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My Invisalign Braces Experience

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One Year In Invisalign Braces – Not There Yet!

December 14, 2009 by admin 1 Comment

It occurred to me yesterday that it is almost exactly a year since I started wearing Invisalign and whilst I won’t be throwing the little plastic fellas a birthday party exactly, I thought it might be useful to reflect on how well the year has gone.

One year in Invisalign braces - image of fireworks.

One Year In Invisalign!

Firstly, have my teeth changed? Hell yes. When I look at that horrendous before picture in my right sidebar I’m not surprised that I never showed my teeth when I smiled. I’m actually just surprised that I left the house at all!
Not that I have perfect teeth now, in fact, I still have probably as long to go again, if not longer. But I’m happy with that because I can see that things are moving in the right direction.
So to reflect on the good things to have come out of this whole process:

  • My teeth look much, much better already. The thing that has made a particular difference in my opinion has been the widening of my upper arch. I knew that it needed to be done, I just didn’t know what a difference it would make.
  • The tooth whitening. This made an enormous visual change to my smile and I plan to do some more when I am finished and all of my attachments are off. It was also a great boost at the start of the treatment. I can highly recommend the nitewhite that I used with my trays.
  • My orthodontist is great, which is a huge relief. It was such a process to find a good orthodontist that I’m thrilled that it worked out so well.
  • Wearing my Invisalign isn’t painful in any way. Of course, there is some pressure and tenderness at the beginning of some trays but there is no rubbing and chafing, no sores, nothing. I expected this to be much worse than it is. I’m not sure what I expected exactly, but I think it involved ulcers, sores, waxes and many other horrors that I haven’t had to deal with.
  • My oral hygiene has dramatically improved. I feel guilty now if I only floss three times a day. I hope this carries on after treatment at least to some extent. It’s also gratifying to actually be able to get the floss between my teeth, it used to be an exercise in physical force just to get the stuff between my teeth and out again without it breaking. These days I don’t even think about it.
  • I just haven’t found wearing the things an ordeal. They aren’t that noticeable, they aren’t that inconvenient, they just aren’t very difficult. Such minor inconvenience for such a great result seems a pretty happy balance to me.

Of course, not every aspect of Invisalign wearing is rosy … off the top of my head these are the things that I don’t like about my braces:

  • I’m not as compliant in wearing my Invisalign I should be. I know that is my fault and not the fault of Invisalign but it still annoys me. Mainly it is just laziness and forgetfulness, less than admirable traits.  Still, it gives me something to add to my list of New Year’s Resolutions.
  • I forgot to get my attachments removed before my upper refinements and then I forgot to ask my orthodontist why we didn’t remove them. Of course, there may well be a sound orthodontic reason for it, but I don’t know it so it annoys me!
  • I keep losing the damn things. I’m sure if you’re a regular reader your pretty au fait with my inability to hold onto my Invisalign aligners, but honestly, in the next year I don’t want to go scrabbling through any more restaurant dustbins. Yes, it happened again last week. No, it wasn’t pretty.

On reflection, there isn’t really anything that I would change about my Invisalign decision. Of course, I am yet to see the end result and that might change my feelings, but at what I assume to be about the halfway point I am thrilled with how things are going.

On a final note I just wanted to say thank you to the 65,000 of you (yes really) that have read this blog over the last year. Your comments, helpful suggestions and support have been much appreciated.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Keep smiling…

Filed Under: Invisalign updates Tagged With: adult braces, aligner cases, aligners, attachments, choosing an orthodontist, invisalign, invisalign braces, invisalign compliance, Invisalign orthodontist, invisalign pictures, invisible braces, orthodontist, tooth whitening, tooth whitening with invisalign, whitening

Comparison Invisalign Pictures After 10 Weeks Of Invisalign Braces.

