They're In!!

I finally got my trays in today and these past 4 weeks dragged on forever. But the wait is over. At my appointment, I got a little bag with  few things including: containers to keep the trays, travel size toothpaste and toothbrush, floss, chewies, and a couple of papers explaining the dos and don'ts and how to care for the trays. I put the trays in to make sure they fit. The bottom tray popped right in with no problems. The top tray gave me a little trouble: it's pretty tight on the right front teeth so I have to use a little more force and make sure it's in just the right place. After a few minutes, the assistant had me take them out, which I was dreading from reading other people's experiences. The bottom again was no problem. The top tray was pretty tight on the front teeth and was a little difficult to get off but it wasn't too bad. I was told to wait until I go to bed to put them on again so that they could have a chance to just sit on my teeth for the night without me having to remove them several times for lunch, dinner, and bedtime brushing. I'll admit, I wanted to see how they would feel in my mouth for more than just a few minutes so I put them back in when I got home. It was actually pretty unpleasant. It didn't hurt in the least bit, BUT---they are so tight and there is so much pressure that I felt like I just wanted to rip them off. I'm not very claustrophobic, but this is how I imagine it would feel. The tightness made me so anxious and frustrated I was going crazy and had to take them out. So clearly I am 100% aware they are on, but my roommate was shocked at how clear and unnoticeable they are and I'm very pleased with that. My speech wasn't really affected. No lisp with tray 1. But then again, I didn't wear them for very long. I'm going to put them on tonight and see how I feel in the morning and throughout the day. I was told to wear them 18-20 hours a day, but I really doubt I would have them out for a total of 6 hours. Maybe 2 hours for each meal? I eat pretty quickly and usually eat 3 meals and a snack during the day so I'm estimating I will wear them 20-22 hours, but we shall see. I'll update after I really start wearing them and we'll see if I still feel the same about the good things I said.

Quick Update

Well, here is a quick update before my treatment starts in a few weeks. I checked my account on my orthodontist's website today and was really excited when I saw that the ClinCheck was available for me to look at already. According to the ClinCheck, I am going to be getting 31 trays for both my top and bottom teeth (even though my bottom teeth are barely crooked compared to the top). I am actually VERY surprised that it will only take 31 trays (before refinements, of course) because my orthodontist had estimated anywhere from 18-24 months. He said all of the cases that he had done that were similar to mine had taken 2 years, but that they were on people who were about twice my age (I'm 20 yrs old) so he was leaning more towards the 18 months. So before refinements, my treatment should take a little over 15 months. I'm hoping he doesn't throw me a curve ball when I go in to get the first set of trays that will draw out treatment, but to be honest, I've wanted straight teeth so badly for so long that I'm just ecstatic to even get this done, no matter the time. I have included the ClinCheck estimates for my teeth so anyone who wants to can view the (hopeful) transformation. Hopefully, no problems happen and everything runs smoothly. 

ClinCheck Center View

 

ClinCheck Top Arch

 ClinCheck Lower Arch

Getting On The Road

Hello,
My name is Brandy, and if you are reading this, then you are interested in my personal journey with invisalign. I've seen plenty of blogs from different people talking about their experiences, which inspired me to write my own. I mainly wanted to write this because of all of the cases I've seen, I didn't really think many of them were very severe cases. Mine is a little more complex than others, and I think this will help some people who might be thinking, "I can't get Invisalign because my teeth are too crooked and it just won't work for me." But, hopefully, this blog will inform people and let them see everything Invisalign can do. Now I say "hopefully" because I have seen some cases where the person started out with Invisalign, but things went wrong and they had to finish with traditional braces. I am very confident in my orthodontist so again, hopefully, nothing goes wrong with my case.

Now to get on with the good stuff. I recently went in to get my impressions done so they could be sent off and my trays could be made. Here are the pictures of my teeth, and let me just say, they are pretty bad so don't be shocked.                                           

CENTER: TOP TEETH

                                                

LEFT: TOP TEETH

 RIGHT: TOP TEETH

 ARCH: TOP TEETH

ARCH: LOWER TEETH

Clearly my bottom teeth are not the main focus, but there is room for improvement, so I'll be straightening them as well. I am 20 years old and my teeth were never really a priority for my mom. So I finally figured: I'm in college, I live on my own, if I ever want them fixed-I need to do something about it. So I did. I should be getting my trays in ABOUT 3 weeks so I will post again with lots of details as soon as I get my hands on them, and them on my teeth.