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

Disappointing appointment

Hello there everyone in cyber-space.

Just thought I'd update you - it's not much of an update to be honest, but I thought I should be a good blogger and keep you up to speed coz even the smallest thing for someone can install fear/happiness in others.
Yesterday I went to the orthodontist for what I very excitedly and wholeheartedly thought was THE DAY - when I get all my attachments taken off and my teeth shaped into the beautiful pearly whites I have always dreamed of getting. my appointment was at 4.30, and even though I knew, and they knew, that my appointment was going to be a long one, they didn't mention to me anything that would make me think otherwise.
Upon arriving, my orthodontist looked at my teeth and explained that he would start shaping them. Great I think. But after a while it became clear to me that not everything would be done in this appointment as it was getting rather close to 5pm, their closing time. Now forgive me for whinging, but surely, when my teeth alone are generating over 7 thousand dollars for their business, half an hour of over time won't hurt, considering they don't actually have to work it to pay bills like us common folk, and for the reason that I had to take unpaid time off work and spend around $40 petrol to get to my appointment, I find it a bit rude that they made me reschedule for another day, a middle of the day appointment, where I have to take even MORE time off.

Rant over - I am quite happy at how my teeth are shaping up! All the "notches" are being taken out and my teeht being smoothed into normal shapes. This does cause some sensitivity to my teeth but it's not too bad and I am told it will lessen with time, in the mean time I am to use a desensitizing toothpaste as a ointment twice a day.

In two weeks time I will be back there, at 4pm whith a whole hour up my sleeve, to get the rest done. This includes taking new moulds for my retainers.

I hope this was a good little update for you, although there is no not much progress to report I'm sure if you are interested in Invisalign, any information from humans you can get your hands on is a plus.

Til next time :)

Faith

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

very over due progress report

Well hello everyone who hasn't given up on me! I think that will be about 3 of you, I am so incredibly slack. In my mind I feel there is nothing to blog about since my progress is, well, progressing great, but I'm sure all you out there that are new to Invisalign or wishing to go down that road still want me to document every waking minute of my treatment.

So here goes.

I am now on set 20 of 22 on my top row of teeth, and still sitting on set 14 for my bottom teeth, my bottom aligner, among being thoroughly disgusting, foul, repulsing and plain gross, is doing a good job at retaining my bottom teeth until the end of my treatment. If you have Invisalign or have had it, you will know and love the clean, successful feeling a new set of aligners brings; which means you will also know how damn glad you are to get rid of the old ones after the 2 weeks. Well, imagine now I feel with my bottom aligner being in there for so far 10 weeks and sill have another 4 at least to go. It is RE-VOLT-ING. It does not clean, it isn't even clear anymore, and it's loose. I have hit my ortho up about getting a new one but basically he told me to get over it and wait. My bottom teeth are "done", the word being put in inverted comas because I still think they are a long way from being done, but there is not much that can be done as it is more the shape of my teeth that is irking me, not the actual alignment of them.

Onto the top.

My top teeth had 5 weeks left of treatment as of yesterday. They are coming along nicely, if you care to refer to my clinchecks I posted way way back on here, you will see near the end that my top teeth finish fanning out and start to slide back into place. This is what is happening at the moment. Finally it is easy to remove the new aligner the same day it is put in, I do not have to sleep on it to let my teeth adjust and have time before I abuse them by taking it out. Sadly I think I am loosing "track" on one my teeth - the one next to my right front one (not the left front one by the way, for those of you brainy guys) The reason I say this is because my aligner has quite a big gap between it and the bottom of that offending tooth. There is not much I can do apart from wait until my next appointment on the 23rd of this month when I go and pick up my last set.

I hope this helps? Any questions, please dont hesitate to leave a comment and I swear i will get back to you coz even this far on in the blog, a comment makes me jump for joy, they are so few and far between.

I hope everyone had a happy easter and remembered to brush their teeth lots and lots!!!

F :)

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

LACK OF BLOGGING!

OK OK OK I am a BAD blogger! Sorry to my followers who have had nothing to follow :(
I will give everyone a huge update shortly.
I am, to cut the story short for those of you who are impatient, up to set 14 of 14 for the bottom, an have to wear these for at least another 9 weeks until my tops are more towards finished. Set 14 on top I will wear for an extra week, and then move on to 15 16 17 etc. I am so happy with the progress!
TTYL!
Or, Blog to you later!
Faith :D

Set 8 Progress Report

Hello everyone, sorry it's been a while, things have been so busy - work, the business, and running errands/doing favours for people, what can I say, I'm highly in demand and a hard worker!

I am onto day 5 of my eighth set of Invisalign Aligners, and everything is going well. Now, as I always comment on the pain factor, or lack thereof lately, you will be pleased to know, that this set was the most painful I have had in a while! I can really feel the pull on two different teeth - it's a sure sign it's working! One tooth is throbbing today, I think it's taken exception to being forced to be different, heck, I know I would!!

I finally rung my Orthodontist and discussed the whole thing about my appointment this time being two days earlier than all my others - this is explained better in previous blog entries. Anywho, he told me that he was happy for me to wear both set 8 and set 9 for 13 days instead of 14, since my progress is so good. Now, I got excited at this! You un-invisalign people probably won't understand, but two days is a huge difference to treatment time, considering if you don't wear your aligners for a minimum of 20 hours a day you may need time added on! So in my book, two days taken off for "good behaviour" is swell!!

I am really starting to notice the differences in my bottom teeth, they seem much straighter now! But in other news, I am struggling to find a good whitening toothpaste, any suggestions? Even though I am brushing my teeth sometimes 5x a day, they refuse to look any whiter or cleaner - I think I may have to shell out for a professional whitening when my treatment is done, since I am so obsessed with "perfect teeth".

Stay tuned people, there is always more teeth-ramblings to come!!

Faith :)