Invisalign - Doubts?

I guess it is natural that everyone has a moment at some point during their treatment when the reality and scope of the Invisalign treatment hits them, and causes them to question the wisdom of doing it or their ability to follow through with the treatment. For me that time was early in the treatment, early July we will say.

I was just switching to a new set of trays (I don't remember which ones) and it hit me all of a sudden that I will be wearing these trays for at least the next year. Needless to say I was a little taken back by that thought. To that point, everything was a novelty. Sure I was wearing the aligners all day only to take them out to eat and brush, but it was just something new and different. As I put in that new set of aligners, it struck me that it was odd to have your mouth filled with plastic, and not be able to feel your teeth with your tongue. It was only then that the thought came up, crap for better or worse I will be wearing these trays for the next year or more, possibly considerably more if I have to get refinements afterwards which I count as a strong likelihood.

Much like a person who realizes they are trapped in an elevator and gets clastaphobic, I began to second guess the wisdom of my decision to undergo the treatment. I began to wonder if I would even be able to hold myself to the required regime and wonder what kind of an impact it would have on my life. Then I started to think about having to wear the retainers afterward, which depending on who you talk to might have to be worn everynight for the rest of your life. Again that depends who you talk to though.

What ended up helping me get beyond those thoughts of being overwhelmed was sitting down and thinking through exactly why I was undergoing the treatment and what I hoped to get from it. The realization of what I stand to gain, compared to the relatively small committment (though it does seem considerable at times even now), I realized I had no choice but to push through and complete it.

So anyone have any questions that I might be able to answer?

Is Invisalign really Invisible?

This has been a topic which has been near and dear to me since the beginning, probably because it was one major factor in me going with Invisalign at all. The short answer to the title question is that it really depends. I know that may sound like a cop-out but it really does.

When I started the invisalign process I didn't get the "buttons" right away and I can honestly say that even working very close with people who have known me for a very long time the fact that I was wearing my trays was never noticed. I will amend that however by saying that since I have started wearing the trays I can pick out anyone who is currently wearing their trays. Thats not to say that they aren't doing their jobs but there is always a tell, or sign, that gives it away. The faint second line at the top of the tray that edges the gumline, or the slight gloss shine the plastic coating gives your teeth. So for the time prior to getting my buttons, they definitely lived up to their hype.

After I got the buttons however is another story completely. My particular case required the addition of thirteen buttons, all on my forward teeth arching around the sides. The profile change is significant, and for a while it will even change how your gums and lips hang over your teeth. It took a long time to get used to having the buttons, and questions started coming out almost immediately. People started asking what they were, which lead into a long discussion. There are several things that are give-aways with the buttons. For one thing the buttons rarely perfectly fit the trays all the time, and with airpockets come a slightly different color / gloss effect on the trays, making them MUCH more visible. Now, even with all of that said, there are people I work closely with daily who have not noticed yet. As I work in a fairly juvinille environment where good humored ribbing and jokes are always made and expected, I have NEVER had a single person make a negative remark or joke about me doing the Invisalign process.

So, I guess what I would say is nothing is perfect and there will certainly be people who will notice you are wearing your trays, so what? Have faith in yourself and the self confidence that you are doing something to better yourself and so long as you are happy with you, it doesn't matter what anyone else says or does. Have faith in your friends though, if they are true friends they will support your work towards improvement.

It's been a long time...UPDATE

Ok, well I know its been a while...since July, when I updated last. I have been meaning to get on here more regularly and I know what everyone will say, oh your busy. Well thats not it. The problem I run into is I am living the whole Invisalign experience right now and have been doing it for a while so its not a big deal now and when I think back I have a hard time thinking of anything that I believe anyone will have any desire reading about. What I will do however this post is put out my daily routine and some of the things I have noticed and see if that stirs up any questions, so please if you happen to read this and you have ANY questions at all please leave a comment and I will do my best to get an answer for you.

