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My Invisalign Braces Experience

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Invisalign, straight teeth and opposable thumbs

March 9, 2011 by admin 5 Comments

After two years in Invisalign I can safely say that I thought I was pretty much the world expert in swiftly removing my braces. Not only could I whip them out one handed, I could do it with my eyes shut, upside down and with my left hand tied behind my back… or so I thought.

Not for me one of the Outie Tools (#aff link) rubber gloves, paper towels or any of the other methods that help newcomers struggling with their Invisalign.

The last few days though, I have discovered that there is one tool that I have been using; one that I took entirely for granted and without which, removing your Invisalign is a fraught, tear stained, frustrating, frantic, claustrophobia inducing ordeal.

Ladies and gentlemen… I give you… the opposable thumb….

That sorry mess you see in the picture? That my dear readers is the thumb of my right hand. Sore, infected, inflamed, impossible to bend and therefore entirely useless as an Invisalign removing tool. Thanks to a course of very strong antibiotics it is starting to improve…but it still hurts. A lot.

I’d like to tell you that it was a snake bite, wrestling a crocodile, or some other such adventure that many outside Australia assume form the fabric of our daily lives. Sadly, the truth is somewhat less exotic. My sore thumb is, in reality, a consequence of  ‘a terrible cheese grater incident ‘ Need I say more? Devilishly dangerous things, cheese graters….

I know, I know, I have another thumb. But here’s the thing. It turns out that although I am a fiend at removing my aligners with my right hand, with my left, I am entirely useless. Whatever the little action is that I have so painstakingly perfected with my right hand, I simply can’t do it with the left.

The good news is, however, for those of you that have just started wearing Invisalign, that I can share that the key to quick and easy removal is all in the thumb. I believe, judging by the amount of pain when I try and do it at the moment, that my technique has been based entirely on hooking my right thumbnail under the edge of the aligner and flicking it up before grasping it with my hand and pulling it off.

On a much happier note, my teeth are looking good. I still haven’t had the top crown replaced. Primarily for the want of the (deep breaths) $3500 that the first dentist I found wanted to charge me. For one crown. However, I have now found another dentist whose quote is “only” $1600 and who my orthodontist recommends so I am currently steeling myself to put myself through that. You’ll be the first to know.

As you can probably tell from the pictures below my teeth are still improving, little by little. The gap into which my funky lower tooth will hopefully slide is getting closer and closer to being ready- not long to go now until we can start trying to move it in. After two years I’m so used to my Invisalign that I really don’t notice them any more; the difficulty that I face now is that because my teeth already look good from the front and all the action is at the back, it’s harder to find the motivation to wear them as many hours as I should. The photo of my teeth pre Invisalign, and the fear of going back there helps though. It really helps.

Mar ’11

2008 – Before Invisalign

 

On a final note, I’m sorry that it has been so long since my last post. What with Christmas, and then the huge floods we had in Brisbane in January (my house wasn’t flooded thankfully, although my neighbours weren’t so lucky) as well as the fact that I am currently studying full time as well as doing the usual parenting stuff means that I have been a little overstretched. I have lots to share with you though, so I promise to be far more prolific over the next few months! It’s nice to be back….

Filed Under: removing invisalign Tagged With: adult braces, braces pictures, invisalign before and after, invisalign braces, invisalign pictures, outie tool, removing invisalign, sore thumb

Invisalign Braces Update: A Big Reveal….

August 9, 2010 by admin 7 Comments


Hi there again,

I’m not sure whether it’s been vanity or just a general unease at revealing too much of myself, but I haven’t really posted many pictures on this blog of how my teeth look now in the context of my whole face. Hopefully this post will remedy that!

You’ll have to believe me when I tell you that I selected this first picture very carefully- in reality I am far more wrinkly than you can see here! This picture was taken whilst out and about so I am actually wearing my Invisalign braces although you can’t see them in the picture…

after Invisalign july 2010

This second picture (much more wrinkly- yuck!) shows my teeth in profile and how they are now lining up quite nicely. As you can see I no longer look nearly as “goofy” as I did before Invisalign.
bec teeth 1

Just to give a little contrast, this is a picture of me full face, before Invisalign. If you look closely you can see how my front teeth stick forward…. It’s no wonder this is my only wedding photo where you can see my teeth!
wedding pic

And of course, just to remind me why I started this whole thing… Here are my teeth in all their close up glory just before I started Invisalign….
before invislalign teeth2

As I’ve said before, when I see my teeth as they were then I am only amazed that I ever left the house at all!

Filed Under: invisalign before and after, invisalign before and after pictures, invisalign pictures, invisible braces Tagged With: braces pictures, invisalign before and after, invisalign braces, invisalign pictures, invisible braces

How They Remove Invisalign Attachments Or Buttons…

March 22, 2010 by admin 31 Comments

Looking for advice on how to remove your Invisalign trays? Click here

This week was another milestone in my treatment as it was time to remove my Invisalign attachments or buttons. I have now reached 30/34 on my first run of lower Invisalign braces (only 4 more to go!) and set 9/9 of my first run of Invisalign refinements on my upper arch- in other words, the first run of my upper refinements are now finished! To mark this momentous occasion I had a long appointment with my orthodontist to evaluate how my upper teeth are now looking, and also, joy of joy, to remove my upper Invisalign attachments.

