Forgot to say...

That I had 2 attachments fall off the very first day of tray 1 of the refinements. Actually, they had trouble getting them to "stick" at the docs office, then I noticed the next day they were gone. There are 2 separate attachments on both of the teeth these fell off of, and my dentist wasn't too concerned with getting them put back on immediately. Said it was fine to wait until my next appointment. One of them I don't think is ever going to stick properly, because it is so low on a premolar next to the open space my molar used to be in. It is REALLY super close to my gum. Shrug.

That is all. :)

Refinement 1 Tray 2

This tray has been VERY mild. It wasn't tight at all and I felt no soreness. It's felt like I have been wearing it for a while. I hope the next one give me some pain, baby! At least you know it is doing something!  I have to admit it makes for some difficulty in staying as compliant as I should be. I have been wearing them about 19-20 hours a day or more, depending on the circumstance. Weekends have become the worst for wear...

 

Two is not always better than one - but in this case, IT IS! These little doodads are AWESOME! Get some! I came across them when replenishing my stash.They are superior to those flimsy 1 line flossers. My husband said "watch out, before you know it they will be like the razors and they will have to keep topping one another and you'll have a flosser with FIVE lines and cost $25 a pack." LOL

I have been using the white strips with great results (mentioned previously, but it's worked out exceptionally well!) I slept with them in last night and only have a slight sensitivity on one of my bottom front teeth. Now that I have a couple of weeks under my belt with the new attachments, it is clear that the glue they use definitely stains and makes those particular teeth look more off color than the rest. Wish they could figure out a way to not get the glue all over the tooth and only apply it where it is needed... under the attachment. Oh well. At least we know that at the end when they remove the attachments it also removes the stains!

I have heard alot of people talk about their midline. Mine is way off but it has always been off. It's not really something has ever bothered me, so I haven't ever brought it up to the dentist. I can't even fathom how many trays it would take to shift a mouthful of teeth one way or the other. I just can't even consider the thought! UGH. I will be happy with straight teeth even if they are off at the midline. The only people who would notice it are those in braces or the midst of dental work.

I guess for my comparison shots I will show a pre-invisalign, Refinement tray 1, and then whatever current tray I am on. I think the movement is going to be much less dramatic this round. 

(My angle was a little different in the R1T2 photo... oh well! But hey, my teeth are WHITE this time Yay! :))

                                           Pre             Refinement 1 Tray 1  Refinement 1 Tray 2

Refinements are in! Refinement 1 Tray 1

Happy New Year 2014!

After five glorious weeks attachment free, I went to the dentist to get my refinements this morning.  I have 15 trays for both upper and lower. I was surprised by 15 trays, but it could be worse, so I won't complain. Only 2 attachments on the uppers - one tiny one on my right lateral incisor and another one further back on the same side. Whooo! Neither is very noticeable. I got 6 on my lowers none on the front four teeth - and the lowers don't bother me as much as the old attachments on my front tooth did! I am pretty happy with the attachment outcome!

If all stays on track and I complete all 15 trays I will be done with Invisalign on August 1st and can move on to some of the other cosmetic work to be done. This refinement only adds an additional 12 weeks to the original treatment plan I had (still had 8 trays on the bottom when we did refinements.)




He did some IPR on my lowers to make some room - it didn't hurt at all but it is a little disconcerting. He used a little drill with a grinding disc as well as a little strip of metal "sand paper." It gave me the heebie jeebies in the same sense of a "nails on a chalkboard" effect.

My teeth have been super sore this afternoon - which is not surprising and weirdly, welcome. After wearing the same tray for 7 weeks on my upper and 5 on the lowers, my last set of trays were quite - worn - and very easy to get on and off. I missed the 2 week switch outs and seeing some changes. I have to admit my wear time over the last 2 weeks has been quite lax - but the trays were well worn in and I had no problems when I put them back in. No issues today getting the new set in and out. I got some crest white strips and have been using them the last 2 weeks to whiten my teeth. They have helped immensely and is not quite as strong as the gel I have so doesn't cause the super sensitivity. I apply the strip then put my braces back in and can wear it for and hour or two no problem.

Here we go! Fresh start to the new year!

                                             Pre                                     Tray 1 Refinement 1

Tray 19 & Round 1 Attachment Removal

Tray 19 was very uneventful! I have to admit I was somewhat lax with my wear time because I knew I would be wearing this set an extra 3-4 weeks while waiting on my refinements to come in. It wasn't terrible, but I wasn't in a rush to get the trays back in after meal time. I haven't had any issues.

