Lilone's invisalign experience

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lilone
Posts: 288
Joined: Sat Jan 01, 2011 7:15 pm

Re: Lilone's invisalign experience

#31 Post by lilone »

Tonight is the second time I have changed my trays at only day 5, while using AcceleDent. I'm now really convinced it works and is well worth the money. This aligner also fits like a glove. One tray could have been a fluke but changing two aligners at 1/3 of the usual time when there is strong rotation required is a different story. I'm very glad I was offered this option!

lilone
Posts: 288
Joined: Sat Jan 01, 2011 7:15 pm

Re: Lilone's invisalign experience

#32 Post by lilone »

I changed trays again last night and there is very little discomfort today. Last time the trays went in very smoothly but I woke up the next morning with a very tender canine. This time I don't feel any tooth tenderness but I do feel like my gums are a bit sensitive on my front teeth. Those teeth are supposed to be separating a little bit soon so my guess is that it is starting now.

I decided to do a little spring cleaning this week and threw out all of my old aligners except number 1 and 4 (one with attachments and one without). Something I noticed when doing this is the big colour difference between my used trays with the old material and my used trays with the new Smart Track material. The trays made of the old material look like new. You can hardly tell they were worn, except that the blue spots on the side are gone (Invisalign Teen marks). The trays made of the new material are very yellow and dingy looking. Luckily, now that I use AcceleDent I don't have to deal with dingy trays for long! Same goes for peeling. By the time they start sloughing off material, I get to change to a new one so I have to deal with it for a day or so at most. These are just little bonuses that make me glad I chose to pay the extra money to try AcceleDent. So far, so good! Let's hope it continues.

lilone
Posts: 288
Joined: Sat Jan 01, 2011 7:15 pm

Re: Lilone's invisalign experience

#33 Post by lilone »

It feels like a lot has happened in only a month and a half; probably because I have been through so many trays in such a short time. That said, I haven't gone through as many trays as originally expected. I was on a 5 day plan but found that switching trays every 5 days was causing some tracking issues with my troubled canine. I have switched to 7 days and have even added a day or two here and there to try to correct the tracking issues caused by my 5 day switch. AcceleDent says between 5 and 9 so we were being a bit saucy with trying 5. I suspect that once my canine has rotated, changing trays at day 5 will be just fine.

Anyway, some exciting news for me came in the form of an email. I had been a little concerned that my canine wasn't rotating and wondered if it was just not going to play ball. Not only did my ortho reassure me that my aligners are still a good fit (the attachment is engaged but I just need to make sure I seat it with a chewey on a regular basis), but he sent me progress photos from my mid-course correction until now. It may not look like much to someone else, but I am thrilled. In only a few months, that canine has come a long way. Not only that, but I have only recently started using AcceleDent so changed should go even faster from here on out. I'll post portions of the pics if I can.
Yay! Looks like it worked. The teeth are obviously more flared in July but this is to help create space and they will be brought back again. That process starts at about tray 25 or 26 and I am at 16 now so only 9 or 10 weeks until we bring those baby's back in, if things continue to go according to plan. Exciting!
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whiteswan
Posts: 52
Joined: Sun Feb 19, 2012 6:50 am

Re: Lilone's invisalign experience

#34 Post by whiteswan »

Looks good! You must be happy!

lilone
Posts: 288
Joined: Sat Jan 01, 2011 7:15 pm

Re: Lilone's invisalign experience

#35 Post by lilone »

Cruelty, thy name is Canada's Wonderland. Oh my goodness. I have travelled on an airplane, backpacked around England, went cottaging with no electricity and have never had any difficulty when it comes to Invisalign. The theme park Canada's Wonderland, however; just about did me in! Snacks everywhere! How can I turn down cotton candy? It's just such a sugary delight! And the kids I was with were getting Dairy Queen so why not have some too? The problem was....every time I chose to snack, I then had to find one of the few crowded, dirty, washrooms and wait in a big line to brush. There was no way I was going to risk just rinsing with all that sugar. After three visits to washroom hell (one was after eating our picnic lunch) and plenty of looks from people put off by someone brushing in the bathroom sink, I vowed to say no to any more treats and I succeeded...but it was SO hard!!! This is the first time in a year and a half that I have had real trouble saying no to a snack. Something about that place! Despite the food temptations, it was a fantastically fun day! Probably a little too fun because one the way home I developed a migraine (possibly all the sugar?!). This lead to the second Invisalign related problem of the day and that is that I didn't use my Acceledent for the first time since getting it. The migraine was so severe that I couldn't move my eyes or head and I was convinced it must be Meningitis (as I am every time I have one of these doozies. You'd think I'd learn but each time I'm convinced that it is simply too painful to not be something fatal, :lol: !). Anyway, I thought about leaving my alingers in for an extra day as a result but ended up just changing on Monday evening instead of in the morning. Everything fit fine so I imagine it was no biggie. I'm sure there are many patients out there who are far less diligent so I'll just chalk it up to a bad Invisalign day and continue on.