March 2, 2009 by admin 5 Comments

I spent most of my last post bemoaning the fact that I couldn’t see any changes in my aligners when I placed set #1 and 5 next to each other, but, I think, looking at these comparison Invisalign pictures of my teeth at set 1 and set 5 then I can see some (albeit small) changes.

I’ll let you be the judge.

Please bear in mind that I enhanced my set#1 invisalign pictures to make my teeth look whiter, but actually didn’t have to for set #5 as they are now bleached. Yay. I used Nite White and it has made a HUGE difference- there’s something really nice about having whiter teeth already, at least I feel I have something to show for all my hard work!

Comparison Invisalign pictures. Set 1 are on the top:
Invisaling pictures - set 1

Invisalign Pictures- Set 1

Invisalign pictures Set 5

Invisalign Pictures set 5

Here are my teeth biting down. Set 1 are the top ones again…
Invisalign Set 1

Set 1

Set 5

Set 5

That horrible ugly crown is still there, and the bane of my current dental life, but the second I am finished with the aligners it will be replaced. I have noticed that I am starting to see a black line along the top of it next to my gumline as it becomes less fitted as my teeth move. I’m hoping that it doesn’t get too much more visible.
I think the top two front teeth are perhaps the part that is most changed because I can see that the tooth has twisted and that the ugly gap between my two top front teeth has got smaller. I can’t yet see much of a change on the bottom arch but the bottom teeth do have much further to go, so maybe it will just take longer to see even the first changes.
I’ll keep posting comparison Invisalign pictures as I go through my treatment. I’m hoping for some big changes!

Filed Under: invisalign, invisalign photos, invisalign pictures, whitening with Invisalign Tagged With: adult braces, aligners, bleaching, bleaching with invisalign, braces pictures, invisalign, invisalign before and after, invisalign braces, invisalign pictures, whitening

Set 3 Invisalign braces-Invisalign attachments!

January 30, 2009 by admin 64 Comments

Having just got my new Invisalign attachments (or Invisalign buttons as some people prefer to call them) I think my love affair with Invisalign braces may already be starting to wane.

I’m not sure what possessed me, but I scheduled my appointment to get my Invisalign attachments an hour after I was due to drop my 5 year old daughter off for her first ever day at school. By the time I had realised, it was too late to reschedule, unless I wanted to wait another 2 weeks for my next set, which I certainly didn’t.

So, I arrived at my appointment red eyed and sorry for myself after a morning of blubbing and was perhaps feeling a little more fragile than I might otherwise have been. You should probably bear that in mind when reading this account!

My teeth though, were in great shape. I had a quick chat with the ortho about the bleaching which we agreed had been reasonably successful. I mentioned that after 3 consecutive nights of use it had made my gums crack and bleed, which he said noone else had told him before, so maybe that is just me?

He had a quick look at tray 2 in my mouth, and examined the crack (read about that here). He could immediately see the problem, and upon examining the other aligners he had waiting for me we could see that some of them cover my stray lower tooth completely, and some just cover the top of it. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to give me any explanation other than the that the Invisalign robot was having an off day but he decided it was unnecessary to cover that tooth, and took all the future sets away and filed them down. There was also a small area that irritates part of my gum that I have had to file on my last two sets, and he filed that on all the future sets too which was a great relief.

By the time I got to this appointment, 4 weeks into my Invisalign treatment I could get my trays in and out almost without thinking about it. It wasn’t quite at the point where I could pop them out with my tongue as I have read some other people discuss, but it was certainly easy. I told my ortho this, and he chuckled and said “wait until we get these attachments on” with an evil glint in his eye, and what I thought might be a cackle under his breath…

attachments

Teeth With Invisalign Attachments (Invisalign buttons)

The Invisalign attachments or buttons are small clear ‘blobs” that are fixed to your teeth to give your aligners better grip on the tooth that they are attached to. They are, in my case, all oblong shaped, although apparently there are other possible shapes. Depending on the movement they are designed to help with, they can be put on either vertically or horizontally, and can go on different positions on each tooth to help create different movements. I have 5 attachments in total as you can see on my clincheck.

