mini update and photo

Hi everyone,
In five days I go for my appointment, THE APPOINTMENT!!! Just thought I would share a quick update with you - my teeth huuuurt :( They are still incredibly sensitive to pressure, hot, cold, anything, air, food, gum, toothpaste, mouthwash, water, etc etc. Also I am sharing a photo with you all - these are my rubber bands in perspective - see how small they are!!! That's why it hurt so much when my teeth were first starting to pull!

And yes this is completely un-blog-related, but Scoobie says HI!

And that his waggy tail is evidence that he secretly loves his turtle coat: I call him teenage mutant ninja scoobie

See, what an awesome little update - I bet you werent expecting doggie photos!

F

Set 22 of 22!!

Well hello everyone!!
My lack of speediness in the blogging department once again shows that nothing too exciting has happened since I last checked in, apart from in the last week.
I have been on set 22 of 22 (hells yes!!) for three weeks and four days now. I was advised to wear this set (remember my bottoms finished way back at 14) for longer as my orthodontist wasn't too sure if my teeth directly on either side of my front ones (insert flash name here) would drop down level by themselves or not, so we decided to wait another week before taking any action in the hope that it happened. It did not. So now, as of Monday just gone, I have two metal attachments, one on the gum line of each of the two offending teeth, which rubber bands hook onto and to down the tooth, around the bottom and back up the inside where they slot into grooves made into my aligners.

 Not very sexy! But it does make me so greatful at how invisible my treatment has been so far, and reminds me how lucky I was not to have full metal braces. These will stay on for a month, a bit of a disaster it is my birthday in 5 days and I do feel self conscience around people a lot more than I used to, and also, I have lots of job interviews to go to and am worried that my appearance may affect getting work. In retrospect though, a month is a short time to be inconvenienced - I am lucky.

Now, I have talked about the pain invisalign causes in the past, but let me tell you, I was NOT prepared for it this time. Thinking my teeth were straight (well almost) made me think there would be no more pain - turns out that pulling teeth downward instead of just moving them is much, much more painful. Pair that with being cold and having no painkillers on hand, Monday night was not a nice one for me or anyone in my company - at one point I was awake in the night trying not to wake Josh with my whimpering.

I'm sure you all can see from the photo above that my teeth are looking great! The two teeth with the bands still need to move around a bit, which is a huge hastle because it means that I have to get all my buttons/attachments taken off, moulds done again and all the process started again for refinements. This will happen on the 18th of June at my next appointment. This appointment will be along one, because as well as that being done, I also get my teeth shaped to be all uniform, and my front one that is chipped filled in. In earlier photos I think you will see that my eye teeth and others too have notches in them - these are from when your teeth first cut thru at a child, normal wear and tear get rid of them - unless you have a screwed up bite, like I did. They have not had the chance to wear down naturally so my orthodontist will be working his magic and doing it for me. I think that bit excites me the most - finally having not just straight, but uniform teeth!!!

In past posts I complained about my bottom aligner that is being used as a retainer was getting scungey. Well, after more than 16 weeks of having it, my mouth just feels foul. The aligner has build up on i that a toothbrush cant get away, it is not clear now, rather opaque and foul smelling, and I am constantly paranoid of having bad breathe. Even now, just after brushing and flossing and soaking my aligners in denture cleaning fluid - the dissolvable tablet kind - I feel I do not have very fresh breath. Yes I can taste mint, but also yucky mouth taste too. If anyone has tricks to get rid of or help with this, please comment on this post - I feel pretty unhygenic these days :(

That's all for now - I'm sure this has served as a decent lengthed update for yall!!

Comment if you have questions etc!

Faith <3

Promised update! (Set 15)

Hi all!
So here is my promised update! To be honest, not too much happened! Well, my bottom teeth are straight, just a tad crowded. My ortho shaved them .1mm and hopefully over the next 8 weeks which I will be wearing set 14 on the bottom for, they will align properly. If not, I can always go for refinements at the end of the treatment.

My top teeth are coming along, however, one "Eye" tooth is not tracking very well, I have been advised to keep an eye on it (lol) and ring Mr Glove Hands if I dont think my aligner is fitting snugly. I changed from 14 to 15 on the top about 10 minute ago, and it wasnt sore at all. One of my front teeth is tender but that is because it is chipped from a long time ago and it too busy hiding in my aligners and getting weak and soft - I find that I cannot chew my nails very well, or tear cellotape with my teeth, or other things liek that. Corn chips aren't very pleasent either. I was advised to use Sensidine (sp?) toothpaste  but I forgot to buy it, so it will have to wait until next week. Ho hum.

Any questions? I see I have another anonymous reader, HI! As I commented, Hi, Yes, unfortunately it did make me get a bit of a speech impediment, I can get R and L a bit munted, like, LUSH and RUSH. Only did that once but it was so embarrasing! I'd like to think it gets better but maybe I'm just used to it... But it's a small price to pay. Actually, over the phone, people think my name is Stace not Faith. Stay tuned, I promise I will write again soon :)

See, I do keep my promises :)

When I find my camera I will take some photos for you all. I do realise I have a webcam but it's tricky getting all up and personal with it and clicking the button and staying still all at the same time and plus it's never going to be as clear as a 14mp camera with fine focus aye! See what I mean?

If you look at my clinchecks, you will see what my teeth look like now if you pause the video about half way through. Basically, my top teeth have all moved outwards to be a bit more free of eachother, they have been shaved, and now they will move back into their proper position! Pretty exciting stuff!

I am worried however that I will need a rubber band for my wayward Eye tooth, but, for the sake of progress, I say, BRING IT ON!

I do apologise for the lack of blogging - I have had quite a hectic time around work and the business my partner was running and helping my dad sell his electric wheelbarrows - check out www.yardlab.co.nz - I made that site! Quite an incredible product too I must say, go dad! Also my cats are being rampant and hectic and eating birds inside and putting their noses down my ear at 3am etc etc. Ah life!!

Any questions please do not hesitate to leave a comment, if you leave your email address I can contact you directly :)

Ciao!

Faith

Aligner 6, Week 12, Day 4

Ha, how do you like the precise name of this blog entry? Not usually like me aye!

This set of aligners is still quite sore to remove, especially on one of my side teeth on the top, I guess it's really moving then!

Just thought I would confess to my online virtual conscience about what I did in the weekend that wasn't so great...

A couple of times, (once, we went to get some gormet pizza and ended up having the most bestest and yummiest white chocolate and cream daquiri, and again, when we did chocolate tasting) I wasnt near my toothbrush carry bag thingy and so just rinced my mouth and popped my aligners back in. Actually, no, that was just with the chocolate tasting, the cocktails made me not even take the silly things out, which by the way, feels horrid, you can just feel the liquid going into the aligners and just know it will spell out cavities. But in both cases I was quick to do my routine brush and floss as soon as I was in the car...

Anyway, I thought it was high time to give you some photos as updates, so here goes!

I don't know if you can tell much difference between the two close ups - I don't know if even I can, but friends who haven't seen me in a while reckon my teeth are moving, so I guess I just have to believe them!

Original photo - First set of aligners

Today, Aligner 6, (Week 12, Day 4) Notice any difference?



This was about a month ago, see, they are pretty invisable, with the exception of the "bumps"




Anyway, that's it for me today, have a good day yall, catch up with you next time, online, and possibly in my pyjamas....