I had my dentist appointment this morning to take off the attachments (YAY!!) and take impressions for the refinements. It turns out in September, someone had ordered the missing passive trays, because they were there in the second box... 'replacement trays' were typed on the bags and they were dated in September. I guess whoever ordered them didn't put it in my file. But since we already pretty much had a plan, I insisted we go ahead and remove the attachments and send in for refinements. I was already set on it and have really been looking forward to having the attachments removed and gone for a few weeks. It didn't take long at all to remove the attachments and it didn't hurt or bother me in the least. My teeth are so much cleaner without the attachments and excess glue! They definitely get stained over time.

Taking new impressions...sucks. Yuk!! Still old school and we had to do each arch twice. That stuff is nasty! They also took a bunch of new pictures. Pretty much like the original appointment I had for the first round. He gave me another #19 for the uppers and had me switch to aligner 20 for my lowers. In a short 3-4 weeks I'll have the refinements and start all over again.

Pre Invisalign

Tray 19 with attachments

Tray 19 no attachments

"Look, ma! No attachments! LOL"

Tray 18

Whoo Hoo! 18 days until I go get my attachments off and take impressions for refinements. Tray 18 has been snug the entire time - there was some soreness the first 2 days as always, and no discomfort since. Trucking right along. Nothing out of the ordinary to report on this blog update. I've only done one whitening treatment since the one where I experienced the 'searing' pain. As soon as my attachments come off I plan on doing treatments for 15-30 mins everyday until I reach my desired whiteness. Hopefully that will help hold it off during the next round of treatment. I don't remember my teeth ever having this much trouble staying a decent white! I am brushing and flossing more now than ever! It's very frustrating!

I've seen some great movement so far and really look forward to what round 2 will bring! Although, I am praying I don't have more trays in round 2 than I did for the first round...


                                                Pre Invisalign                        Tray 18

Tray 16

The only thing of note with the remaining time in tray 16 is that last Monday, I took them out at work to eat lunch and dropped my upper tray in the sink. Right on the drain. Didn't go down the drain and our restroom is pretty clean, generally speaking. Being that there are only 2 ladies that use it and we are clean, I doubt the cleaning crew sanitizes the sink every time they clean. They SHOULD but I doubt they actually do. All that being said, I did not have any retainer bright at work. So I made the not so smart decision to use the anti-bacterial hand soap in a glass of water and let my aligners soak in it while I ate lunch. I HAD to clean them somehow, right? YEA, so then my aligners tasted like hand soap the rest of the week. It was disgusting. Unseen sink grime very disgusting.... soap in your mouth for a week... pretty darn disgusting. I now have retainer bright back at work! What a fiasco!

Speaking of retainer bright, I bought a years supply from Dentakit.com. I think I am good for the rest of my treatment! :)

I had my dental appointment this morning and got my last 3 aligners. Next appointment is on Nov 29th. They will remove my attachments (YES!) and do new impressions for the refinements. I should have at least 3-4 weeks attachment free. I am really looking forward to that. The company Christmas Dinner is  December 12th. I asked him about doing the crown prior to the refinements, but he prefers to wait until we are happy with results of the braces and then he will do the cosmetic treatment and that we we would wait until we are done with the cosmetic treatment and then do new impressions for the Invisalign Vivera retainers. I trust his judgement on that so I am good with his plan after talking to him.

That's about it for this update... I just switched to aligner 17 this morning...so far so good! :)

Tray 15 and Beginning of Tray 16

Tray 15 was pretty mild and it even felt loose the last week of wear reminiscent of the first few trays. With wind whistling through making it difficult to speak at times!  I seemed to have a dry mouth more than usual, which makes your braces dry out and stick to your lips when you talk. “Talk” about embarrassing…LOL!  I drink a lot of water too… upwards of 100 ounces a day.

 

For the staining experiment, I used retainer bright just like I did in the beginning of my treatment. I drank only water while wearing my braces. The results are quite clear that Retainer Bright is superior to the Polident 3 minute as far as retainer cleaning goes. Although, I am sure it is great for dentures! J  I am tempted to throw in the towel on the staining experiment and just stick with the tried and true method using retainer bright. I’ve got a ways to go yet in my treatment.

Tray 13 - Polident 3 minute. Drinking Diet Coke & Crystal Light while wearing braces



Tray 14 - Polident 3 minute drinking only water



Tray 15 - Retainer Bright drinking only water - as you can see there is barely a difference between the new set and this set!



Tray 16 - brand new out of package

Completed Mudder and braces happily back in!

