Another month; On my soapbox...

October has come and gone. Using my aligners as a Halloween candy defense - the longer I keep them in, the less candy I will eat.

Had an ortho appointment earlier in the week. I am on set 19 of 22. We started to talk about end plans. One lateral incisor and one canine are not tracking/moving as well as the rest of my teeth. My ortho felt that I might not need refinements since my 4 upper incisors have veneers and any remaining cosmetic issues could be dealt with through new veneers. My feeling is to do the refinements and get as much tooth movement as we can, and rely less on the talent of the dentist making the veneers, though I do expect to have to replace at least two of them (if not all). Ortho did not object to my preference,and said to plan for new impressions at my next visit when I will have completed the final set of aligners. He thinks any course of refinement will be half or less the time of my original treatment.

This conversation puts me back on my soapbox. Whether for Invisalign or for any medical treatment, it is incumbent upon us as patients and consumers to play an active role in our treatment, from selecting a doc, to reviewing treatment options, to assessing progress, to deciding an end game. We simply can't sit back and let someone else make decisions for us. A medical professional brings specialized knowledge and expertise to the table, but should be treated as part of your health care team, with you as the leader, quarterback, manager, or whatever other euphemism you prefer. Only you know what you will consider a treatment success or failure. Your expectations are hopefully shaped by the advice of your experts, but ultimately only you will decide if you are happy.

For Invisalign, you should all become armchair experts, as I have. When I had LASIK, I became an expert in laser eye surgery. Be educated, be assertive (but polite), and if the doc needs to be God and can't deal with this, find a new doc.

Been a while...

Wow - it's been a while since my last post. Guess I haven't had much to say. I am on set 17 of 22 now. Set 16 was particularly painful, and my usual tricks of Sensodyne, starting a set right before bed, and minimizing "out time" during the first few days did not work. I was away on business for a few days, so I kept that set in for an extra 2 days. Set 17 went in much easier, and has been much less uncomfortable.

Had an ortho checkup last week. Things still look good, though an upper lateral incisor and cuspid are not tracking as well as the rest of my mouth. Doc was not concerned. He expects in most of his Invisalign patients a course of refinements about half as long as the original course - so for me that would be another 11 or 12 aligners. In addition, he thought part of the correction could be achieved through new veneers, since my upper incisors already have veneers, and it is looking like I will need to replace them after treatment is complete. I am not so happy with that suggestion - good veneers are quite expensive. My current veneers are adequate, not spectacular, but the dentist who did them gave me a price I couldn't refuse.

Vacation time

I decided to stick to the program and swap out my aligners on the second night of vacation. This set went in easily, but I was definitely feeling it the next couple of days, even with liberal use of Sensodyne toothpaste. Not that it slowed my vacation eating any - so much for the Invisalign diet - breakfast buffets, ice cream treats, and other goodies were there the entire week.

Progress continues, though during the last sets my teeth looked so good, this set is one of those "transitional/my teeth don't look right" sets. As before, patience is necessary - I'm sure in a set or two things will look good again. I continue to have concern that a couple of teeth are not tracking well, though my ortho says everything looks great. I still expect that I will need some refinements. I will be glad when the whole process is over, but will deal with extra weeks of refinements - the whole process overall has not been bad, so what are a few extra aligners?

Lucky 13

Set 12 went off without a hitch. Had a good ortho checkup; everything continues to go as planned. He gave me 4 sets of aligners and an appointment in 8 weeks - my longest stretch between appointments (he actually asked me if I wanted 3 or 4 sets).

Set 13 is still tight 8 days into the set - I think this is the longest time I have noticed tightness. I have been using the chewies every time I insert the aligners (recommended by Dr. Jason Tam of Markham Orthodontics, who is a frequent poster on the Invisalign boards and has some great informational videos on youtube). Maybe the aligners are just seating better than before so I am feeling it longer.

For my increase in chewie use, I ordered some mint-flavored chewies. They don't taste bad, and it gives a little bit of a feeling of chewing gum, which I miss since I began treatment in February. I will again float the idea of making the aligners mint flavored - might be nice to have a hint of minty freshness all day.

I am back to the vacation dilemma I had in March. We are going away starting Monday, which is the day I would normally switch to the next set of aligners. I took an extra week back then, and also an extra week in July when I was sick, so I am reluctant to extend my treatment yet another week. I will make a final decision over the weekend.

Minor delay

Was flat on my back sick as a dog for nearly 5 days last week. Well, ordinarily illness would not be an issue, but multiple sessions of cookie tossing are not conducive to aligner wearing, and they were out for much of those days.

So I wore set 11 for an extra week, and am now wearing set 12. They went in fairly easily, but as I slacked off on the Sensodyne toothpaste again, I am feeling some soreness the past 2 days. The only other change is that I am using the aligner "chewies" more frequently, to ensure the aligners seat well and I get maximum movement for this aligner.

Halfway point

How could I have missed the fact that I am now at the halfway point? Now, when I say halfway, I mean that I am on set 11 of 22 upper and lower aligners; but I know quite well that this is just the initial treatment. There could be a whole new set of refinements when I hit the magic 22. Even so, I am quite pleased to be at the 50% mark - things have gone well, I have not had much trouble adjusting to Invisalign, and hope the rest goes as well.

On another note, while checking into a hotel yesterday, the bell hop said "can I ask you a personal question?" I said "fire away" and he said "does your insurance cover Invisalign?" I told him that my insurance covers about one-third of the $6600 price tag. I also said that I was surprised he could tell I was wearing the aligners - nobody has ever said anything before, and as I noted in an earlier posting, my wife and even orthodontist don't even notice. Anyway, he said he went through 2 sets of braces - once as a teen and again in his 20s, and he feels his teeth have shifted again. Funny, they looked movie star perfect to me...

Long time, no post

Wow - over 3 weeks without a post. Things have been so quiet that there was nothing to say.

While the time was uneventful, I was a bit lax with aligner set #10. I left them out for longer than I should have for a few days last week - one afternoon for a barbecue, one night from before dinner until bedtime, etc... I know some people feel it is OK to slack off near the end of a set of aligners, but I decided to extend my wear until yesterday, 2 days extra, so I would get enough hours for that set (supposed to be 280 to 300 hours per set).

#11 went in tightly, and my teeth are sore all over my mouth. The last few weeks were nearly discomfort-free, so I slacked off on Sensodyne as well, but I am going to use it at least twice a day for the next few days. It really does help with the discomfort.