The good news is that my current aligner is number 21. Aligner 22 is the last aligner that rotates my canine! After that, they will start to bring that canine down into place and when that is getting close to complete, all the other teeth will be brought back a little as well. I'm really looking forward to this next stage because it means the end of my fang! It will finally be in line with the others. Can't wait to see that!

jem
Posts: 942
Joined: Wed Aug 20, 2008 10:05 am
Location: UK

Re: Lilone's invisalign experience

#36 Post by jem »

Hi Lilone,

Whilst I will soon only have to wear my removable essix retainer only during the evening and nighttime, my ortho recommended that I wear it for as much additional time as possible during the first few weeks. Being a (mostly) diligent patient, I have tried to get as close to 24/7 as I can. So for the last 3 weeks it has been much like wearing invisalign and I have been unable to snack in the same way as I could with a fixed brace. When I am not at home, it is just too much hassle taking the retainer out and then having to clean it and my teeth before putting it back in. I suspect invisalign wearers must lose more weight during their treatment than patients with fixed braces.

I am glad to hear your treatment is progressing well. Keep us posted.

Jem
Sectional brace with Damon clear brackets fitted to front 6 upper teeth 3 January 2012
Brackets added to premolars 2 April 2012
Estimated treatment time originally 6-9 months
. Brace removed on 22 July 2013 after 18 months and 19 days
Now enjoying bonded upper retainer plus part time essix/hawley( I have both)

Click here for my story http://www.archwired.com/phpbb2/viewtop ... =9&t=42194

lilone
Posts: 288
Joined: Sat Jan 01, 2011 7:15 pm

Re: Lilone's invisalign experience

#37 Post by lilone »

Hi Jem! I imagine in the past month you have gotten quite used to wearing the essix full time. I haven't lost weight since Invisalign because when they come off I eat for my life! You get used to it remarkably quickly. I always thought my tea drinking would be an issue but I also gulp my tea down now as well. Not so dainty but it does the trick!

So I started back to work and it is a WHIRLWIND! Teaching 6 year olds always is...but September is especially crazy with (what feels like) long days followed soccer coaching, games, tournaments and meet the teacher night. Between duties and meetings I have been having less than ten minutes for lunch many days and I was finding that it wasn't enough time to eat and brush well. What I ended up doing was bringing an electric toothbrush to work so that I can spend as much time as possible eating and then when I hear the warning bell (two minutes before kids come in from recess) I can run in and do a half decent job in about a minute and still have time to get to the door by second bell. It isn't ideal but it should do well enough at least until everything calms down a little.

In terms of changes since my last appointment, I feel like there have been a lot. I don't know if it looks as much as it feels but I am really noticing that things are starting to come together and I kind of picture the final result. This is a big help with my motivation. Even bigger is that I am now back on the 5 day schedule! Whoot! Whoot! I was kind of hoping I would be able to move back to 5 days when the pesky canine finished rotating but I was trying not to get my hopes too high in case I was disappointed. So I was pretty thrilled when I was told I could give it a go. And so far, so good (knock wood!). I actually feel like things fit better than ever and I think it is partly down to Acceledent. Anyone wanting to buy stocks... I may have found your golden ticket. I know how my teeth moved before and I know how they move now and the difference is incredible. Whenever I change aligners I wonder for an instant if this is going to be the one that doesn't fit since it was only 5 days ago that I changed the last aligner. And every time, the aligner fits perfectly.
I’m going to post a picture taken at my last appointment. I don’t know if you can see the change in this one as much but, trust me, it is there. And I’m going to brag about my ortho’s office for a moment. These pictures were not as easy to take as most others. I was very phobic about dentists in the past and although this process has really helped me relax a lot, I still have a lot of weird quirks. One of them is that I have a certain chair that I use because it is a little more private in the open concept office. Something at that chair wasn’t working on my last visit so I was in a different chair. I was ok until the assistant went to take the pictures. I definitely wanted the pictures because I really like to see the progress but I suddenly panicked at doing all this crazy lip stretching around other patients (even though I know that they would be too busy to look or care). My most amazing assistant didn’t drop a beat when I asked if she could take the pictures from the side that the other patient chairs were on, even though it didn’t have good access and she had to do an awkward pose or two to manage it. What I love so much is that she not only did it, but somehow managed to make it seem like a perfectly normal request. I felt no judgement and she seemed very genuinely happy for me that things were looking good and that I could move to five days. May not sound like such a big thing to others but it made the world of difference to me. So with that…here are two of these hard-fought-for pictures:)
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lilone
Posts: 288
Joined: Sat Jan 01, 2011 7:15 pm