 

Last Saturday my husband and I, along with his cousin and wife, did the Tough Mudder which is a 12 mile obstacle course mud run. We signed up long ago back in January 2013, and have been anticipating this event for about 10 months now (and training!) It was an absolute blast and we will all be joining again next year for our second event! I was torn over wearing my braces and getting mud and gunk stuck in there for the duration, or leaving my braces off and not having to think about having bacteria thriving in between my teeth and the braces! Happily making its ways around my teeth and gums! HEEBIE JEEBIEs! So I decided to not wear the braces and extend my treatment for a day or two if needed. Normally I switch my braces out every other Thursday, and of course last Thursday was THAT day. So I just kept the set on for an extra 2 days. I didn’t want to switch into a new set, and then have them off for an extended period of time the day after putting them in. The mud run ended up taking about 5 hours to complete! 5! I have never had my braces out that long before, and when it was done, all I could think about was going and brushing my teeth and getting them back in pronto! I am glad didn’t wear them because I had mud in my mouth more than once. YUK. LOL But worth it… it was so fun to complete the event! My braces were snug but I didn’t have to wrestle them back in, so I was comfortable switching to the new set after dinner Saturday evening.

Beginning Tray 16

This tray is more aggressive. My front teeth are sore as are some of the molars on my top right side. When I first put in the tray they were really super tight and it took me a minute to get them over the attachments on my uppers. Once I got them in I used a chewy until the felt seated properly.  It’s going well so far. Here are my updated photos. This time I did with and without the braces in.

Pre                     No trays             Tray 16

 

The straighter my teeth get the more I can see all of the jagged edges and chips. Yikes! Not a pretty site! I am looking forward to having some filing done later on.

I’ve noticed with trays 15/16 that my crossbite has been corrected (hard to tell straight on) but my bite is off at the moment. My molars aren’t touching now but my wisdom teeth touch, so chewing hasn’t been a problem. I may have had the bite issue for a few trays and didn’t really notice it since I have been able to chew with no issues.

 Left side with corrected crossbite

 

Right side

 

 

Only have just over 7 weeks before I go in to get impressions done for refinements. I need to talk to the dentist this Friday when I go get my last 3 sets of trays (for my uppers – I still technically have 12 for my lowers.) I want to make sure they are going to remove the attachments (3-4 weeks attachment free!! YES!) I’m wondering if they should go ahead and put the crown on that front tooth, so that it can be accounted for during the remaining treatment. I am also getting the bridges so it would be easy to just cut off the back of the final lower tray to make sure my front teeth stay where they are supposed to then they can take new impressions for my Invisalign Vivera retainers after the bridges are placed. Way too complicated! LOL.

Tray 14

Tray 14 was mild but consistent with pressure the entire 2 weeks. The night I switched to tray 14 I whitened. BIG MISTAKE!! I had instant pain where one of my first molars meet the gum line. I mean instant searing pain! Maybe because the aligner moved the teeth but they hadn't settled yet. I don't know, but from now on I will wait until the tail end of the wear. I wanted to start out "fresh" since I had just had my teeth cleaned and made the pact to only drink water while wearing them. I could only keep them in for about 15 minutes and that was pushing it! I had tears...seriously! Have been using the Colgate Prevident like crazy to combat sensitivity.




I completed the first experiment with staining of the aligners. I did the exact same hygiene routine using Polident 3 minute except that I only drank water when my aligners were in.

 

Add caption

Top is tray 13 - Polident 3 minute - I drank some diet coke and crystal light while wearing them (but not continuously, I still drank mostly water while wearing them!). YUK!





Middle is tray 14 - Polident 3 minute with only water while wearing them






Bottom is tray 15 right out of the package.





So, you can clearly see that these aligners stain terribly. From here on out, I am back to my water only regimen. Even only drinking water, while using the Polident 3 minute, there is still some slight staining. I didn't really notice the discoloration on a daily basis like tray 13. It wasn't until I took the new aligners out that I could really see that there was still some staining. I have a feeling no matter what, after 2 (or longer for others) weeks of wear, there will always be some staining and general grunginess (is this a word? LOL.)

Aligner 15 will be my normal regimen but using Retainer Bright instead of the Polident. Let's see how that turns out (I could just pull out some old aligners to compare as I still have them all (not sure why!) I put in tray 15 last night before bed and my front 2 teeth are some what loose today when I remove them, but I haven't had any pain at all. I was half expecting more soreness since trays 5 & 10 (pattern of 5's lol) seemed to hurt more than the others, but so far so good! I can't believe I just put in tray 15! 196.5 days into Invisalign! I still have a long ways to go, but I am used to them fully now (even the hated attachments.)

