Epilogue
Posted: May 23, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: after, before, finished, Invisalign, result, retainers, straight, teeth 28 CommentsThis blog has been sorely neglected, and while I can’t go back in time and fill things in as they happened, I can at least round things off so this series of posts might be useful for people looking into Invisalign treatment.
I started the journey 400 days ago, but I’ve been plastic-free and straight-toothed for about 3 months. Let’s start with everyone’s first question – did it work? Well although I didn’t blog regularly, I did take pictures every couple of weeks. You can see the slow transition by looking at the Gallery page, but for those who just want the headline result, here it is:
Now that, my friends, I am happy with. You might look at the after pic and think they’re not perfect. I’ll admit, I did too. But frankly, short of some major surgery to re-mould my jaw and hand-craft each tooth, I don’t think it’s half bad. Had I been born with the teeth on the right, I definitely wouldn’t have ever considered dental work to straighten them any further. It’s not a perfect Hollywood smile, but I’m not a Hollywood person. All I wanted was to be able to smile without feeling self-conscious, and that has definitely been achieved. In nine months (including a self-inflicted one month stall) I went from wonky as hell to pretty darn straight. Read the rest of this entry »
100 days of plastic
Posted: July 28, 2011 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 100 days, attachments, clean, eating, experience, invisable, Invisalign, lisp, London, orthodontist, plane, Retainer Brite, review, straight teeth, survival kit, train, travel 20 CommentsToday, my dear readers, is a milestone. Today is my 100th day of Invisalign. 100 days of plastic. I thought I’d mark the occasion with a commemorative blog post, so here it is…
Some numbers
I’m on my 6th set of trays. I have 9 more to go on my bottom teeth, 11 more on top.
I have 4 attachments on my teeth – 3 on top and 1 on the bottom.
I’ve been wearing my aligners for 100 days. I have another 149 days to go (at least).
100 days is 2,400 hours. If I’d worn my aligners for 22 hours or more a day like a good girl, I’d have had plastic in my mouth for at least 2,200 hours. Let’s be realistic and guess that I’m nearer 2,000 hours (20 hours a day).
I brush my teeth on average 4 times a day (twice as much as I did pre-Invisalign).
I have 3 toothbrushes on the go – one in the bathroom at home, one I carry with me, and a softer kiddie’s brush I use to clean my trays.
5 people have asked what’s up with my teeth, or admitted they could see something after I told them I was wearing braces (pretty sure loads more have been too polite to say anything…)
I travel a little over 1 hour each way to my dental clinic in London, and have so far been there about 6 times (including initial consultation, replacing an attachment, getting impressions etc..) Read the rest of this entry »
Shifting smiles
Posted: July 20, 2011 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: clincheck, Invisalign, smile, video Leave a commentTray 5. 92 days down, 157 days to go
I am almost a third of the way through my Invisalign treatment. I’m coming towards the end of my fifth set of aligners, and tomorrow I’ll be heading to the orthodontist. Hopefully they’ll take a look, my teeth will be doing what they’re supposed to be doing, and I’ll leave with a handful of new aligners to see me through the next few months.
I had a sulk a couple of weeks back when, try as I might, I couldn’t see the slightest difference in my teeth. I was about a quarter of the way through, and figured I should be able to see something by then. I tried to think back to my clincheck, the little animated video my orthodontist showed me when I picked up my aligners for the first time. How quickly did things really start to move? Read the rest of this entry »
Attachments? Check. Oh no, wait. Uncheck.
Posted: May 14, 2011 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: aligners, attachments, countdown, Invisalign, straight teeth 13 CommentsTray 1 (more of that later). 25 days down, 224 days to go (hopefully)
Bit late with this post, sorry about that! Not that anyone’s reading it yet, but eventually…
So I got my Invisalign attachments a few days ago – four on the top, one on the bottom. The process itself was very quick and entirely painless. I’ll say one thing for the dental practice I’m going to, they are Very Efficient. I’ve never waited more than five minutes for my appointment, even when I’ve been early. It does feel a little bit like you’re on an assembly line, being passed from one part of the processing plant to the next, but I have no desire to spend more time than is neccessary there so all fine by me.
Click to see the attachments more clearly
Anyway, I was whisked upstairs where a very nice lady and her assistant did the business. Basically applying the goop that would become the attachments to the appropriate teeth, putting my original trays back in so the goop was moulded to the shape of the indentations already made in the tray, and then using UV light to set the attachments. This also involved using a water spray sort of thing for some reason – presumably to stop my teeth/mouth getting too warm….? Anyway, after that, the tray came out and the dentist did a bit of scraping to get rid of excess hardened attachment goop and make sure the attachments were the right shape.
And that was that for the attachments. All done in less than 10 minutes. Read the rest of this entry »
3 weeks in
Posted: May 8, 2011 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: attachments, buttons, countdown, food, Invisalign 1 CommentTray 1. 19 days down, 230 days to go
So I’m coming to the end of my first set of aligners. My teeth have shifted a bit, my tongue and the plastic braces have called a truce, I’ve developed a few bad habits, I’ve found my Invisalign twin, and I’m nervous about my impending tooth attachments.
I’ve also decided to add counter to my iGoogle homepage so I can mark on my blog posts how far along I am. 230 days from now will be Christmas day, which is a little longer than my treatment is supposed to take, but I’ve added a buffer just in case. It’ll also make a nice Christmas pressie 🙂 Read the rest of this entry »
And so it begins!
Posted: April 27, 2011 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: diary, experience, Invisalign, London, review, straight teeth 2 CommentsHello all,
Welcome to my blog. Here I’ll be keeping a kind of diary of my experience with invisible braces (Invisalign) for the next year or so. When I was deciding whether to take the plunge and go for the braces, I was desperately trawling the web for information and reviews (particularly from the UK), so I figured I’d make it one blog easier for the next person.
Where am I up to?
My teeth pre-Invisalign. Nice, huh? Click for full-size horror.
I had my impressions done about 7 weeks ago at a central London dental clinic and got my first set of trays a week ago today. Both my upper and lower teeth are wonky so I’ll be wearing braces on both. My last appointment went by in a bit of a rush, but I’m pretty sure the orthodontist said I had 30 trays to get through in total (15 top, 15 bottom), so I should be all done and dusted by this Christmas which’ll be nice!
The orthodontist put the first set of trays in for me, and showed me how to get them out (which involves using your fingernails – I’m a nail biter so it proved a little trickier). Luckily it hasn’t interferred with my speech at all – I was a bit worried about a lisp but I guess my mouth must just be big enough to take it 🙂 I’ve also not been dribbling, which I think I read some people have problems with at the start. Read the rest of this entry »
Straight Talking 