hopefully I didn't scare anyone with my painful experience from the first day and you can just remember that the second day will be much better.


I did want to post a picture of the strip that is used to shave my teeth.

As you can see, it's just a small little strip similar to sand paper. It's paper-thin so it doesn't leave a huge gap. I was given the strips because the assistant told me that I can shave my own teeth from now on (just the front ones). She said once a week, check to make sure there is space between my teeth. I have to slide the strip between 2 teeth. If it slides in and out with no problems, then I don't have to shave those teeth. But, if there is a little friction, then I need to just floss with it. I would need to shave both teeth until there's no more friction. The assistant told me to just try it on my own, but that if I'm not comfortable doing it then I can just have them do it at the appointments. I haven't tried it yet because it's not time but I don't think it should be too hard. Well...that's it for this post. I tried not to leave anything out but if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.