I think my teeth look much better when I am wearing the trays at this point.  :)

                                                     Pre                                   Tray 15



Tray 13

I had my dentist appointment today and also got a cleaning. I may be in the minority but I love to have my teeth professionally cleaned! I got a great report - no cavities. She didn't have to scrape as much as normal - a sign I have been pretty diligent (but not perfect) with my hygiene routine. The dental hygienist is pretty awesome I have to say. She is one of the most thorough and nice to boot. Her only concern was my----drum roll---- DIET COKE habit. Ya. So I promised myself I would stop drinking the diet soda with my aligners in as she mentioned some staining - I have enough trouble with my teeth being more yellow wearing these things - maybe my teeth are very porous?? Driving me crazy though... I haven't whitened in a long time so I am going to this weekend and suck up the sensitivity. I've noticed that the teeth with the attachments are the real culprits. HMMM! I also got a new prescription for the Colgate Prevident. She wants me to use it before bed and not rinse my mouth, but I am worried about it staining the aligners (it's blue.) Why do manufacturers feel the need to add "food" coloring (usually chemically)  to everything? I am good with clear! or White! or whatever natural color comes out! :) My next cleaning is scheduled for March 7th next year, which will be 1 day before my full year with Invisalign (got them March 8th this year.) I will look forward to seeing those xrays and seeing the changes!

On the cool message board I frequent (not a huge poster but I sure do like to read about other's experiences and watch for progress pictures!), Braces Review Board (check it out if you haven't already) there is a debate ongoing right now about what causes the aligners to yellow/stain. A few people are really awesome about only drinking water, so there is the thought it may be the denture cleaners being used. I never really noticed much staining when I was only drinking water and using Retainer Bright - but I started using Polident recently, which also coincided with my return to diet coke (I keep mentioning the diet coke because it was a HUGE deal for me to quit that habit last year - now I can't remember what made me drink one again a few months ago but I eventually said to heck with it, I'm drinking my diet coke. It's akin to having stopped/restarted smoking...UGH!!) So, all that to say is I am going to try and experiment cleaning my aligners over the next 6 sets using various methods. I will try a different one each week, and then compare. I will only drink water with my aligners in for the entire experiment. I always brush my aligners at the very least 1 x a day, but usually twice a day (morning and before bed.) I will keep that commitment during the entire experiment because the thought of NOT brushing them at all gives me the heebie jeebies. Too many crevices for germs and crud to hide in. (shivers)

Tray 14 - Polident 3 minute (although I usually leave them in there longer than 3 mins....)
Tray 15 - Retainer Bright
Tray 16 - Half water / half mouthwash
Tray 17 - Basic brushing the aligner using only water each time I remove them (not sure about this method but I've seen it recommended by ortho's - If I get wind of any odor or do not feel "clean" I am going to abandon this method and chalk it up to "oh hell no" sorry...LOL)
Tray 18 - Soaking in water and a dab of bleach (wow this is actually recommended by a dentist- at least they will be more sanitized than the Tray 17 method)
Tray 19 - Brushing with water and dish washing liquid each time I remove them. That should be fun when I am off site working (I work off site every Thursday for my job)

Okay - then I can compare and report. I will take photos on the last day of each aligner so we can compare for ourselves.

I feel like I am really starting to see some results, especially on my uppers. Uppers only had 19 trays as compared to the 28 for my lowers. 6 trays left on the top. Can't believe it!

At my last appointment I discovered that they didn't order passive trays and the coordinator came to talk to me about them today. They had their Invisalign rep come in to see them and they spoke with him/her about it. (They didn't know about passive aligners prior to my mentioning them - they do now. She said they have a few other patients in the same scenario.) So what we think we will do instead of worry with the passive aligners, is to just move into my 1st refinement at that time. Which is fine with me. I am hoping my uppers won't need too much more work at the end of this round. I still have that one tooth that will get a crown as well. I asked if it made sense to have the crown done before refinements or wait. She said we would get with the dentist on my next visit to really figure out how we want to handle it. That works for me. I can handle wearing my trays for a few extra weeks as compared to the 4-1/2 months I was looking at with the uppers. I wish the cleaning debate had come up earlier now that I think about it. What if method 6 sucks and I have to spend 3-4 weeks wearing a yellow aligner?? LOL

Finally, here are my progress pictures!

Trays 11 & 12

Trays 11 and 12 have been uneventful. Consistent pressure with both trays and very little soreness. The first few days of a tray I can always tell exactly what teeth are being focused on with the movement. It seemed that my teeth were "loose" when my trays were out longer than normal (especially noticeable when eating something crunchy like an apple) and that feeling creeps me out, I have to admit. I had a crazy dream where I fell and hit my mouth, and because my teeth were in trays I knocked out ALL of my upper teeth. I really hate those kinds of dreams!

 

I will leave off with a few comparison photos.

 

                                                Pre-Invisalign                 Tray 12

 

 

I feel like I have issues keeping my teeth white with the trays. May have something to do with the fact I was drinking only water for months, then started back on my diet coke habit. I swish with water after most sips but eh.