I am now Invisaligned!

[cal4ever]

-deleted-

I'm now 26, about to graduate from law school and have a job waiting for me after graduation. I worked for a large law firm this past summer and saved up enough money to finally, FINALLY get braces!!!! I went to several orthodontist for consultations. I went to 2 invisalign premiere provider, 1 ibraces (lingual) braces premiere provider and 1 who used both invisalign and lingual.

To my surprise, I qualified for invisalign. In fact, it seems that my case isn't too difficult at all *knock on wood*. Though, if you saw my teeth, you wouldn't think that at all! They look like a mess! I have crowding both on my uppers and lowers. A mild overbite and a crossbite. All the orthos I went to agreed that I would not need any extractions. The orthos who use invisalign also said that my overbite and crossbite will be fixed as well.

I already paid my deposit, had my impressions made and now I'm waiting for my aligners to come in. I'm so excited!! I can't describe how excited I am. Finally, I won't have to feel so self-conscious about my teeth. I will update this post with pictures.

Sorry this post was soo long!

[cal4ever]

... I can honestly admit I have no idea if I have friends with perfect teeth ... I never look at their teeth ... I speak to them ... and look at their eyes. I find it tragic that in some countries people measure their value by their teeth ... geepers they have evolved for eating ... not to be a measurement of self worth.

I also feel that if people have low self esteem as a result of not having perfect teeth ... that they would still have had low self esteem with perfect teeth, except something else would have the blame passed to it.

I don't think people here in the US value people by their teeth, but when your teeth are not perfect (like mine), it's very easy to be very self conscious about them. And, well, my family is a different story. LOL.

And I do agree with you about people and low self esteem. However, I think it's better than sitting idly and not doing anything about what is bothering me about myself. I also agree that for some people, once they fix their teeth, they will find something else wrong about their body, personality or whatever. Hmm... I guess I don't know how to respond to what you said. Will I find something else horrible about myself once I get my teeth fixed? Who knows? I don't think I will. And I sure hope I won't.

Sorry for my rant ... but it's time we realised that for most people having ortho treatment is about improving their bite ... so that eating gets easy and jaw pain less. ... ok I'm finished ... Shocked

Some people get braces for different reasons. Some get them to improve their bite, some, like myself, are getting them or aesthetic reasons. My bite is fine. I have no pain when I bite and I do not have any jaw pains.

I guess I don't really know how to respond to your post without sounding defensive so I'll just leave it at that.

[jenfire]

That's awesome cal4ever! I'm sure your teeth will look beautiful with the invisalign treatment. Unfortunately it wasn't an option for me so I went w/ceramics.

I assume you'll be taking the CA bar in July--good luck! My husband is an attorney (criminal defense) here in Indiana but we'll be relocating to Houston in the summer so he'll have to take the TX bar exam in July.

I look forward to hearing about your orthodontics journey.

[mighty mo]

Congratualtions Cal. I see very little about invisiligns on this board, so can't wait to hear how things go. I used to have dreams about invisilign, but ended up with a full metal bracket (sigh!)

[cal4ever]

Thanks, everyone.

Jenfire, yes, I will be taking the bar in July. I'm already nervous about that. By the way, my bf is also going into criminal defense (he wants to be a public defender).

I should have mentioned this on my original post, but it's been about 2 weeks since I got my molds done. My ortho said that it will take 4 weeks for them to get my aligners in, but I understand that there may be delays (at least that's what I've gathered from the invisalign board). I will definitely update this thread frequently. I will post pics of my teeth as soon as I find a place that will host my pictures.

Thanks for the encouragement, everyone!

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[cal4ever]

KK,

With all due respect, I know you are just trying be helpful and I appreciate your thoughts and your concerns. I really do. However, it's very difficult not to be defensive when one implies that I have underlying issues that have pushed me into getting braces. I may, I may not. One thing is for certain, this is not the appropriate forum for me or for anyone to discuss my "underlying issues." I am here to share my experience with invisalign and that's about it.

Maybe I misled people to think that I'm this person with incredibly low self-esteem due to my first post. I have deleted that section to prevent any future misconceptions.

Cheers

PS
Again, the pics will be up soon. I hope.

