OMG...These Hurt

Disclaimer: the last 5 posts have been posted on the same day, because I decided to do a blog today (November 27, 2013- one day after getting my aligners).

So last night, these things didn’t hurt. You could clearly feel them in your mouth, but no pain. But BABY today these suckas hurt. I feel like I’ve been repeatedly punched in the mouth. I mean it hurts…like I can feel the nerves in my teeth and arms. I didn't think these would hurt as much. I figured they would not hurt as much as traditional braces. I took a vicodin to help with pain. And that’s saying a lot because I’m anti-pain pills. Hopefully, the pain subsides in a few days. I’ll keep you posted.

P.S. I have a lisp too. I’m hoping it goes away in a few days. Thank God I’m off the next four days for the holiday. I’m hoping by the time I go back to work on Monday the lisp is less noticeable.

Oh and I found something helpful. I was wondering why I have so many attachments and why they were different sizes and shapes. So I did a Google search (gotta love Google) and found this:

Tray 1.

Pictures of Tray 1.

Here's what my lower aligners look like.

Here's a side view of my lower aligners. I circled where my attachments are.

Here is the other side of my lower aligners with more attachments.

Here is what my top aligner looks like.

Where the two pink lines are is where the two attachments are on my front tooth.

Here is the side view of my aligners, more attachments.

Here is the other side of the top aligners...more attachments.

The aligners just pop in over the attachments.

Here's a picture of my teeth with the aligners in. You can see the attachments on my front tooth. But from a distance it's not nearly as noticeable.

Here is the other side of my mouth. I think once my gap starts to close you won't notice the plastic as much.

Pictures...

Hope you didn't think I would have a blog with no pictures. In fact I'm going to have tons of pictures. Some of the blogs I looked at lacked enough pictures. So I figured I would create the helpful blog full of pictures and all of the information I would like to read.

The pictures posted show how large my gap is and all of my attachments. I have 17 total attachments. YES...you read that right 17. That's 17 attachments on 14 teeth. Yup, that means some teeth have more than one attachment. Yup, 17 attachments. I keep saying that because it's A LOT.

Here you can see how large my gap is. Can you see it right between the top two teeth? And I have a few smaller spaces in my lower teeth.

Here is a side view of my teeth. You can see the attachments here as well. I have two on my front tooth and some on both the top and bottom.

Here is the other side. More attachments.

Here's a front view of my mouth without the aligners. Again you can see the attachments.

Here's another front view.

Here's a shot of my bottom teeth. You can see there's not a whole lot to straighten here. I only have 11 trays for the bottom.

Here's that large gap again.

Invisalign...Installation

THEE DAY—November 26, 2013.

Now I realize that I would get my Invisalign a couple days before Thanksgiving. However, I thought this could either be the worst idea ever or the best diet ever. I say this because I’ve read that Invisalign can be just as painful as traditional braces when you first get them. So, I choose to look at this in the more positive light…best diet ever.

Anywho, back to the installation. During my dentist (I keep saying dentist but I mean Orthodontist) appointment, they fit the templates over my teeth to make sure they fit, and they did. Then comes the attachments or buttons or whatever you want to call them. These attachments are tooth colored bumps applied to certain teeth to help with movement of your teeth. I have a lot… like 12 or something like that, maybe 15. I didn’t actually count them, but if someone wants me to I will. To put the attachments on they clean your teeth and put a primer and cure some glue to the teeth. Then my Ortho takes the templates and fill the groves on the aligner with some tooth colored composite, fits the aligner to your teeth and a blue curing light is applied to temporarily permanently (I say this because they come off at the end of treatment) attach the attachments.

After you get your attachments, my Orhto placed the first set of aligners in. He gave me a total of 3 sets of aligners (including the set in my mouth). Next visit is in six weeks.

In case anyone is wondering how long my treatment is and how much it cost, see below.

Total Treatment Time: 70 weeks (That is 35 upper trays and 11 lower trays)
Cost: $4500 (received a $250 discount for the promotional event)
Note: Each tray is worn for 2 weeks for 22 out of 24 hours in a day

Actually Getting Invisalign

I began my Invisalign journey at Comfort Dental in Southfield, MI back in September of 2013. I had finally decided to just go ahead and do it. I thought it would be a fairly simple process… just go for the consultation, get impressions and then get your Invisalign and go home. Not so. I was lucky to find a really good dentist and before getting the Invisalign they did X-rays and did a thorough Oral Care regimen. I found out I had 8 cavities…who has that many cavities. So I had to get those all filled first, because fillings obviously change the shape of your teeth.

So after getting my oral hygiene up to par, I finally went to get my impressions October 22. When I say impressions it’s a major understatement. I had to get pictures from every angle and 5,000 impressions. Well maybe not that many but it felt like a lot. I wish I took pictures or video of the process so you could see, but there are plenty of YouTube videos that will outline the process. I will say that the process is slightly uncomfortable because of the size and volume of the molding clay use to take the impressions.

The impressions are then sent off to the magical world of Invisalign. The folks there do some magically things digitally and send a mock up of what your teeth will look like at the end of treatment, along with an estimated length of time. This is better known as a ClinCheck (which I will post later…have to request it from my dentist). I must say I was super impressed with the end result. My teeth are smaller than some folks and my gaps are quite spacious (that sounds like an ad for a house…spacious rooms, lol), so at the end of my treatment I will need a bridge on my upper teeth on the side. But at least the gap will be gone. My ClinCheck came back on November 14, 2013. My dentist said it would take 3-4 weeks for the actual aligners to come back. I was quite disappointed because I had an appointment to come in on November 26 to get them (this was set when I got my impressions back in October). Fortunately, my dentist is some kind of miracle worker and told me to keep that appointment and they would call if they weren’t in. Well apparently they came in…because I got my Invisalign on November 26, 2013. Yayyyy!!!