For those of you as yet unfamiliar with all the details of Invisalign, attachments are small tooth coloured blobs of material that are glued or cemented onto teeth during Invisalign treatment. Their purpose is to provide additional “grip” for the aligners so that more difficult or complex tooth movements are possible. They can be used on any number of teeth, depending on the preferences of your Invisalign provider and what movements the teeth need to make. Some lucky people have none, some have a large number, I have 5. You can see some of mine in the picture below:

how to remove invisalign attachments

My orthodontist decides to Remove Invisalign Attachments

Throughout my treatment, whilst I haven’t enjoyed having attachments exactly, I have easily tolerated them to the point that not only didn’t I feel them in my mouth any more, I didn’t see them when I looked in the mirror either. So I was fairly relaxed about having them removed- I was happy to do it, but I wasn’t yearning for it exactly. In fact, given that they have been solidly attached to my teeth for the last 15 months and have endured all manner of brushing, tugging and scraping and still stayed resolutely attached, I was afraid that getting them off might be a minor ordeal.

So it was with a certain amount of trepidation that let I let my orthodontist lower me back in his dentist’s chair, one hand adjusting his medical face mask, the other brandishing a large, sinister looking dentist’s drill. My fear wasn’t allayed by him telling me, with only a little relish in his voice, that this was going to be noisy.

I don’t know whether you have ever had any fillings, but my teeth are riddled with them. So I am pretty familiar with the feeling of the dentist’s drill and the vibrations that go through your head as they buzz and scrape noisily through your teeth. This was what I was expecting with the removal of my attachments.

I am relieved and excited to report however, that it is really not that bad. Yes, there is a little of the same sensation of vibration as the attachment is drilled, but because it is on the outside of your tooth and the drill is not contacting with any of your tooth’s own structure, the vibrations do not travel through your head in the same way. Also, the removal of each attachment seemed to take no more that 15-20 seconds of drilling, compared to the 30 minutes to an hour that I have endured with some of my larger fillings, so although there was some vibration it had barely started before it finished. After the initial drilling was completed, my orthodontist switched to a smaller polisher and ran it across the tooth’s surface where the attachment had been, just to remove any last traces of the cement- and it was finished! The whole process of removing my attachments was over in less than five minutes start to finish.

As my orthodontist adjusted my chair back into the upright position and told me to rinse my mouth I was so surprised that it was over that I told him “well THAT was remarkably painless” to which he looked at me bemused, and replied “Well what did you expect?”
I didn’t really like to run him through the scenarios that had been coursing through my head prior to my appointment – if you google remove Invisalign attachments very little shows up, so I had filled in the details myself.

The attachments removed and my teeth in all their naked glory we were able to get onto the important business of discussing how my teeth look. Removing the attachments has altered the way they appear (see pics below) but hasn’t changed how I feel about what needs to be done. I told him all of my concerns (explained with pictures in my previous post about set 29 before and after pictures) about how the front tooth needed to rotate a little more and how I think the molars have been thrown into shadow.

He listened patiently, had a very thorough examination of my teeth from every angle, and then told me that he could see what I was talking about, that he agreed that my arch could be widened a little more by moving out my molars, and that we could look at it in the next refinement. He did caution that as my teeth have already moved so much that there was a limit to what could be done whilst still keeping my teeth in the jaw bone, but that he would do his best. One of the things (other than experience) that I think is so important to look for in an orthodontist is their willingness to listen to your opinion. I think I have been very, very fortunate with mine that not only is he willing to listen, he will happily rethink his approach if you tell him that you would prefer to do it another way.

how to remove invisalign attachments

Close Up No Attachments

Within my Invisalign contract I have the original run of aligners included, plus three runs of refinements. I have used one refinement correcting my upper arch whilst the bottoms were still completing their first run, so my orthodontist and I agreed that we would wait until I have finished my lower arch first run of aligners before we start the next set of refinements. That means that both arches can be tackled simultaneously in the same series of refinements. In the meantime, over the next eight weeks I will be wearing my upper aligner only at night whilst wearing the lower one for the usual 22 (ahem) hours a day for the next 10 weeks. According to my orthodontist this is the best compromise between keeping the upper aligner intact and still wearable whilst not letting my teeth relapse too much until the next series of aligners. All in all I am thrilled with how my teeth are now looking and excited to get them finished off. Roll on 10 weeks time.