Re: Lilone's invisalign experience

#38 Post by lilone »

It has been an eventful week or two for me with regard to Invisalign. One night I was walking around while using my AcceleDent and the mouthpiece detached from the rest of the device and the important part fell while the mouthpiece stayed in my mouth. The fall was enough to make my poor Acceledent go kaput. I was pretty worried since it is a pricey little thing but I emailed my orthodontist and he told me it could be replaced and even offered to Fed Ex one that they keep in stock (and then they would keep my replacement upon arrival). I had an appointment coming up so just waited until then and I am super happy about only being one aligner behind schedule. I expected to have to wait for the replacement. As it happens, mine was one of the beta devices so my new AcceleDent is the updated version. It is actually quite different! First of all, it is noticeably lighter...which is good because I think it was the weight that caused the mouthpiece to detach when mine fell. It is very comfortable. I found the old one comfortable as well, but this is even less cumbersome. This one also hasn't got the docking station that is shown in the picture I posted earlier. It charges just like a phone and it looks as though it can be charged by plug or by anything with a USB port. It comes with a carrying case that is like a make-up box or shaving kit in size. It looks sleeker but I actually think I prefer the charging dock style just because it had a smaller, more portable travel casing that was just a shell around the Acceledent tool itself and you can leave the rest at home if going away for less than two weeks. It didn't take up any room in my luggage when I travelled to visit my family and fit anywhere inconspicuously. For the new one, I have to take the whole case if I want it not to get dirty. Not a big deal, though.

There are a lot of little things I forgot about Invisalign life "pre-Acceledent". I knew that I found new aligners more comfortable after starting with it, but I didn't really realize how much of a difference it made. I had a lot more discomfort with the one aligner that I had without Acceledent (it broke on my first night with that aligner). It wasn't pain but it was a lot more discomfort than I'm used to now. The other thing that I did actually remember (but forgot how much I disliked it) is the peeling. My bite is still a bit deep so the back of the aligner peels on my front teeth after about 6 days. I avoided most of this by changing on day 5 and it was only chaffing a little when I changed on day 7. This time I went 10 days and it got really annoying because it would scratch my lips whenever I lick them, which is apparently a lot! All small things in the grand scheme, but I am very glad to be back to my comfortable changes and 5 day routine!

The most exciting thing, by far, is that I now have the remainder of my pre-refinement aligners! Well, almost all of them. The last two can only be used once my attachments are off. I'm hoping to skip those altogether and go straight for refinements if they are needed because two aligners is only 10 days of treatment for me. I have a long drive to get there so it doesn't seem worth the gas money to go back ten days later and then return in another few weeks for the new trays. I'm very excited about having this end goal in sight. I can not wait to get rid of these attachments. I was even dreaming about it last night. It's like being 5 and waiting for Christmas...thrilling and a painful wait all at the same time. Roll on December 14th!

lilone
Posts: 288
Joined: Sat Jan 01, 2011 7:15 pm

Re: Lilone's invisalign experience

#39 Post by lilone »

I thought I'd update as I get closer to the end of my first round of treatment. I have 4 trays left (at 5 days each) until I go to get my attachments removed and hopefully I can get my refinement scans at the same time. As things straighten up, I notice two key things.
First, I actually really like my smile! I look a lot more like my sister in my smile now and I have always been jealous of hers so I'm happy with that. If something happened and I was unable to continue with treatment, I would be very happy aesthetically. Functionally, however, it is a different story at the moment. Before I get in to it, it is worth mentioning to any nervous readers that it was never the assumption that my treatment would be finished with the first round so I am not worried about where things are currently with my treatment. I believe they are coming along beautifully...I just happen to be at an awkward bite stage.