The process of putting them on began with my ortho showing me 2 sets of my third aligner. One of them was a template set, made of a much finer and softer plastic than the normal aligners, the other was the standard aligner for use after the attachments were fixed. The template aligner was fitted to my teeth to check for fit and was then removed again. The ortho then used some kind of powered drill to ‘rough up’ the surface of my tooth. It was a sensation not unlike sandpapering and not altogether pleasant. He then filled the attachment gaps in the template with some gel and reinserted it on to my teeth. The gel would be what ultimately would form the attachments, and was hardened by him shining a blue light on each one in turn in a way very similar to when you get a white filling.

The next bit was slightly fiddly as he then had to remove the template, which involved lots of pulling and the use of his dentists pick, but eventually it came out without the attachments or any of my teeth!

He then took what sounded like a drill and filed off any excess bits that had become attached to my teeth, and also smoothed around the attachments so that they would not irritate my mouth. This was the part that I REALLY didn’t enjoy. It was very similar to having your tooth drilled in preparation for a filling, and although I knew that they weren’t actually drilling into my tooth, it felt as if they were, and was almost bordering on painful. The only positive was that it was over relatively quickly. If you have a dentist or filling phobia it may be worthwhile having a stiff drink or a valium for this bit, it is the bit I have enjoyed least of the whole process thus far.

I was then ready to go! The orthodontist reinserted the softer template tray and told me to wear that one until the end of the day. His reasoning for this was that it can be extremely difficult to remove the trays the first day after attachments are put on. The template would therefore help to move the teeth a bit whilst still being flexible enough to allow it to be more easily removed. This would give me a chance to practice before inserting the normal one that evening. I’m not sure whether this is standard procedure from Invisalign, if not, all hail my ortho, as it seemed like a great idea!

Of course, when he said that the template would be easier to remove than the normal tray, he meant easier, not easy. It still took me about ten nail-breaking minutes to remove each aligner, and I began to seriously doubt whether I would actually ever be able eat again.

There is a moment when you reach a certain point of frustration trying to remove these things, when your fingers seem too big and clumsy to fit in your mouth, and you just want to scream. I spent most of the day like that with one of the aligners stuck half on and half off my teeth and my fingers down my throat. I was so panicky that I wondered whether I can do this or whether I will need an aligner hook. Apparently a lot of Invisalign patients swear by them although they are hard to get hold of in Australia.

I switched to the standard aligners that evening, and noticed two things. Firstly, that the Invisalign buttons make them WAY firmer- they certainly do increase the grip- and also that my ortho wasn’t kidding about how much more difficult they are to remove. Even a week on I am still struggling- not as much, but there is no sense of just ‘popping’ them in and out, it really is something of an ordeal. They are also so much tighter than set two, almost to the point of pain. The old cliche of be careful what you wish for certainly applies in this case.

Aesthetically, I am also not a great fan of Invisalign buttons. I was prepared to concede that Invisalign braces are fairly invisible when you don’t have attachments, but, I think the Invisalign attachments effectively double their visibility. The strange bumps on your teeth are way more noticeable than the extra glossiness that you get from the aligner. Of course, that being said, they are still a substantial improvement on even clear standard braces, just not truly invisible.

The only other thing I dislike is that when your aligners are out of your mouth the Invisalign attachments feel very rough inside your cheeks- it gives you sympathy for how people with standard braces must struggle. They also feel like food becomes easily caught on them.

Of course, having said all this, I still on balance feel that they will be worth it- if I do end up with great teeth at the end!

For those of you who might be interested there is a great video on youtube showing the attachment process. I think it was helpful to me to know what to expect.