Daily Routine:
I try to work the schedule where I can start a new tray on Friday nights, it doesn't always work but as close as I can get the better. Why at night? Simple self preservation. When you first put in a new tray there is a few seconds of throbbing discomfort but that subsides quickly for the most part. Once you get used to the tray you notice you have them in but its not on the forefront and it is easy to get to a point where you will forget. Taking them out the first time is not too bad, assuming they have been in long enough for your teeth to start moving, in my case about 6 hours or more is good. Less than that and it does cause some pain taking them out, more and thats greatly reduced. Friday nights because it gives me all weekend to get into the routine of having them in all the time and gives my teeth some good movement time before I have to go to work and my schedule gets crazy. Over the weekend I will literally just take my trays out to eat, so all told they are in for 22 hours or say each day. Once the week hits however my day gets to be hectic and eating / brushing gets to be a chore so I average about 20 hours a day during the week, with all of those off hours during my work day sporatically.

So I put in the new tray at night, normally right after dinner and brushing. I spend all night getting used to the new trays and then go to bed whenever I decide. When I wake up the next morning I go to the bathroom and take my trays out and put them in the efferdint denture cleaner. I then eat a quick breakfast and get showered up. Finally I put the trays back in and continue with my day. I obviously have my tooth brush at home and keep a seperate one at work for while I am there. At lunch I take out my trays and put them in their case, eat a quick lunch and then brush quick and put them back in for the afternoon. At dinner, I take them out again, eat another quick meal, brush and then put them back in for the evening. The longest time they are out is for the shower / breakfast routine in the morning, normally an hour there. The other meals are fairly quick, about 30 minutes each before I put the tray back in.

On weekdays, my routine is the same, with the exception that it is sometimes hard find the time to brush and put them back in. Furthermore, there are certain things that I find I have to have them out for, such as large briefs. Whenever I have to do a long detailed brief, I find that if I have my trays in my mouth dries out faster and I start stumbling over my words more, where as if the trays are out, its not a problem. In that case I take them out right before and put them back in immediately following. Also, and worst of all I find it hard to ensure I have a place to brush some places and as a guy its difficuilt at times to keep everything required on my person. For instance, having to carry the container, a tooth brush, and tooth paste is a bit much. At these times when I don't carry a tooth brush I simply put the trays back in without brushing. I know what you are going to say, thats disgusting. I know, I know, but there are times I just can't brush. I try to minimalize it and try to plan a detour to brush as soon as possible after but it still happens. I don't have a purse afterall to store this stuff, all I have is my pockets.

There have even been times when I have gotten lax and left my trays out for hours on end. I pay for it afterwards when I put the trays back in and I end up having to shift my switch to the next tray but it does happen sometimes. Anyway, so thats my routine.

After looking at the length of this post I am going to split up my thoughts afterall so it doesn't get crazy. More to come on specific topics in a sec....

Switching trays early...

The idea of switching to the next trays early and thus cutting the amount of time doing the treatment is very appealing and something I have to admit I have talked with a few others about online. I did a little while back though talk to my Orthodontist about it and what follows is basically what he told me; Don't do it.

Why? The trays spend the first week or so moving the teeth into position and the second week maintaining them in that position so that the bone and muscle can adjust to the new positioning. If one were to continuously switch to the next set early then you could risk the success of the treatment but also cause serious bone problems as well as making it far easier for the teeth to return to their previously jacked up position faster.

4th trays and more insight into the process...

Well, here I am back again, though after a long delay typing on a computer about the process I am now undergoing. I recently posted a link to this blog on an Invisalign Facebook group so if you are here reading it please feel free to comment or leave questions and I will try to answer them in detail.

Ok, so what has been going on with my invisalign treatment? Well since my last post I had my appointment where they put on the attachments and likewise put in my 3rd trays. I will say that one huge lesson learned on this is try to avoid switching to a new tray (especially once you have attachments) if you plan on eating in the next, oh say 8 hours. The procedure for putting on the attachments was simple enough. They first clean the surface of the tooth, with some sort of acid I think, but it doesn't hurt at all. Once the surface is clean, and dry they apply a liberal amount of adhesive onto the tooth and apply a slight amount of UV light in order to make it tacky before applying the attachment itself. While this process is going on the Orthodontist is putting the attachment paste into the mold on the setting tray...which while is similar to the regular aligners is much lighter and more flexible. They then fit the aligner onto your teeth, applying enough force to get them into position and then use the UV light again to set the adhesive and the attachment. The process is then complete and they can remove the setting tray and insert your next tray set, for me that was my 3rd tray. So, they inserted the tray and as usual I felt no discomfort of pain, merely a little pressure at first but I got used to it quickly.

