Thanks!
As far as the bite, I used to have a cross bite where my upper teeth were too far in. As you can see they have moved out. The upper second premolars were supposed to get pulled down a little, but they didn't. Their attachments don't fit where they should anymore in the aligner and the teeth aren't all the way down in the aligner.
I still need these second premolars pulled down more, and maybe the first molars. But I have crowns on my lower first molars and will need crowns on my upper first molars. So after Invisalign we can still adjust the bite a little by choosing crowns that are slightly longer.
Before Invisalign my teeth contacted on one of my lower wisdom teeth and the front teeth. The first and second molars didn't really contact. I got the wisdom teeth removed, so now my front teeth make contact, but not the back ones. The way my lower canines rotated, they are now the ones that make contact, but I still have 2 more trays to go before refinements, and a slight movement can allow the teeth to come together a lot better.
My dentist expects to get a "usable" bite. I'm not sure, but I may need elastics to help pull the teeth down. I'm optimistic.
Right after starting Invisalign. Side view from September 25, 2007:
Current picture. Side view from September 14, 2008. You can see the teeth are lined up a little better, but still don't come together.
The discoloring of my incisor was worse before I whitened my teeth around the time I started Invisalign. I will try whitening in the future. The dentist said whitening would not fix it completely, and that I'd need veneers to do that. But I don't want to get veneers at this point just to fix the color, especially if I would have to get both front teeth done. It is the least of my concerns right now. I'm hoping that having straight teeth will be good enough.