Anyway, my bite was always a little deep (I think about 25% of my lowers were covered so not hugely deep) but because I had an overjet it still made for a comfortable bite, with my uppers coming down in front of my lowers. With things having straightened up, my front uppers and lowers now hit each other and the front 4 are the only teeth that meet (the molars look somewhat close but don't actually touch). This makes chewing a bit more of a challenge (I get hiccups a lot because I'm being lazy with my chewing), but the bigger problem is that it seems to be affecting my left jaw. That muscle that was tight from me clenching has finally decided to have a hissy fit and it now grinds and clicks and causes pain in my ear. I still feel that this must be related to clenching because it is always worst when I wake up. I have to carefully exercise my lower jaw by moving it forward and back in order to loosen it up so I can get on with my day. It gets better as the day goes on, although I do need to keep moving the jaw around and make the conscious decision not to bite down hard on the aligners, which I do as a habit. I think the problem is that, in my sleep, I am trying to find the bite that isn't there. Sometimes I will wake up with my molars touching and a very very sore jaw. If I try to make my molars touch once I am up and out of bed, I can't physically do it so I really don't know how I manage to do it in my sleep. Maybe because the muscles are more relaxed? Whatever the reason, it does seem to be possible and I wish I would STOP IT because the pain it is causing is fairly significant. At one point I thought I might have a sinus infection that could be exacerbating the pain so I went to the doctor who gave me a round of antibiotics. It did clear up my sinuses but made no difference to my jaw pain. That was basically my confirmation that it is the clenching that I had already suspected. I was checked for TMJ issues before undergoing orthodontics and everything was fine so I don't expect that it is a permanent thing since we aren't actually changing my bite alignment. I am hopeful that my refinements will be able to help with this, but I also know that Invisalign treatment also sometimes intrudes the molars of people who clench a lot (and I think it is firmly established that I am one of those people!) and in those cases patients just need to wait for their molars to settle back, post treatment. I hope I don't have to wait that long. I have an appointment in 21 days so I will bring it up to my ortho and see what he says.
By the way..... 21 days until these attachments come OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just can't even wait. Whoot!

lilone
Posts: 288
Joined: Sat Jan 01, 2011 7:15 pm

Re: Lilone's invisalign experience

#40 Post by lilone »

Well, it finally happened! I got those pesky attachments off! I cannot tell you how much better I feel without them. And what is even better is that my ortho doesn't expect he will need any attachments for my refinements. Whoot!

It is really surprising to me how well my teeth turned out in only a year and a half. When I went in, I was only looking for a cosmetic fix to a few things I couldn't stand...simply because I didn't think anything better was possible. I actually have really nice teeth right now and they all fit in my mouth and they are straight (or close to it...there are one or two that are awaiting a slight tweak) and I didn't need extractions and braces! I see my family dentist next month and she was against me doing Invisalign. I told her that for me it was either get Invisalign or do nothing, and it was clear that she found that frustrating. She said that my teeth simply didn't fit in my mouth and that extractions and braces would be the only way it would work. I can't wait for her to see that it did work and the problems she expected didn't happen. I don't blame her at all for thinking as she did. My teeth didn't fit in my mouth and even my ortho said in the beginning that it was on the verge of requiring extractions. Invisalign is used by a lot of doctors who don't have enough education with it or experience but I researched and chose wisely and that is the single most important part of the process. I don't have a perfect class 1 bite but that is not the kind of thing I care about. I just wanted a pleasant and healthy smile and I've got it.

There is one thing I really don't love...well two actually...but I don't think anything can be done about them since both issues are just from my teeth being what they are. The first issue is a gap in my lowers by the gum that has already trapped two seeds. It is a dreaded black triangle and it is likely because of the shape of my lower lateral and the fact that those two teeth aren't used to touching. I think the gum is blunted. I noticed it was there when I got a seed caught in it and now I've realized that it is actually visible when I talk (when it isn't filled with spit). Probably the kind of thing no one would notice but me but I really really hate it because black triangles were something I was super paranoid about getting. The other thing is just that my lowers are worn down in spots from being chomped on in the wrong places for so long. Nothing to be done about that but it does make me wish I had done this earlier to avoid the wear. That said, I'm really glad I didn't wait any longer which I could have easily done. Even with a bit of wear and a bit of a black triangle I have a fantastic smile, if I do say so myself! I'll post some photos to show just how far I've come. I'll through one in of the black triangle too in case anyone is wondering what I mean.
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jem
Posts: 942
Joined: Wed Aug 20, 2008 10:05 am
Location: UK

Re: Lilone's invisalign experience

#41 Post by jem »

Looking great, Lilone. How long until you are finished?

