Tray 11, Day 2 Will Post Pictures!

Wow! What a difference one aligner will make!

So as I posted before I had an orthodontist appointment yesterday, Monday the 26th, for my 8 week check up and distribution on 4 more sets of trays. He said I was being a "good girl" and wearing my aligners prefectly since my teeth are right where they should be at this point in time. So he put in my 11th set and man were they snug! I was so excited to be more than half way through! I felt like a million bucks when I left his office, so off to McDonalds I went to eat breakfast before I went to school.

So here I am with my nice little breakfast sandwhich and I go to take out my brand new very snug aligners right? Well I go to take them out same as always and one of my attachments got ripped off! In fact my attachment was still stuck in my aligner when I looked at it!!! So I thought I was doing so well with my attachments and the happened. So I call my orthodontist and he said my attachment is important for my aligners but I will not need it untill my next aligner so.... in 2 weeks I have to go back in to get my attachment put back on. :(

Also, something that has never before happened to me before except for my very first tray is my teeth and tongue are killing me!!! I feel that I am getting more done in this tray than I have in my last 10, so I guess that is a good thing.

I asked my orthodontist about my retainer and what he will have me use as a retainer when my treatment is done and he said that is dosen't matter which one I use, the one with metal or the ones provided by invisalign, and that I will have to wear both the same amount of time. He said that I will have to wear them day and night for about 8 months then I will go into wearing them at night about 2 nights a week for the rest of my life. And it makes me laugh because people are like, "Do I have to wear retainers forever, if so then what is the point?" I don't think people realize that 2 nights a week for the rest of your life is a small price to pay for your expensive treatment which makes your more confident in your self, if you didnt want to maintain your beautiful smile for the rest of your life and you don't want to take the steps to keep it the way YOU wanted it in the first place then why waste the time AND money to get the smile you wanted anyways?

Anyways all in all I am VERY VERY pleased with my progress, and let me tell you sometimes I just want to say I give up and throw my aligners away, It may sound weird but, I miss the feeling of my own teeth =( but then I remember how bad I WANTED THIS SMILE and how long it took me to convince my mom to let me get orthodontic work done and I just deal with it. I have my next appointment in 8 weeks or on Jan. 21st, 2008 and will get 4 more trays putting me at tray 18 by March 10th or so =). Anyways untill next time! And I hope my pictures of my progress inspire you all to just keep going.

Xoxox,
Shawnna

Like I Promised!! Update on Last Post!

Alright so like I promised I took pictures of my current progress! Yey! Well I think you will all definitely see a big difference from when I first started this tedious journey we all call Invisalign. I will put the beginning photos before its newer counterpart so that you can really pick out the changes. Happy thanksgiving everyone! Hope that this post inspires those who think this is a waste of time, just keep going!
- Shawnna

Tray 10, Day 8

Alright so I haven't been updating at all, shame on me!!! My last update was on tray 5 and I am not on tray 10 so I have been neglecting this blog for about 10 weeks. So to start...

Not much has happened in the way of my invisalign experience. I had a check up with my orthodontist at tray 7 and he said things are right on track to keep my progression going. They said that I am doing great sticking to my wear time since I am a teenager and they have had tough times getting their teen patients to do what is expected of them. The appointment made me feel great.
My smiles is soooo... different! I am so please with my results. I am set to have 20U/22L and have an orthodontist appointment on November 26th and my orthodontist will give me about 4 to 5 new sets to take home before my next visit. That will put me at about 14 or 15 meaning only 5 more trays left! w00t. I am sure I will need refinements but, I really haven't had any problems with treatment so hopefully I can keep the refinements at a minimum.

My teeth arn't putting up a struggle to move. Actually I don't have much pain with new aligners at all. At my very first appointment I got 13 attachments put on and those haven't given me any problems either, other than getting food stuck on them, that is. I haven't had any problems with getting my aligners off either, actually all it takes is a flick of my tounge and they go flying.

A habit that I have picked up along the way, which shamefully is a bad one, I no longer brush and floss after every single bite of food that I consume. I will rinse with water and brush within a few hours after eatting. I still clean them in my sonicbrite system every three days.
Well that is my update not much of anything going on but I am so happy with my results. I will post pictures soon as well as an update on how my orthodontist appointment goes. Talk to you on Monday!!


-Shawnna

Just an Update- Tray 2, Day 5

Alright so basically my teeth are done moving for this tray. I have noticed that when I leave my aligners out even for like 15 mins., they are really tight and feel as though my teeth have already moved back into their old positions! ekk! This only motivates me to keep them in as much as possible. I have been having really strong urges to chew and bite on ice and gum. I don't know if I can take 9 more months of this!!!! Arg.. its depressing sort of.
Anyways, I haven't noticed any changes with this tray, (number 2), so I am supposing that my back teeth are in the process of moving all over. I have a dentist appointment on Wednesday, I hope that he is amazed by how clean my teeth are, if i'm brushing 5 times a day he better be impressed! Then on the 6th of Aug. I have my ortho appt. This means 2 things, 1) I will have been in tray 2 for 3 weeks, ugh 2) I will have 12 buttons put on, ugh squared.
So basically I want more progress! I'll have new pics in 2 weeks!

- Shawnna

Tray 2, Day 3

Okay so nothing that great has happned since I have started tray 2. I can feel my front 6 teeth on top moving and they are loose without my aligners in. On my bottom teeth the back ones are the ones that hurt and that is to be expected I suppose.

I have lovely gaps between my molars, I dont even need to floss back there anymore, just brush them. =] I find this amazing because I have had crowded teeth my entire life so now I know my teeth are moving a lot.

I go to the ortho Aug. 6th to get my next few sets of aligners and I get 12 attachments put on, you know if they were those little button type ones that are all small and round that would be all good and dandy but I get those giganto rectangle ones put on. Ekkkkk [] <<<---- thats like exactly what they look like. Oh Gosh, I have a feeling I wont be eating that day. Ill be sure to take pics of them when I get the attachments.

Yey! Im so excited I counted down and my treatment will be done May of next year, right before my graduation! My teeth will be marvelous!

Untill next time!- Shawnna

Yey! I've started Invisalign.

Ok, so I am a week and a half into my first invisalign tray. I must say the day I received them I did not expect to feel so uncomfortable with little plastic trays in my mouth. The morning after I got them I was in hell and felt like my teeth were about to fall out of my head and my tongue and lip got rubbed to pieces because they were not use to having plastic rubbing on them all day.
The pain went away after two days and my tongue and lip got use to the irritation. My teeth have moved tremendously already I can tell because I have crowded teeth and now have spaces between some of them and I now feel better with my aligners in rather than out because my bite has changed so much that I cannot bite down all the way.
Anyways I will have 20 trays for my top teeth and 22 on the bottom, I start my next set of aligners on Monday. Ill be sure to take updated pictures!
Wish me luck!

This is my front view before invisalign started.

Yey! My first shots with invisalign in!