A long, long time ago in a land far away (just kidding)... When I became a teenager it became clear that I had some orthodontic issues. The only visable clue was that my canine teeth stuck out but of course that's caused by bigger issues. My parents were willing to pay to have orthodontic work done but they were scared I wouldn't take care of my teeth during that time so in order for them to pay, I had to show them I really want to do it. Well, I was an overweight unpopular kid and that last thing I needed was to stand out even more. I was vaguely interested in getting my teeth fixed but orthodontics became a taboo subject to me so there was no way I'd bring the issue up. Anyway the situation was tolerable except for when I'd be babysitting and a kid would ask why my one canine stuck out so far.
Flash forward to life in the working world (when I had gained more self confidence by losing 4o pounds) when the Invisalign option first became available. Invisalign intrigued me so I made a consultation app with an ortho near my office. Well orthodontics was still a taboo thing to me so this was a huge step for me. When I was at the consultation the nurse was telling me how she was always embarassed by her teeth and hide her mouth with her hand when smiling, and all I could think of was "That's not me!". When the ortho came in he took a brief look and told me I had two options: One was jaw surgery which the nurse then told me would leave me with the cutest little dimples (what?!?) or the second option was to pull the premolars. Well the ortho showed me a film of what my teeth would do if I did the extractions route and all I remember was there was a point where my front teeth would stick straight out and that was when I decided I didn't want to fix my teeth that badly. From then on the idea of fixing my teeth would pop up in my mind every so often but I thought the only way I'd fix it would be after I had a child if I could stay out of work for two years so no one would see me.
Anyway life went on like it always does for a few years until I met an adult at work that was going through orthodontia. He was in the middle of his treatment, preparing for jaw surgery. While we were working one day alone he started talking about his braces and I felt safe enough to tell him about my consultation experience (I hadn't told anyone about it till then). He was a great listener and gave the required WTF expressions when appropriate. From then on I became his listening post,encouragement person,etc.
A year after meeting my friend my wisdom teeth started giving me problems so I decided to have them taken out. Once they were out I thought that I might as well see the ortho that advertises Invisalign all the time in my area and see if since I had more room in my mouth now (my wisdom teeth had fully erupted) if Invisalign was an option now. Well sure enough he said that although my case would take awhile I was definetly a candidate. So at the consultation I had the molds done and got a script to have the xrays taken. At this point I was still unsure in my mind if Invisalign would except me so I decided to go with the flow and see what happened. In February 2003 my aligners came in and I was prescribed 51 upper aligners and 8 lower aligners.
Everything went along smoothly for a year when the aligners kind of stopped fitting so nicely. I could tell my teeth were still moving but to me I couldn't see how there was anyway for the aligners to fit perfectly. After six months of the ortho telling me my teeth were being stubborn and trying everything under the sun to make the aligners fit right I had a long conversation with him. When he logged into the Invisalign site to show me were my teeth should of be given the aligner I was in he took a look at my mouth and realizing I had been right did new impression right then. In August 2004 I got my refinement set which prescribed 31 aligners for my upper jaw (my lower jaw had been finished the previous year).
The refinement set worked perfectly until three months ago. In the beginning my lateral incisiors couldn't move because there wasn't enough room. After two rounds of IPR they had plenty of room but things just didn't seem right to me. One incisor speedbump fit perfectly in the speedbump slot but there was still 1/2 mm left before the tooth would fit perfectly in the aligner. On the other side the speedbump for the lateral wasn't even close to the speedbump slot and I couldn't understand how it would get there. At this time I started searching the internet for information on invisalign and braces because I had reservations about doing another revision with Invisalign and wanted to know what my options were. I found archwired and reading peoples posts started to give me the encouragement I needed that braces weren't awful and that plenty of adults go through treatment all the time. Well I told my ortho about my Invisalign doubts and how I didn't mind finishing my treatment with braces (at my cost even) and at first he was lukewarm to the idea but after awhile he just flat out said no. At that point I wasn't the happiest camper but I was o.k. with it none the less.
Two weeks ago I had my eyes opened by my dental hygienst when she commented on how only two of my molars (one on each side) touch my molars on the bottom arch (Invisalign finished moving my molars before the refinement). I'd noticed that awhile back but forgot about it and never brought it up with the ortho. Well the hygienst (who I happen to trust a lot more than my ortho) was really upset by this and started telling me that I really consider dumping my ortho. Taking her advice I set up a consult with another ortho who confirmed that the situation wasn't right in many ways. Deciding to give the first ortho one last chance, when I was in his office last week I brought the molar subject up with him and he refused to look at my bite. He brought my invisalign movie up and even when it showed that my molars were long done moving, he told me it was no big deal that they didn't meet. I left his office last week knowing that by leaving his practice I was doing what was best for me!!!! (The other ortho is actually in the same building as the old one so right after I left the old orthos office I popped in to the new ones office and told them I want to get things started).
So that's basically what has brought me to my braces journey. I don't blame Invisalign for the problems I had since its really the orthos job to make sure everything is going along smoothly. I'm excited to get my treatment moving again yet some of the orthodontics taboo thing I suffered from earlier in my life is still with me. When I was having my molds done the ortho came by and asked if I'd decided to become a braceface this time, and I almost wanted to disappear. I know she meant nothing by the comment but its going to take some getting used to to become completely comfortable with braces. Overall I'm excited but the anxiety of not knowing what is in store for the next 15 months is killing me! Not only that but my fall grad class starts the day I get braces and that weekend I'm doing an expo to promote my side business. I figure after that weekend is over I will have completely introduced my braces to the world!!! I'm a little scared what people at work will say but one of the high ups just got braces so at least there used to someone in the group getting braces (he was the one who recommended the new ortho).
Anyway just thought I'd share my story and after writing this all down I'm a little less anxious (for now anyway)
Before I forget here are the all important before invisalign teeth picture and before braces picture!
Once reattached it looked MUCH better. When things started to go south I thought long and hard about everything and decided having to deal with the front teeth having speedbumps for longer than braces would last wasn't worth it for me (my old ortho also had a blown up picture in his office of some unfortunite soul who had speedbumps on every upper tooth). When I decided to find a new ortho I had a consult with one ortho who said I'd have to have teeth pulled and it would take 2 years to complete my case. Then I really felt like my 2.6 years in Invisalign was for nothing. Thankfully the one I chose says it'll be a max 15 months with no extractions (although I'm telling myself 18 months so I'm not too disappointed if 15 months comes and goes w/o removal). I'm having new xrays taken tomorrow so hopefully nothing surprising will be found (like my roots didn't move or something).
