My Invisalign braces and I have been through a lot lately!
Whilst I have largely adjusted back to the rigors of full time Invisalign wear and the brush/floss/no snack lifestyle that that entails, the rest of me has been slightly under the weather. So under the weather in fact, that I was tripped off to hospital so that they could put a few cameras in my stomach and work out what was going on.
Luckily enough, the answer was nothing that can’t be fixed with time and medication- phew! -but in the meantime I must confess that I somehow “forgot” to remove my braces when I was knocked out- whoops!
I don’t know about you but I am an absolute baby when it comes to all things medical or dental. Show me a white coat and I’ll show you a racing heart and blood pressure through the roof. So as I sat in my hospital bed, bottom lip trembling, mentally composing goodbye notes to my loved ones and waiting for them to come and knock me out I wasn’t about to win any bravery awards.
The very, very sweet nurses, being used to cowardly patients like myself spotted that I was on the verge of tears and got the very kind and very competent anesthetist to come and offer me some comforting words-words which worked a treat at helping me steady my nerves. Somehow though, in the midst of my self absorbed terror I forgot to mention to him that I wear Invisalign – oops.
So it wasn’t until I was in recovery, in the kind of after surgery bliss that only strong opiates and the joy of having actually made it through the anesthetic can induce, that I suddenly realised that my braces were in. I mentioned it to the nurse looking after me, who winked at me, told me to keep it to myself and said “no harm done”.
What is amazing though is despite that fact that my doctor had me knocked out, had put a camera down my throat and had various breathing and other apparatus near my mouth over the course of the afternoon, no one noticed that my teeth looked any different. I suppose that is a great advert for Invisalign invisibility if nothing else although I’m not convinced it’s recommend practice to keep your braces in during anaesthesia. Don’t try this at home folks!
Anyway, aside from the dramatics my teeth are continuing to improve. As you can see from the Invisalign braces before and after pictures below, the molars on the right hand side upper are now starting to appear from behind the front teeth, so I no longer appear to have half a mouthful of teeth in pictures. The bottom teeth changes are less visible, but judging by the amount of pressure on them something is certainly happening… One thing I would say is that close up pictures like this tend to highlight every flaw. In real life my teeth look much better than in these pictures- or I think so at least!
Before Invisalign:
Latest Front picture (as usual please ignore the ugly old upper crown, it will be changed after treatment finishes):
Profile Before Invisalign:
Profile July 2010:
Alternate View July 2010:
As usual thanks for all your comments and for reading, I love to hear about your experiences too. For prospective invisalign braces wearers you might find my Invisalign FAQs helpful..
So, I just found your blog by googling “invisalign stomach”. I’ve been having stomach problems and the next step is to scope my stomach because they can’t figure out what is going on. Part of me is wondering if it isn’t an allergic reaction to the Invisalign??? I’ve had Invisalign for 3 months and my mysterious stomach problems for the last month or so.
Thank you!
Started invisalign and within 3 weeks serious gastro problems…. hmmmm? anyone else out there having the same issues? I am on meds and scoped and now not sure what to do after 2 months of issues. This was an old post I ran into, hoping some of you that posted could let me know if your stomach issues stopped when done with the invisalign?
my discomfort with invisalign has caused serious stomach problems. I needed to sit up in bed in order to sleep. One night I slumped over and slept in an unnatural position and apparently herniated a disc in my neck. Seems better now after watching diet and changing back to brand named prilosec. Also went to pt. Had no Idea that one thing could lead to another. I do have an autoimmune disease, sjogrens. I Have months left to go and don’t know what to do. My bite has changed so it is harder to eat than before. Has any one else had these kind of experiences?
Hi there,
Thanks Ellen, I am already feeling a lot better than I was, thankfully. Glad the IPR wasn’t too awful and that your teeth are moving as expected. Long may it continue!
Kyla- I know the feeling, my mouth too is apparently something of a challenge. It still seems incredible to me that my teeth have already moved so much. In fact, when I look at my before pictures from the before and after it seems strange that those were my teeth….
Good luck!
I just found your blog..yay! I’m 34 and just decided enough was enough with the teeth. My mouth is a huge challenge apparently… I’m on the Sunshine Coast and because there are less dentists doing it, I’m paying top dollar for it. Sigh. But it will be worth it in the end.
Just started with my first aligners on Wed so have a long way to go and still need to get used to it all. My first thought on the first day was “what am I doing!??!” and I had a few regrets. Once I see some results though I’m sure it will pass.
Will definitely keep reading about your progress, you give me hope!
I hope you get your tummy back in good health quickly. It must have been miserable having an upset stomach bad enough for them to make you swallow cameras. I’m so glad it will be an unintrusive fix for you.
I just had my third bout of IPR this morning (much easier this time!) and have begun trays 6 of 20, and everything seems to be moving as expected. Thanks again for the great blog!
Hi Ben,
Sorry to have complicated things for you! I think you are right though, this whole thing is a leap of faith. In my case a calculated leap of faith, but a leap of faith nonetheless.
If it is any consolation the one thing I can reassure you of unequivocally is that I am happy with my decision and the way that my teeth are turning out.
As for the huge gap, has your orthodontist filled the space in your aligner with a “fake” tooth? I believe that’s perfectly possible and takes care of the Shane McGowan look…
Thanks for reading, please apologise to your orthodontist on my behalf, I think most of them hand out information on a need to know basis.
I’m 33 and having my trays fitted tomorrow but I only found your blog today… now I have a million questions for my orthodontist. A little bit late for that, I guess. I’ll tell him who to thank. I’m amazed there is so little information out there in one place for such an expensive procedure. Oh well- I guess it’s a leap of faith. Step one involved having a front lower incisor pulled last week, so now I have a huge, whistling, hillbilly gap to compliment my remaining set of ‘Rubik’s Teeth’. Considering this was a move motivated purely by vanity I sure have started out looking stupid and anticipate a fortnight of aching, lisping, drooling fun.