This week I went back to the orthodontist to discuss refinements to my teeth. I am thrilled with them as they are. However, the tooth artiste (as I like to call Dr. Kevin…or was it Dr. Brian? I can’t keep the brothers straight) had some other ideas.
He used a bunch of dentist terms to describe what he thought needed to be done – long story short, I am getting more trays and have to wear some elastics too, and this refining process will take another 6 months. I was told at the start that my Invisalign treatment would take about 2 – 2.5 years and here we are at Month 10 only, so I gots nothin’ to complain about!
So here is what my teeth look like now:
And here are a couple of before and after closeups:
For now I am experiencing a brief respite from having to wear the trays 22 hours a day. I only need to wear them when I go to bed. It feels…weird. Like I’m forgetting to do something.
But that will end soon enough when I get the call that my new trays are in and refinement begins!
Rock on,
The WB
Congrats on the new smile – although personally, I saw nothing wrong with the old smile 🙂
I’ve just noticed that I’m not getting your posts anymore … and haven’t been since the beginning of November. I appear to no longer be following you, and now I don’t know how to start again. I’ll going to click again on the ‘notify me of new post’ button under the comments box and hope that solves the problem.
Thanks Joanne! I removed the email subscription box, thinking it was the source of the commenting problem. I replaced it with another one, but when I tried to subscribe using a non blog-associated email, it wouldn’t work. So I removed that one as well. I am still looking for solutions. Please let me know that the “notify me of new post” button works!
ok – will do.
Just added another email subscription box on the RHS of ye olde blogge. I THINK it works?!?!
I’m signed up and I’ll let you know.
Thanks Joanne!
Looks great! I’ve been researching various dental and orthodontic options for myself, so it was nice to see this comparison.
Thanks to a whole hell of a lot of stress over the years, I have ground my teeth down (I guess in my sleep, because OW!), even chipped a few, and there has been movement in my mouth due to having wisdom teeth removed – which my first orthodontist (teen years) said was unnecessary, but later had to be done, as they impacted the roots of the teeth next to them. I think crowns or veneers are my best bet at this point.
I think Invisalign is great for many people. It wouldn’t take much to get my teeth straight again, but they need to be moved, too. And prettied up a bit.
Thanks Kim! I clench my jaw and grind my teeth in my sleep also – same reasons as you. I’ll need to wear a night guard for the rest of my life I think!
My teeth needed to be moved a lot too. That’s why I had all those “buttons” put on my teeth – to grip onto the Invisalign trays while they did the magic. My orthodontist said I could go either way – traditional braces or Invisalign – and get the same result. My dentist, OTOH, was pushing veneers on me, which I did not want and the orthodontist said I didn’t need. I’m glad I went to an orthodontist for a second opinion.
Thing about veneers is like my dentist told me, with my gritting and grinding I’d have them broken and popped off in no time. But I want pretty, unchipped white teeth!
Me too, but I’ll settle for straight. I was told veneers only last 10 years and I plan on lasting longer than that!!!!