Finally fixing my teeth.

[liner]

I started in April and also using accelerant and changing my aligners every 7 days.
Accelerant is supposed to lessen time in treatment.
My ortho told me that I can now change after 5 days, as long as the aligners are worn for 22 + hours/day, which is the case with me.
Ask your ortho about accelerant as I have had no issues with my invisalign.

[Beemur]

Okay guys, I still haven't got my old laptop yet to get my photos off of it so I'll just use the ones I have on my phone, the only issue I have with them is that they're pretty awful quality but hopefully they don't come up too bad on here.
My before pictures I took when I was in the dentist chair, just numbed up and ready to have my bottom left central incisor out and the little extra tooth you can see growing behind my upper teeth came out that day as well, that didn't hurt a bit thankfully haha.
My progress pics are from a few weeks back now. I'm roughly halfway through my treatment, I'm happy with the progress, I can't believe how different my teeth feel. My ortho said I was a difficult invisalign case but he's very happy with the progress also. He's hoping that the lateral incisors come all the way forward in the next couple of months and then wants to focus on my midline in the refinements

[Beemur]

Ohhhh exciting update! I finish this round of aligners on the 7th of February! I was supposed to go until aligner 35 but he said he isn't bothering with the last three of this set because he only got them for if my gaps haven't closed up and he said they're already closed so he's extremely happy with that and we will stop at 33 for this round. I get all my attachments taken off, get a new scan done and then wait for my refinements, he's hoping the refinements will correct my midline, which goes slightly off to the right. The midline doesn't even bother me to be honest but if he says he wants to try and fix it I'm fine with that. While I'm waiting for the new trays in february I only have to wear a retainer thing at night, so I will be Invisalign-free for a few weeks (YAY!) haha.

I was so nervous going into Invisalign because I've heard so many stories about people not tracking and needing mid course corrections and all that. As soon as my ortho said "We've left a bit of leeway here and there with the time frame because we know a lot of people tend to leave them out for longer than they're meant to and it can impact treatment times by a few weeks or months" I knew I was going to be very precise with my wearing time so I didn't need to wear them for any extra weeks or months. The photos really don't do justice to the amount of change there is, I've never received so many compliments in my life as I have in the past couple of months One thing I will mention though, if you have a photo taken kind of close and with a flash on, the little attachment bubbles reflect like hell. I think my post above with my progress pics shows what I'm talking about, that was taken with a bright light. Normal lighting is fine and I never notice them in pictures like that.

So far with my treatment I'm really happy with invisalign. It hasn't really been a challenge wearing them for 22 hours a day, I think 99% of my wearing has been 22 hour days. I think that would be my number one piece of advice to anyone new to this: wear them literally as much as you can. It sucks for the first couple of months but you get over it.

A great benefit has been how much I clean my teeth. I was overdue for my 6 month clean and was worried because I was up to 7 and a half months without a cleaning from my dentist and I went in and she said there was really nothing to clean off She did her quick once over and a fluoride treatment but said my teeth were amazingly clean! I was so relieved haha she only charged me half price for it so that was cool. I think like most people with braces, I'm super particular about cleaning my teeth, so I guess it pays off. Dunno if I will be able to keep that up once I'm done with Invisalign though haha.

So, I'm on number 28 now (I think) and I put 28 in on Monday, so I don't have to change to 29 until Christmas night! That's exciting for me because it means no tender teeth on christmas day so I can eat ALL the foods haha.

Merry Christmas (Happy Holidays) to all the archwired fam!

[Beemur]

Also posted some updated pics here, just thought I would link the post instead of posting the whole thing again haha
viewtopic.php?f=19&t=53108

[Beemur]

Well I am officially done with my first round of Invisalign! I'm extremely happy with the results, I would be happy to stop here but my ortho is insisting he can do better haha. He said he was very pleased with how speedy my teeth were and gave me some good news I didn't expect; we're going to try and move my molars in the refinement round! I was very shocked because I had settled for not having them moved and just kind of accepted the bad bite with my first molars being so narrowed in, but he said he is quietly confident he can make a change so I guess we will see! He also wants to fix up my bite on my front left side, where my high canine was pulled down, and he mentioned something about my lower canines but I can't remember so I'll have to ask him about that. But for the first round, there's an insane difference. I really wasn't expecting invisalign to help me so much.

I got rescanned and got all my attachments off (YAY). I'm not booked in for a while to go and get my refinement trays because I'm supposed to be having a root canal in the meantime on one of my molars and he wants it to settle down completely before he touches it at all, so he wants to be sure it will be all okay first. I'm due back in April, so until then I can live like a normal person again! for the past day I've been snacking, drinking and just enjoying not brushing my teeth after it all I guess

I did think about getting my teeth whitened the ortho assistant said I would be a lot happier if I wait until my treatment is over all together, and I ended up agreeing. The only thing that's bothering me is how there are some stains on the teeth that were crowded behind other teeth, I guess because I couldn't brush them properly and dental cleans couldn't get there very well they just ended up staining a bit, I'm sure I can wait a while for the whitening.

