Good checkup

Had an orthodontist checkup this morning. He looked in my mouth for a few seconds, said everything looked good, asked me how things were going, and gave me 3 more sets of aligners. I am glad all is well, but sort of wish he had to do a little more work to justify the huge fees I am paying for Invisalign.

I recounted to the doc something from the other day - I was in the men's room brushing my teeth and aligners after lunch, when another fellow walked in, popped out his aligners and brushed as well. He said he was at nearly the 2 year mark with invisalign, and still had another 6 months to go. His ortho had originally told him the whole job would be less than 1 year.

My ortho said that it all comes down to case selection; that Invisalign does some things better than others, and that an Invisalign job should never take more than 1 year. If it is longer, then the patient was not a good candidate for Invisalign, and the ortho should not have taken the case.

If the above is true, then maybe I should reconsider the first paragraph above - that my ortho's case selection and initial setup of my Invisalign case (molds, ClinCheck planning, etc.) were where my money was spent, and that a good job then paved the way for uneventful checkups and a hopefully successful, under 1 year long, case. Like having a good architect design your building from the outset.

Still hurting

This is something new - it's Wednesday and my teeth are still quite sore from the Sunday new set of aligners.

My teeth are hurting all over my mouth. There is a lot of movement going on in this set, front and back, top and bottom. I can feel the upper arch widening where I thought I had the biggest issue pre-treatment. Also, there are small indentations in the upper aligner near the gumline for two upper incisors, called "power ridges". I can't get attachments on my upper incisors because all 4 teeth have veneers.

I have been using Sensodyne more frequently - I generally use only at night, but have been using it mornings as well. Other than that I am just dealing with the discomfort.

Set #6

The last 2 weeks have gone smoothly. I did have a couple of lazy days where I wore the aligners for fewer hours than ideal (18 or 19 hours instead of 20-22). Though I started set #5 on a Saturday, I decided to wear the aligners for an extra day and not switch out until Sunday night, so I would be closer to 300 hours of wear for the set.

The new set is very snug, even after wearing them overnight. Getting the upper aligner in last night was a bit of a challenge, and I ended up biting on a chewie for an hour after insertion to help the aligner sit properly.

The gap between my front teeth is even bigger now, but the ClinCheck shows it closing up again with the next 3 sets of aligners, so I am not worried yet.

My ClinCheck movie

Here is my ClinCheck movie My ClinCheck.  I have read that ClinCheck shows the ideal movement, and that actual movement may vary, sometimes significantly, from the graphic.  I guess that is why so many cases need refinements (new impressions plus a small number of new aligners) after completion of the initial treatment. 

Worse before better

I knew it was coming because I saw it on the ClinCheck, but I am still not happy that a small gap is developing between my top front teeth.  (ClinCheck is a computer graphic provided by Invisalign showing how they expect your teeth to move through the course of treatment.)

Fortunately the gap is not visible when the aligners are in.  If things go according to plan, the gap will close by aligner # 12 (I am on set #5 now).  I am assuming that it is necessary as my top teeth are moved laterally (sideways) to get my midlines to match up.

Back from vacation

Home this evening, very glad I kept the old aligners in.  I had them in and out several times a day the whole week, for eating, swimming, did I mention eating?  Good thing we did an enormous amount of walking every day as well.

Decided to pop in the new set after dinner to ease some of the guilt of the vacation delay.  Surprisingly, I had none of the trouble getting them in as I had last time.  They are certainly snug, and a bit uncomfortable, but they went right in.  Only issue this time was that the bottom aligner was rubbing my gums in the back, behind the second lower molar (wisdom teeth out 20 years ago).  I removed the bottom aligner, saw where the aligner was rubbing the gums, and used the "finishing" side of a nail file to remove some aligner material and hopfully make it more comfortable.  After a couple of tries, filing, washing, and reinserting, I think I fixed it.

By the way, I see the number of hits on this blog has been growing.  I'd love to see some comments... just say hi, or why you are reading, crack wise, or impart some of your own wisdom.  And thanks for reading!