Those of you who are long time readers will know that my top teeth are finished…kind of. I am wearing a retainer only at night these days on my upper arch, waiting until my bottom teeth are finished. At that point we will tweak anything on the top that needs it at the same time as we do any tweaks or refinements on the bottom arch. I have also decided to wait until all of the bottom teeth are finished before I get my upper crown sorted. This is partly due to financial constraints (nearly $2,000 for a new crown means I want it done only once) and partly me putting it off because I’m terrified! If you don’t know my full crown saga, suffice to say it is the ugly yellow looking tooth, right next to my top front teeth. The scariest thing is that before I whitened my teeth earlier in my Invisalign treatment it matched my other teeth perfectly!
For my bottom arch I am now on aligner #2,734. I kid, but it sometimes feels like it… In reality I am now on #21 of my 54 lower Invisalign refinements. There were also 34 in my original run that I wore before I started on these refinements. That means of the 88 lower aligners that make up my treatment in total, I am on #55… unless I lost count. Whichever way you look at it, that’s a LOT of Invisalign. (Although I should point out here for new readers that my teeth were essentially a jumble sale before I started Invisalign. A misaligned, misshapen, discoloured mess of a mouth…)
Take a look for yourselves at the differences….
My teeth don’t actually change that much visually these days, all the action is at the back where we are opening up a gap for a tooth to move into. My orthodontist warned me from the start that this would take a long time, and he was right. Looking back at where I started from though I think that every one of those 55 aligners has been worth it…
Invisalign Before and After Pictures – after 21 aligners:
Incidentally, apologies for the colour on these photos. You’ll have to take my word for it that my teeth really aren’t that yellow in reality. Honestly!
How many Invisalign do you have? Can anyone beat my record of 88?
Oh wow – I hope everything worked out! Best of luck, maybe get a new dentist??
Greetings from NYC. I just got my invasalign three days ago, and had them fit by my spacey dentist rather than an orthodontist. I am not sure why I chose this route…mostly because I love my dentist. But he’s not a pro at Invisalign, I can already tell.
One attachment fell off already (while I was trying to crowbar the things off on the first day).And some of my gums are bleeding.
The first day was frightening….I was starving, but at the same time never wanting to eat again! It took hours to get the off (most of that time spent online, trying to find a solution, because my spacey dentist was at a movie). I am still terrified all this yanking is going to loosen my teeth.
In fact, by Day II, one of my front teeth started to bleed and is loose–so now each time I wrench the trays off, it hurts alot. Then I worry about my teeth falling out (which is an anxiety dream I’ve had for years…).
Then I go online again.
I had braces for three years when I was young. I guess I did not wear my retainer long enough after the braces came off. Both my brother and I have very crooked teeth–I suspect from not getting good nutrition as children?
Anyway, I am looking for reassurance that my tooth is not going to fall out from trying to wrestle these trays off? hee hee
thanks
Lee
I just finished wearing 25 trays and my dentist installed permanent retainers – upper and lower front.
In addition I have clear retainer trays I’m supposed to wear all the time. I’m supposed to keep these
permanent retainers in forever as well as the clear retainers.
Has anyone heard of this?
Thanks for sharing your experience, its really helpful reading this! I just started invisalign yesterday and already want to rip them out and throw them away the pain is unreal! Especially since my upper front teeth are set back the aligner tends to get stuck on it and it hurts like hell! My ortho actually said I may need a crowbar to get them out so he’s positive at least LOL!
Like you Ive a few fillings from having overcrowded teeth for so long but I did read on another blog how invisalign causes more cavaties, did you find that with yours? Im so paranoid I spend about an hour a day cleaning every inch of my mouth so I dont need more but Id love to hear if you have had anything similar?
Have a great day đ
xOx
Yep, you haven’t set a good white balance and this can cause the pics to look like this. It happens to others too, don’t worry.
I see your teeth look pretty good now, can’t wait to see the progression from now on. Keep us posted and best of luck.
Hi!
Thanks so much for your blog. I am a Sydneysider Invisalign user.
While I was trying to decide if Invisalign is for me, your blog is one thing that tipped me over the edge to get them.
I am currently on day 2 of my first tray…. I want to pull my teeth out every time I can manage to get them out to eat. Eating is not very enjoyable at the moment. I hope it will be as everyone seems to say and I’ll get over it in a day or two. The biggest thing for me while trying to take them out is not feeling claustrophobic but rather that I am going to bring my actual teeth with the tray when it comes out.
I am surprised that yours have taken so long though? My bottom teeth look worse than yours, my top row looks about the same and mine ‘should’ be finished in a year, followed by a nighttime retainer to keep them there. Was there extra issues with yours?
My dentist has been fantastic, explaining every little thing – how I might feel, trouble I might have getting them in and out, how to deal with it all, every single little adjustment he will need to do along the way. Of course, I know it might take a bit longer depending on different factors but he seems pretty optimistic. Really happy with my dentist.
Thanks again for doing this blog, you are helping alot of people đ