I have one pic I can post, there's just two different versions of it, first one is just a before and after that the orthodontist took, they always take the best photos so I thought they were the best ones to use
Second one it's just a screenshot I took of how my clincheck looked and my real outcome, I sent it to my mum because she was sad that she couldn't be here to see the end result, she's all the way away in Sweden right now so it was kind of sad in a way not showing her in person this outcome that I've been waiting so many years for. But I'm still VERY happy!

My braces story probably hasn't been the most informative but I have enjoyed posting here every now and then and it's definitely good to look back and see what was going on, plus talking to people on Archwired is always great. I'll start posting again when I get my refinements! Meanwhile I just have to wear a set of aligners at night to retain these pups

[liner]

Your teeth look great!
Congratulations on getting to this point!
I am approaching the refinement stage and curious how long the refinement stage will be.
I initially had 63 aligners, top and bottom, but now ortho said that I will can finish at 54 and then refinement. I am currently on aligner 50.
I wear my aligners 22+ hours a day, use accelerant and change every 5 days so my compliance is paying off!
I am quite excited but again, just wondering how long this refinement stage is.

[chinglnc]

@Beemur

Just wondering how is your treatment going?

[Beemur]

Wow just realised I haven't been on here in FOREVER, here is my fresh new update:

I will pick up where I left off. I finished my first round in early Feb. I got rescanned and my aligners were ordered, I was to have 29 aligners in my refinements and it was almost 100% to be focused on moving out my molars and widening my arch more.

But remember I had the issue of having to get the root canal on my upper left second molar? BOY, did I put that off. I was scared about the root canal.
I put it off until the 14th of April and I was due back into my ortho on the 28th of April to get my new aligners but they had wanted me to have the root canal in February so it could "settle down" before my new aligners, so I was also nervous I'd left it too late hahaha.

My endodontist was lovely, I explained that I had already had my teeth scanned so I couldn't have the shape of my tooth changed otherwise the aligners being ordered in wouldn't fit me. He assured me he would make sure that after the root canal was done he would make sure the tooth was the same shape. He did it perfectly and that was all good, my aligners fit perfect around the tooth (I took the aligner I was using as a retainer for him to make sure it fit).
Also, the root canal was absolutely painless, my fillings have been more annoying. I get a sore jaw so I was worried about keeping my mouth open for an hour but he gave me a 'bite block' so my jaw had no pain either. Literally not even remotely scared of root canals anymore, after I mentioned my fear of pain he gave me an extra injection to make sure I was super numb (I could have also had a relaxant pill but I'm not great with medication haha). It was done over two appointments, first one on the 14th and second one on the 21st.
I absolutely drilled him with questions about if it was going to fail because I'm going straight into orthodontic treatment and all and he said it should be absolutely fine, I didn't even have to wait a couple of weeks because it would make no difference to the tooth, he said if I really wanted to I could have started my ortho treatment the next day.
He said there could be some tissue bruising around the root canalled tooth but that's the only pain I should have. He was right, I could drink cold drinks again and not be on the verge of tears and the only pain I had was major bruising on the injection sites.
He told me to avoid really hard stuff like pork crackling though until it gets crowned, which he said can wait until my invisalign is over because that really will change my tooth shape haha.
Everyone said how expensive it would be, and it was. It would have only cost $1900 at my dentist but I ended up going to the Endodontist because I didn't want to regret not seeing the specialist, I paid $2700 all up.

I called up my orthodontist and said I had only just finished my root canal on the 21st and should I still come in on the 28th? To my surprise, the therapist checked my file and said the endodonist had sent through all his notes and my orthodontist was happy for me to start on the 28th still. I was really pleased that they communicated so well together so I didn't have to be a middle man.

So I went on the 28th and found out that my two upper second molars were going to move drastically and the tooth I had just had a root canal on would have a button on it for an elastic band as well as an attachment, I was nervous but they assured me it would be all good. The molar on the other side would have the same.
So I have a silver button on the inner side of the upper molars and the elastic goes in a triangle down on to two silver buttons on the outsides of my lower teeth. I'll get pictures to explain.
I have attachments on ALL MY TEETH EXCEPT THREE, actually four if you include my little wisdom tooth popping up at the back.
The attachments don't bother me. People noticing doesn't bother me. Honestly at this stage nothing could bother me about people staring at my teeth. I'm so happy with their progress.

I'm up to aligner 22 of 29 of my refinements. My molars have moved considerably. I NEVER came into this expecting to fix my molars, I only wanted straight front teeth. The fact he could do anything with the back has been a bonus to me. I'm due back on the 3rd of December to get all my attachments off and he will decide if there's more he wants to fix up!

I am off to go an find some kind of timeline of pictures, I will attach them in the next post!!

[chinglnc]

thanks for sharing- can't wait to see your pictures!

[Speck]

Nice to get front teeth sorted and have the unexpected bonus of resolving issues with molars--congrats! I bet you're eager to finish up with treatment by now...

[jeffhere]

Hey,
You're doing it and getting it done! Good job! In a few years you'll look back and be so happy you did it now!