The issue came about three hours later however when I decided to go have lunch and could not get the tray off using the method I had become accustomed to. I called the office and they were extremely helpful, providing me with a tool and great advice on how I should do it. With a great deal of effort I finally got the trays off, though I lost a few attachments in the process. I did call the office and tell them of my problem and they scheduled me another appointment to reattach the missing attachments. Since then I have not had any repeat problems, nor do I expect any.

So what is it like now? Well the attachments, or buttons as they are sometimes called, are rough at first and really irritated me...not to the extent of causing damage in my mouth but drove me nuts because it was like always having a corn kernel stuck in my teeth whenever the trays were out. Well the simple answer to that was to not take my trays out unless absolutely necessary. They trays are still somewhat difficult to put in and take out but no where near what they were that first day. I still find it easiest with the tool for my upper tray but only because it was tearing up my fingernails doing it that way. I have moved onto my 4th trays without any fanfare or problems and am looking forward to moving up to my fifth trays in another week. All in all I think I am adjusting ok to the transition and while everyone has started to notice my treatment since I got the attachments they have all been very supportive.

2nd Tray and 3rd Tray appointment

Well, I know I should have posted this sooner but I have been busy lately and frankly I feel weird posting similar things over and over again. Anyway, this past Friday I started my 2nd trays, yeah I know a few days early however the 1st trays had ended their effectiveness or at least thats what I guess because I could take them out and put them in super easy.

So thoughts on 2nd trays? Well they were tight at first by not nearly as tight as the first trays but maybe thats because I have learned how to take them out and put them back in better. So they are tight but not bad, I have become accustomed to a little soreness early on, and look on it as proof that they are working. I haven't seen seen any progress yet but from what I hear thats not unusual. I can't wait for the day when I can see the progress and start to notice the difference.

Today I also called the Ortho, my original appoint to put on the attachments and start my third trays was June 15th, but seeing as I have had some progress early on so far I asked to have an earlier appointment so that I won't be getting them the same day I leave on a trip. They have been super accommodating and readily agreed to see me first thing next wednesday. So, at 7am next Wednesday I will be getting my attachments on and starting my 3rd tray, a full five days early. I only hope my progress continues and maybe I can finish these early. Well, more later.

On a side note, I do have videos posted on YouTube but marked private for now until I get more used to the idea of everyone know what I am doing. So far no one has noticed at work.

My Experience to date

Well, I know I haven't really been good about getting on here lately to post how things have been going, to be honest its been pretty easy. I will say that I am comfortable with the current trays and am dreading going to the 2nd trays. I was curious the other day so just for giggles I put them in for 5 minutes to see how they were, and I got to say, wow. Not so much pain but really tight, and really pushing my teeth to be where I will want them down the road. I plan on swapping trays on Friday night before going to bed so that I have all weekend to ease the pressure before going back to work. It is a few days early but honestly I don't feel that my current trays are doing anything now, it seems like they are maintaining where they shifted them that first week.

Ok, so what has it been like? Well this week it has been pretty hard to keep them in as long as I should, like I said I find it hard to believe that they are still moving my teeth. They have become easy to put in and take out, to the point where I don't need a mirror to do it now. The first day was the worst, it was flat out painful to take them out and uncomfortable to put them back in, but my teeth felt best when the trays where in so I guess thats a good thing. Anyway, I guess I never realized until I started this process that I am committed to the long haul, I will be wearing these trays, or ones like them for another year, no matter what. Possibly longer. I know that it will be worth it in the long run and I will have a great smile when I am done but I am impatient and would rather not have to put up with the hassle. To think every two weeks I will have to go through this process all over again and get used to a new tray, and thats not even taking into account the issue of the attachments. Like I said this will become a very big part of my life from here on out and while I can't wait to get it started I am still nervous.

Angie has been real supportive the entire time and I know that I will have to rely on here more as time progresses.

Almost one week done

Well, I know I haven't been on and updated like I said I would but now that I have a little bit of time and am about a week into the process I figured I would go ahead and do so now. Well I have to say that the first day was the hardest, with the trays in for the first time my teeth were sore and taking out the top tray was fairly difficult. In fact I finally had to take an IB Proffin to settle things down. Each day since has gone a little bit better as the trays are a little easier to take out and put back in. The biggest challenge is that its too easy to just not put them back in.