I’ll let you be the judge of how visible my Invisalign attachments look:

Invisalign attachments with aligner in

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Filed Under: invisalign attachments, Invisalign blog, Invisalign updates Tagged With: adult braces, attachments, bleaching, braces pictures, buttons, clincheck, filing invisalign, invisalign, invisalign attachments, invisalign braces, Invisalign crack, invisalign pictures, nitewhite, orthodontist, removing aligner, removing invisalign, whitening

Tooth Whitening With Invisalign Aligners

January 9, 2009 by admin 14 Comments

Just thought I would write a quick post about teeth bleaching or whitening with Invisalign because I get a lot of queries about Invisalign whitening and how to whiten your teeth with Invisalign. You probably can’t tell from my previous photos, because, in truthfulness, I am embarrassed and only pick the best pictures, but my teeth are really quite yellow.

Fortunately one of the great things about Invisalign is that you can use your aligner trays to bleach your teeth.(#aff link) Unfortunately, you have to do it before you get your buttons (attachments) on- so in my case (and I’m not sure if that is standard) within the first four weeks. For those of you who haven’t heard of attachments yet, stick around, because I’m sure you’ll be hearing me moan about them in the near future! In short, they are small blobs of a tooth coloured substance attached to your teeth to help give the Invisalign aligners more grip.

Invisalign whitening

The product I used for tooth whitening with Invisalign- US readers click image to buy on Amazon #aff

For the first week I was still too consumed by the newness of it all to get around to bleaching, but last night I thought I would give it a shot. I can’t bleach my crown, but it is being replaced at the end of the process, so I have decided on balance to bleach anyway and just deal with having a mismatched crown for now. Let’s be honest, my teeth are pretty dire anyway, one slightly mismatched tooth will barely make a difference.
The system my dentist has given me is a home bleaching kit called nitewhite, #aff that has 22% peroxide. (Note- if you live in the UK you can’t buy this there because it’s stronger than is allowed- you can order it from Amazon here (#aff)  though with shipping to the UK). For tooth whitening with Invisalign you use your invisalign aligners as the bleaching tray and stick one spot of bleach into each tooth space. My orthodontist charged me $40 for the bleaching, which seems fairly reasonable to me, particularly when compared to the cost of the zoom whitening system that my dentist suggested.

I merrily filled my aligners with the bleaching gel last night, taking care to put only as much liquid as suggested into each one. Nonetheless when I put them in the gel squirted out the edge of the aligners onto my gums. I spent 10 minutes or so mopping up the excess with a cotton bud.
They actually made my aligners feel tighter again, more like the second day of wear, so perhaps it is advisable to do this only on the second week of each set, I imagine that in the first few days it might make them more uncomfortable.
This morning, I jumped out of bed and inspected, and my teeth are definitely whiter. Probably by 2 or 3 shades at least. However, one of my bottom teeth, (and of course, one of the ones at the front) has an area that is significantly whiter than the rest. Really a kind of Hollywood “gleam”. It looks like I have dropped a spot of liquid paper onto my tooth, but vigorous brushing has shown me that it is not going to change. Strangely it also appears more opaque than the surrounding tooth. Really, I have no idea how this happened or what I am supposed to do about it. I think in the meantime I’ll just keep going, bleaching each night and hoping that they match up, and then ask my orthodontist about it at the next appointment.
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I am writing this second element of this post another day on, after a second night of tooth whitening with Invisalign. Nothing new has happened with the odd white spot, but the rest of my teeth are looking MUCH whiter. In fact, there is something strangely addictive about this whole whitening thing. I hope I can temper my enthusiasm so I don’t end up with one of those crazy over-bleached smiles…of course, I would then have to get a serious orange suntan to match to get the full Eurotrash look going on- and with my pale aspirin English Rose complexion that is never going to happen.. but if I start posting pictures of an over-tanned, over-bleached me, feel free to let me know via the comments form! I am supposed to keep going for several more nights, but I may have a break for a bit as I noticed that my gums are sensitive and prone to bleeding the morning after the bleaching.
Still, my husband, who has always been fervently against me changing pretty much any aspect of my appearance has admitted that my teeth look much better whiter. I actually think it makes me look younger, or maybe I’m just flattering myself! Lord knows, it wouldn’t be the first time.
It seems to me that this might actually be a good thing to do at the beginning of the Invisalign process as a motivational tool. It can be quite trying getting used to wearing the aligners, and this bleaching has acted as a little boost, a metaphorical pep talk, in helping me imagine how great my teeth might look once they are finished.
The only problem is that once you start scrutinising your teeth so intently, as Invisalign has a way of making you do, you find more and more faults. I have never liked my teeth, but I never thought they were that bad. Now, I can tell you what I dislike about the shape, position and angle of each one. I seem to remember writing at the beginning of all this that I was looking for nice teeth, not perfect teeth. I think, maybe, I just need to get out more..