[cal4ever]

Here are my pre-invisalign pics. I should be getting my invisalign aligners in 2 weeks.

My lower teeth:


My upper teeth:


My smile:


By the way, I just went to the dentist to get a cleaning. My dentist said I have to get 7, yes 7!, cavites filled.

[becks]

Hi Cal,
Congrats on getting the ball rolling and hope the time you have to wait for your aligners to come in goes by quickly. I so hoped to be able to use invisalign but I wasn't a candidate. Actually, I intitially hoped to get veneers but when I got the no go on that, then got a no go invisalign, I now have a full mouth of metal. Just got them 2 days ago. My main problem is a cross bite. No other bite issues or pain. Doing this for purely asthetic reasons. For myself. And there's nothing wrong with that
Sorry about all the fillings but good they are being taken care of now. Look forward to reading about your progress.

[cal4ever]

Nothing new... still waiting for my aligners to come in. The anticipation and waiting for my treatment to start is unbearable. Argh! A few more weeks (1 or 2) until I get my aligners in.

[becks]

Love the turtle back riding emoti Ken!

Cal, Waiting sucks so bad doesn't it. It's like, ok I made this decision, here's my money let's get this party started...and you get put off. I had my initial consult w/ the ortho I chose 27 Dec 06, records in early Jan 07, and didn't get my braces put on until 13 March!!! I was so anxious having to wait that long. Time didn't seem to move. But, it did eventually come ...and go!...And it will definetly be worth the wait. Hang in there!

[cal4ever]

Hahah! Thanks for putting a smile on my face. I loved the turtle too. I think turtles are making my aligners, no offense to turtles. I hope my aligners come in before I graduate from school. That's in May.

[cal4ever]

I have an appointment this Wednesday, 4/4, to get my aligners!!! I'm so excited!!

[cal4ever]

i'm just testing my counter or ticker

[cal4ever]

I got my Invisaligns today!! WOOHOO!!!

I went to my orthodontist appointment at 10:30AM. I left at 11AM. I thought I'd spend more time at the orthodontist's office. This how the visit went:

At 10:30, one of the ortho's assistant called me in. I sat down in the dental chair and she explained the whole invisalign process. My orthodontist already did this before, but a refresher course was nice. She then told me that they're not going to put bumpers on my teeth until the next time I see them (that's 4 weeks from now). She said that my ortho prefers to have his patients get use to invisalign first before putting the bumpers on. I asked if this meant that my teeth won't be moving while I have my first 2 alginers. She said, "No, they'll move trust me." She's right. I feel my teeth starting to get sore right now.

She then showed me how to put the invisaligns on. She said "Align the aligner with the front teeth first, snap them in, then snap them on the back of your teeth." She did the same on my bottom teeth. Then she showed me how to take them off. "Start from the back of your teeth, unsnap your aligners and work your way to the front of your teeth. Don't attempt to take it out at once." I said, "Okay" even though I wasn't really listening. I was too excited. Then she said, "Your turn." Of course, since I wasn't listening, I tried to put the aligners from the back of my teeth. She looked at me and said "No, front then back, remember?" I smiled and said "oh yeah, oops." I don't think I ever salivated that much in my life. I managed to snap them on and off w/o a problem-unless you consider drooling all over yourself a problem.

Now I'm home. I'm still salivating. My stomach feels weird 'cause I'm swallowing so much saliva -- sorry about being so explicit.

I've read on someone else's blog about Invisalign claustraphobia. I think I have it. This is my analogy: I feel like I have socks on. I want to take my socks off, but if I do, I know that my feet will be cold. So I keep my socks on, but I dont like how they feel on my feet. I want to take them off. That's how having Invisalign feels right now. The other woman with a blog talked about feeling like she has a sweater on that she can't take off. I like sweaters, thta's why I'm using the sock analogy. I know that I'll eventually get use to this, but until then, I feel like I want to free my teeth. AHHHHH. Other than that, they're fine. I will post pictures later.

[jenfire]

That's so exciting--getting your trays! Can you explain what the bumpers are? Are they notches for elastics or something else? (I'm not that familiar with Invisalign).

I hear you about the salavating. I was in the same situation when I got my upper palate expander. It subsided within the first couple of weeks though.

Good luck!