The start of my journey

I probably should have started this blog when I started my treatment but better late than never!

The Beginning

I started my journey towards Invisalign back in July of 2016. I started by going to dentist (gasp!). To be honest I couldn't tell you the last time I had been at a dentist before then. If I had to wager a guess it would be somewhere around 10-12 years at least....I know I know that's horrible. But if you knew my dental past you might forgive me for waiting so long.

So what started me on my journey was that I noticed my overbite was coming back and I was starting to notice a lisp when I spoke. Now having been down the whole braces thing twice before in my life I wanted to do something different, something I had more control over. So that led me to look into Invisalign.

But of course I had to get all the regular dental treatments out of the way first (ie, cleaning, repairing old fills, etc).

Skip forward to September and I was finally ready to start my Invisalign journey. First I had to meet with the Orthodontist, she travels by plane once a month with her assistant to our community. I met with them they took many pictures, molds and scans. I was then told I was a candidate for Invisalign but first I would have to expand my upper arch with a three-way palatal expander.

The palatal expander arrived for my appointment in November. At first it was fine. I was under the instructions to turn it twice a week on the top part and the side part (the days didn't matter), and recommended I turn it at night; so start turning I did. I found that Tuesdays and Fridays were usually my turn nights.

Now if you've never seen one of these contraptions they are pretty inconspicuous as far as ortho treatments go, Someone else looking at you wouldn't be able to notice you wearing it, except for when you talk. This torture device makes you sounds very funny. You cannot pronounce certain letters and it impairs your speech...but you do get used to talking with it over time (say at least a month).

There was one point in late November where my teeth and jaw really hurt! It felt a bit like my mouth was being ripped apart, but not quite as bad. Luckily after a few more turns that pain went away. I found out at my next appointment in December that the pain I felt was likely from my upper arch expanding and the bone there "breaking" in lack of better terms.

I had to turn the front and side of my palatal expander up until December. Then I was lucky enough to only have to turn the side twice a week for the next month. When I went in to my January 2017 appointment; I could stop turning!!! I was so excited. Now I just had to wear the expander as a retainer but still wear it as often as before.

The only times I was taking it out was to eat, brush my teeth and play sports. February was my next appointment and when I went then they had to take my bottom permanent retainer out; which I had on my teeth since my last go around with braces (so say 15ish years). This did not feel the best. It felt like she was scraping my teeth down to nothing. It took about a week for the tenderness and pain to fade enough to be able to eat relatively normal again.

At this appointment they also took more scans of my teeth so they could start making the Invisalign. I was on my way!!