Tooth Whitening With Invisalign

Tooth Whitening With Invisalign

Here is a picture of the offending tooth with its white spot, (bottom centre) and I didn’t even have to enhance this picture to make them look whiter. Yay! You can see in the picture just how mismatched that ugly old crown on the top row now looks, but my teeth matched it perfectly before, so maybe it’s a good thing that it no longer matches!!

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A quick PS a week later. I have found that after about 3 consecutive nights of whitening with Invisalign my gums get sore and cracked. I think it is best to bleach 2 nights, followed by 2 nights bleach free and repeat as necessary- please let me know whether you have a better method

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This is the product that I used for tooth whitening with Invisalign. I purchased it through my orthodontist but it is also available here (#aff link) through Amazon a lot cheaper!

For people who don’t yet have Invisalign trays there are also kits that come with a tray for you to use so you get the same bleaching effect without needing Invisalign.

Filed Under: bleaching, Invisalign blog, whitening Tagged With: adult braces, aligners, attachments, bleaching, bleaching pictures, bleaching with invisalign, crown, hollywood smile., invisalign, invisalign bleaching trays, invisalign braces, invisalign pictures, nitewhite, orthodontist, tooth whitening, tooth whitening pictures, whitening, whitening pictures, yellow teeth

Pictures Wearing Invisalign Braces

January 3, 2009 by admin 2 Comments

I just wanted to show you some pictures wearing Invisalign braces so you can see what they look like in. Bear in mind that these pictures are VERY close up, they don’t look nearly as noticeable from a social distance.

Also, I have a confession to make. Vanity has got the better of me and I have pressed the enhance button on my photo editing software for the second pic. What that does is make the teeth look a little whiter. Sorry, but they looked so diabolically yellow before that it was either a case of pressing that little button or not posting the picture!! Luckily my treatment plan involves whitening, but I haven’t started on that yet. I’m reserving that as tonight’s little drama…

Pictures Wearing Invisalign Braces

Pictures Wearing Invisalign Braces – my teeth before attachments were added

Pictures Wearing Invisalign Braces Before attachments

Pictures Wearing Invisalign Braces Before Attachments were added

Importantly, as you can see they do fit very closely to my teeth. However, as you can also see, they do make my teeth look much shinier and in some respects larger than normal. Those small grey patches that are in the photos don’t really look like that in real life, they are clear- it’s just air pockets that have photographed badly I think.

These photos were taken before my attachments were added. This is important because I really do think that the attachments or buttons really add to how visible they are on the tooth. Although attachments are tooth coloured they obviously stick out from the tooth. I don’t have any on my front teeth, mine will be at the side. This is something to bear in mind if you will have attachments.

Although I definitely don’t think Invisalign are truly invisible, I do think compared to metal braces, or even white ceramic braces that they are a LOT less visible. Of course, they are also removable which makes a huge difference if you have something that you are desperately keen not to be wearing braces for.

Filed Under: Invisalign blog, Invisalign blogs, invisalign pictures, invisalign whitening, invisilign Tagged With: bleaching, bleaching with invisalign, braces, braces pictures, invisalign, invisalign braces, invisalign photos, invisalign pictures, whitening

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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