Jem
Sectional brace with Damon clear brackets fitted to front 6 upper teeth 3 January 2012
Brackets added to premolars 2 April 2012
Estimated treatment time originally 6-9 months
. Brace removed on 22 July 2013 after 18 months and 19 days
Now enjoying bonded upper retainer plus part time essix/hawley( I have both)

Click here for my story http://www.archwired.com/phpbb2/viewtop ... =9&t=42194

jem
Posts: 942
Joined: Wed Aug 20, 2008 10:05 am
Location: UK

Re: Lilone's invisalign experience

#42 Post by jem »

Looking great, Lilone. How long until you are finished?

Jem
Sectional brace with Damon clear brackets fitted to front 6 upper teeth 3 January 2012
Brackets added to premolars 2 April 2012
Estimated treatment time originally 6-9 months
. Brace removed on 22 July 2013 after 18 months and 19 days
Now enjoying bonded upper retainer plus part time essix/hawley( I have both)

Click here for my story http://www.archwired.com/phpbb2/viewtop ... =9&t=42194

modogg
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Dec 19, 2013 11:46 pm

Re: Lilone's invisalign experience

#43 Post by modogg »

Curious how much they charged you for the Acceledent? They want $1400 for it at the ortho I just went to.

Lexana
Posts: 9
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2014 9:56 am

Re: Lilone's invisalign experience

#44 Post by Lexana »

The quote I got was around $1,200 for the Acceledent unit. I actually found someone selling their unit, and bout that for less than half the price. Worked amazing, and have 3 months left a treatment! (cut it down by 6-7 months!) Honestly, the machine is very similar to an electric tooth brush, with a mouth-piece attached. Def. not worth the high price they charge for it....

lilone
Posts: 288
Joined: Sat Jan 01, 2011 7:15 pm

Re: Lilone's invisalign experience

#45 Post by lilone »

Hi all! Jem it is good to see that you are still around. I hope life in retainers is treating you well. It won't be long before I join you! Modogg, I think you got my pm. Let us know what you decide to do.

There are no words to say how excited I am today! Yesterday I went to get my refinement aligners and it really hit me that this journey is almost over! And the results are so much better than I ever could have imagined when I walked into this. Some may remember that I had visited 3 orthos before I found Dr. Tam on this site. One of the other orthos was really pushing surgery, which I knew 100 percent that I didn't want. Both he and another ortho said that without surgery I would need 4 extractions and it should be a satisfactory, but not ideal, result. They didn't think I was a case that could be solved with Invisalign and that is what I had my heart set on. I also really wanted to avoid extractions since I already had two bicuspids removed as a child, due to crowding. The third ortho was willing to try Invisalign for the first time but said that I could only correct my front 4 teeth, aligning them and pulling them outward a bit, thus disguising my badly rotated canine fang a little. I agreed to that so that I could avoid extractions but in the end she was not familiar enough with Invisalign and told me my case was too complicated for her. I'm so glad she admitted this to me, as it could have been a disaster. She kindly returned my money and I decided that I would give Dr. Tam's office a try. I worried that the 2+ hour drive each way was going to be a lot in the winter but decided that any ortho with that amount of expertise in Invisalign and who was dedicated enough to spend free time helping people on a site like this was probably worth it so I contacted him and went for it. I fully expected that my case was such that I could not get fully straight teeth without extractions and so I told him that my wish was to align the front 4 and to camouflage the canine. He told me he, just by looking, that he thought that he could get me a good result without extractions and here I am a little over a year and a half later with lovely straight teeth, no extractions and no camouflaging needed! The only thing we are working on now is the bite. My bite was deep to start with and then the molars have intruded a bit from my chronic clenching so this refinement is trying to move a couple of bumping teeth slightly to allow the molars to fully meet. If that isn't enough to do it, then I think there might be a second refinement that have the backs cut out. I'm completely fine with a second refinement if it means knowing that my bite is good before going to retainers. If these first movements do the trick than I am finished in one month! That will be more than a year under the estimated time of 2 1/2 to 3 years (thank you Accele Dent!).
I'm not really one for smilies, but I think this deserves one! :D

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