Started the process...

Well, I just recently got back from the Orthodontist and am now wearing my very first set of Invisalign trays... I will post pictures when I get a chance as well as thoughts and feelings this first day of my year long treatment.

Wait coming to an end...

Above is the computer generated picture of where we stand now...and below is where we hope to be in a year. The rectangular items are the attachments which will be added with the 3rd tray...All told they say it will take 26 upper trays and 24 lower. Should start sometime around the 20th of this month...

The wait...

One week of waiting, another three or so to go until I should get the invisalign trays. They say it takes about a month to get the trays, but there is some chance that they will come early but one new knows. I can't wait till I can see the plan online and go over it so I know exactly what to expect and how much progress this process will bring...

Its all a waiting game.

Picture for blog

Ok, well for those of you who are interested, above are the pictures from last thursday showing the current state of my teeth. Unfortunately its been a long time coming and I am sure could get worse but I am looking forward to getting better...

On another related note however, I talked to a few people about invisalign. I keep hearing the same things but one thing I did find out today was that my orthodotist doesn't put on the invisalign attachments or buttons until the 2nd or 3rd tray, so I will have a little bit of time to adjust without them. The thing I keep hearing about the attachments is that it makes it harder to take the trays out or put them back in.

Thats all for now...I will add more later...

Thoughts / Anticipation

Invisalign is something that I have been thinking about for a long time but I am not sure if I ever really expected to do it for real. Well since I had my first appoint last Thursday I have been doing a lot of thinking and a lot of reading about what I should expect. I have to say if even half of what I read is right then it will be a huge change in my daily habits.

Gone is the day of snacking all day long, drinking coke as a form of food while busy at work, and having to find time to brush each day. From everything I can determine from reading as well as what the orthodontist told me I will need to wear the trays for at least 20 hours a day and while wearing them I won't be able to eat or drink liquids other than clear liquids.

It still all seems like a dream to me and I don't know what exactly to expect. I answered up so quickly that I was past the point of no return before I even realized it, now I have no choice but to go through with it. I trust that it will be worth it in my head but I am still a little unsure.

Here's hoping for the best.

Starting

Well I have been thinking for a while that I needed to do something about my teeth, especially since they keep getting worse. A year or so ago I talked to the dentist on base about invisalign but he said that my case was too severe that it would never work. A few weeks ago I looking into it further and set up an appointment to talk to a specialist near my house. Well yesterday was the day of the appointment.

Well I didn't tell Angie because I didn't want her to really dig too deep if it was something that wasn't going to work. With that said I set my appointment for 8:30am. Well of course I had trouble finding the place so I was running late but they didn't seem to mind at all and just had me fill out the paperwork when I got there.

Once done with the paperwork they took me on a tour of their office and then I sat down with the doctor and we talked about what might be possible. They took some pictures and we talked a bit but basically he said that while invisalign would not be a 100% solution in my case it would get my teeth 90% there. With that done I went into another room and talked further about the options and was told that it would cost $4,800 for the entire treatment, everything included. Well after some talking their said that if I wanted to we could start the process with the molds today.

After calling Angie and talking with her a little bit about it we decided to go ahead and do it. We filled out some more paperwork and then I was ready for the molding process. The first thing we had to do was take some x-rays...well actually about 18 of them, so I sat there while they jammed that tray in my mouth a bunch of times and took a bunch of x-rays. The next task was the pictures, which they started out simply enough except that they have you hold these tongs which pull back your lips in every possible direction so that they can get pictures of all your teeth. The frontal and side pictures were every enough, the inside views though was a little strange. They get those pictures by pushing a mirror in your mouth and taking a picture of what is shown on the mirror. With those complete it was time for the molding. The molding process basically involves large trays which they fill with a synthetic material and then insert your teeth into and hold until it sets, which didn't seem too long but I guess was a minute or two. The process was repeated for both top and bottom sets of teeth.

That complete I was allowed to clean up and be on my way. It will take about a month for Invisalign to configure the trays and mail them out, and be ready for the first tray to be put in. Total time they are estimating is about 14 months, which will place at at next July or so.