I know, I know, I’ve been a bit slow with the updates lately. I have no real excuse other than a serious bout of the flu. I’m in the southern hemisphere (i.e it’s summer here) and I have had both the swine flu and seasonal flu vaccinations (fortunately we have a large stockpile of swine flu vaccination here, it’s available free and on demand) but somehow I still managed to succumb to a 2 week bout of illness. Yuck. I managed to keep my aligners in for most of it, although there were a couple of days where I simply couldn’t function without a lozenge in my mouth as my throat was so raw and painful to swallow; so on those days I’m afraid I was a little remiss.
Fortunately I’m now back on form and back on track with my Invisalign, so I promise I’ll try and update more regularly.
As you can see from the pictures there are no massive revelations at this point in my treatment, but things are slowly moving into place. I am now on 3/9 of my upper refinements and on 23/34 of my lower aligners.
As you can see from the first picture the movement of my crown has now caused a very ugly black line along my gumline next to the crown. Fortunately, my aligners actually mask this to a great extent so it isn’t nearly so noticeable when they are in, but it is, nonetheless, a bit ugly. The profile view of that crown is improving (see third picture) but still isn’t nearly perfect as the front tooth still needs to move back into place a little more. I have six aligners to go, so we’ll see what happens. I’m still really looking forward to getting the crown replaced (although already having nightmares about the actual procedure!) I know that the cosmetic dentist also said that he needs to raise my gumline above that tooth, which I’m trying not to even think about at this point for fear of never going back to another dental appointment again. If you have had a gum raising procedure and can offer any kind words of encouragement, please, please do. Frankly, I’m terrified!
My upper refinements as mentioned in a previous post are focusing on two areas, my front right tooth that needs rotating and the molar that is too long and not in position on the left side (right side in these pictures). I was told that my nine refinements are really six aligners and three over-corrections; if my teeth look done after the first six trays we can stop. Something I have been wondering about is, what happens if one area looks perfect after six aligners and the other doesn’t? Do I have to over-correct one area to get a finished result on the other? I’ll ask my orthodontist at the next appointment and let you know.
My bottom arch isn’t looking too different from straight on but I am happy to report that a real gap is opening up inside my mouth for my stray tooth to move into (see my clincheck). I can also see that the bottom arch looks less “witchy” when viewed from the front. One of the things that I disliked so much about my teeth pre treatment is that the the bottom row were both very visible when I talked and also very pointed and crooked, giving me a look that could easily scare small children! (see my sidebar for the before pictures) This far into the treatment I am happy to report that they are becoming much more uniform and whilst not straight, will no longer qualify me for a walk on part in The Wizard of Oz.
As ever I would love to hear your comments on my treatment. Feel free to click on the “comments” link below and let me know your thoughts on how things are going.
Just lovely! Thank you for your blog. I’m on day 4 of my first set. I hate them!! But I can’t wait for lovely straight white teeth like yours!!!
Really great progress. Pictures and documentation are great. Love your blog!
Thanks Carolyn, yes I am very happy although I think these pictures make my overbite look less than it still is. I can still get my finger between my upper and lower arches- just not my thumb!
Don’t worry tray 11 will come around sooner than you think and once you start seeing progress in the right direction it makes all the difference to the way you view the whole process. It is really disheartening to have to go backwards, but at least you know that ultimately you are moving towards great teeth. My way of dealing with it is just to imagine how they will look two years from now, that (kind of) helps when I am sick of the things!
The thing I realised too though is that even though we notice changes for the worse I’m not sure it’s as apparent to other people.
Thanks for taking the time to comment. Good Luck with the rest of your treatment.
Wow don’t they look great – you must be really pleased when you compare the before pictures with now. I’m going through a bit of a downer with my Invisalign process at the mo. I have an overbite similar to how yours was, I am on tray 8 of 14 lower and 46 upper. To date my bottom trays have been pushing my teeth back while my top trays are concentrating on pushing my back teeth forward to close gaps created by two extractions. What this meens is that my over bite is now worse than it was before I started!! I need to wait until tray 11 before my front top teeth start to get moved back but it feels like its taking forever! I’ve read that you’ve had some trying times so thank you for taking the time and effort to share them.