Look no upper attachments- shame about the molars in shadow and the ugly crown at the front that needs replacing though…

Filed Under: attachments, invisalign, invisalign aligners, invisalign attachments, Invisalign before, invisalign before and after, Uncategorized Tagged With: attachments, braces pictures, clincheck, invisalign, invisalign before and after, invisalign braces, invisalign photos, invisalign pictures, invisalign prices, invisalign refinements, invisalign removal, invisible braces, refinements, removing invisalign

Invisalign Before And After Pictures : Set 29

March 10, 2010 by admin 8 Comments

For the last week or so I have been wearing set 9 of my Invisalign upper refinements – the last set! I’m thrilled to report that not only have my teeth improved over these nine sets, they have improved in all the places that didn’t improve with the first run of 17 aligners. The molar on the right hand side which was out of line and too long has now moved into place perfectly. The front left tooth that was still twisted and out of line is 99% straight now- although I would like to get that last 1% corrected too as it is a front tooth. One thing I’m not sure of is whether at this point that is still an orthodontic issue or something that will be fixed by getting my new crown on the tooth next to it (yes, the ugly old crown on the front left tooth is still hanging in there, and still horribly discolored – see pics below)

However, having corrected those problems another one has arisen. My upper left molars now look to be in shadow compared to the front teeth. In fact they looked substantially better at set 23 of my Invisalign than they do now. I’m not sure whether this is because my eye tooth has moved outwards during my refinements and thrown them into shadow (you can see that it was programmed to move out on the refinements clincheck) or because the molars need to move out more. I notice that on the clincheck the front few teeth move out, but the molars don’t move with them, hence the problem. I mentioned this to my orthodontist at my last appointment and he hummed and haaahd and was a little noncommittal, however I am certain I want to fix this. I know that I said that I didn’t want perfect teeth, but it turns out that I am not as laissez faire as I first imagined and I do want them more perfect than this! Judging by how things have gone so far, and how well my Invisalign have worked up to this point,  I imagine that it would be a very simple refinement to get them where I want them,

In another week or so I have a long appointment with my orthodontist where we will remove the upper attachments (joy!) look at my upper teeth and decide what to do with them. He seems quite keen on leaving them as they are- I am much, much less keen on that idea! Fortunately he is the kind of orthodontist that really seems to take your opinions into account, so I’ll report back after my appointment as to what we decide.

My lower teeth are now on set 29 and I am thrilled with how they are progressing. If you look at my original pre Invisalign pictures below you can see that they were really, really straggly, for want of a better word. They are not perfect yet by a long way; but they are so, so much better.

Anyway, I’ll leave you with the pictures and let you judge for yourself. Please feel free to leave a comment letting me know what you think. Clicking the “leave a comment” link at the bottom of this page will take you to the comments form. As always, thanks for reading.

Before Invisalign:
15.8.08 from camera teeth before Invisalign

After 29 sets of Invisalign braces on my lower arch and 17 original plus 9 refinements sets on my upper arch. See how much the bottom teeth have improved:

Invisalign before and after pictures - teeth set 29 tilt

Invisalign before and after pictures – teeth set 29 tilt

This picture below shows how the left side upper molars are thrown into shadow behind the eye teeth now. In both pictures and in person those teeth almost look “missing” now:

Invisalign before and after pictures - teeth set 29 tilt smile teeth set 29

Invisalign before and after pictures – set 29

Whereas in this picture below taken at set 23, before the eye tooth moved outwards, the molars looked much, much better and were visible when I smiled.

Invisalign before and after pictures - teeth nov 09 set 23

Invisalign before and after pictures – teeth set 29

I will be taking a copy of these images to show my orthodontist and see what he says- Watch this space!

Filed Under: aligners, clincheck videos, invisalign aligners, invisalign before after, invisalign before and after, invisalign before and after pictures, invisalign braces, invisalign clincheck videos Tagged With: braces pictures, clincheck, invisalign, invisalign before and after, invisalign braces, invisalign clincheck, Invisalign orthodontist, invisalign photos, invisalign pictures, invisalign refinements, invisible braces, refinements

Invisalign Before And After : set 28 update Pictures

February 2, 2010 by admin 6 Comments

A picture speaks a thousand words- you know the old cliche… so I thought I would confine this post mostly to pictures. These are photos of my teeth before I started treatment and after 28 sets of Invisalign braces. I have one more upper refinement before I have finished with this run and I have 6 more lowers before we attempt to move my stray tooth over. You can now see just how horrendous my upper crown looks (next to my front tooth on the left) having moved. Fortunately when my trays are in it hides it to a great extent… I will get it fixed as soon as I am otherwise happy with my upper arch.

It’s interesting looking at the pictures of my aligners themselves just how my upper arch has rounded out, and also how the bottom arch has moved forward on the right hand side, but not yet on the left (where we are making room for that stray tooth.)
Let me know if you have any comments. I will be returning to my orthodontist in a couple of weeks to discuss what else I would like done to my upper arch- any suggestions gratefully received! Of course, I will keep you updated with more Invisalign before and after pictures as I take them..

teeth before
teeth after
upper contrast
lower arch comparison 28

It’s slow progress, but I think (and hope) it’s worth it!

Filed Under: invisalign pictures, Invisalign updates, invisible braces Tagged With: aligners, braces pictures, invisalign, invisalign before and after, invisalign before and after pictures, invisalign braces, invisalign pictures, invisalign refinements, invisible braces, refinements

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About Me

Ex model, mother, English & Australian. 2 daughters, 1 dog, 2 cats, 2 rabbits, a horribly expensive beauty habit and an obsession with straight teeth.

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