Fine Tuning My Invisalign Smile

The first  series of Invisalign made a remarkable   difference in my smile.  When  I originally  embarked on adult orthodenture, I just wanted some improvement.   I wasn’t looking for perfection.  But at the end of the first   treatment,  Dr Jacquie offered an even better result– and at no additional cost.  I have waited more than 40 years to get a really  pretty smile and now it was within reach.

Dr Jacquie made another set of scans to develop the next set of aligners.  I thought that I would need another 8 or 9  plastic tray and I was a bit surprised that  my new set of aligners had 15 new trays.  However I will be changing them every 10 days rather than every two weeks, so the time was about the same.

I also got another Madonna-like  make-over  from Dr Jacquie– that  is she created a bit more space between my two front teeth.  My two side incisors  had a shape that defies description, making it hard  for them to line up neatly with the front teeth.  They too were slightly reshaped to allow my teeth to form  an even row. 

I was a bit concerned that the aligners in this final push would be uber tight but they were actually more comfortable than the first set.  Even in the cold windy weather , I could forget that I even had them on.

After just  one month  with the new aligners, my overbite is rapidly becoming a figment of my imagination.  To keep me going, next week, Dr Jacquie  is giving me a complimentary Zoom tooth whitening treatment.

When I first started to explore  adult orthodenture,  another dentist told me I was not a candidate for invisable braces.  Instead she recommended two years of metal brands and attachments  at  more than twice the cost  of Invisalign.  Hearing that opinion, I put my dreams of a  nicer smile on the back burner.  Only a chance meeting  with an experienced Invisalign  dentist,  gave me the results I had always wanted.  The takeaway here?  Always get a second opinion.

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Invisalign– Shaping the Beautiful Smile

  Before  I start on my second and final round of Invisalign devices, Dr Jacquie shaped my teeth. I didn’t  even know that this technique existed.  Most people have  little “saw tooth” edges on the tips of newly emerged permanent teeth.   Over the next few years, the edges gradually smooth off.  Not me.  The ridges that were there when I was in third grade were still there  when my third grandchild arrived.

Using a tiny, fine sanding tool, Dr Jacquie smoothed off the bumps and ridges, Then, not unlike a  sculptor, she worked to refine the actual shape of the teeth.  The teeth of the ideal female smile have gently rounded edges.  By contrast, the teeth of an ideal male smile  have square, straight edges. As it turned out, my front teeth had a decidedly square shape– perfect for a dude.  For a 50 plus women, not so much.  I  had always focused on my overbite and I was totally unaware  how tooth shape was affecting my smile. The 15 minute painless shaping made a striking difference in my smile and a huge boost to my self confidence.  The  ‘before’ photo at the top  clearly show the ridges and masculine angles.  The ‘after’ photo below    reveal a smoother, softer smile.  Very nice.

Next Steps With Invisalign

Tomorrow I get my new set of aligners and I wonder if  I will now need the  buttons and bands for increased  impact. As long as I continue to wear the aligners as directed and return for follow-up during the  treatment period, there is no additional charge.  No problem.  I waited so long  to get orthodenture, I am the  poster child for  the good patient. 

Getting braces, albeit  invisable  ones, was a hard decision to make at my age.  Most people  are dealing with SAT’s and  acne when they get orthodenture.  I,  on the other hand now get AARP    and need stronger reading glasses. But  I am so glad I  did follow though.  Maybe I’m reading too much into  it  but I think there is a life lesson here– to make changes and take chances at  any age.   Do you have a life issue  that  you finally changed?  How did you make the decision to take action?

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Invisalign Update

When I looked into my bag of Invisalign aligners and saw only  three  sets remained   it meant that  in six weeks, I would be done.  While I was not sorry that this journey was almost done, I didn’t  think six weeks would be enough time to get the rest of my overbite under control.   My right profile  looked pretty good, but the left  profile still had a pretty significant flare.  Check out  my last scan  to view the progress. 

Dr Jacquie agreed.  My actual progress was behind  where the Invisalign digital treatment program expected   my teeth to be.   So she tweeked the  original  plan.   Rather  than changing  the remaining aligners every two weeks, I now will be switching out every  ten days.   At the end of the month  I will be re-scanned for a new mini-set of aligners.  If needed, Dr Jacquie will add buttons  and rubber bands to increase pressure and direction  on the teeth.

On the every two weeks schedule, a new aligner  felt  tight when I first put them on, but the sensation passed quickly.  On the first day of the  new accelerated schedule, the bottom aligner slipped right into place.  The  upper aligner just did not fit. I was able to position the right side, but the left part hung out of my mouth like a fishhook.  Now what?  It was 8am and too early to call Dr Jacquie.  I washed out the old aligner and popped it back into my mouth.  After two hours  I decided to try the new aligner  one more  time before  an SOS call to Dr Jacquie.  This time it worked.  I was able  to squeeze the aligner onto my teeth.  It was so  tight that I needed a moment.  Then the pressure relaxed a bit and it felt merely snug.

I  usually take  out my aligners for breakfast and put it back two hours later.  In  just that short  time,  my teeth shifted enought to make  the newest aligner  unwearable.   WHen I  was finally able to slip it into place, the sensation is best described as a good “discomfort”,  much like  the way you feel when exercising.  Muscles  start to ache  and burn in a work-out but this is a signal that the body  is getting healthier.    The tight Invisalign trays tell me that they were working on my overbite.

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Overbite? What Overbite?

My pile of discarded Invisalign aligners tell the story.  The nine month Invisalign treatment  is almost over and  I have  just  four  more aligners to straighten out   my overbite.

The first part of the Invisalign program focused on the bottom teeth.  Not only were they crooked, the flare was pushing out the top and were a major cause of the overbite.  When I first went to Dr Jacquie  I really didn’t care about the bottom row of teeth.  I felt  they weren’t that  visable and the  problem was above.   She explained that  they had  to be corrected before the top could be  put into line. ( no pun intended).

Last month with  my lower  jaw practically perfect it was time to get serious  about  the top.  I was concerned that  the aligners were going  to be tighter and they now they  definately meant business.  For the first time I found myself  removing aligners for a few minutes during the day because the pressure was intense.  My mouth seemed to be a human barometer. I could actually tell if  a storm was coming by an increased sense of pressure in  my mouth.    Taking off the aligners for 20 minutes was all I needed  to relieve the discomfort. 

I also noticed that I was getting a bit lazy.  Some nights after dinner I would “forget” to  put back the retainer immediately after eating.  This week I also lost my first aligner.   At home, I usually take out my aligner right before meals and dump them in a small bowl on the kitchen counter.  This time, when I cleaned up the kitchen and  brushed my teeth,  the upper aligner  had vanished.   I vaguely remembered cleaning up some plastic bags on the counter  and taking the trash to the chute down the hall.  I’m fairly certain that   my missing retainer was scooped up with trash and thrown out. I was due to change aligners in two days, so I pushed up the date.  The new aligner was a bit tight, but still doable. 

I’m waiting to post my  progress  until  the last reveal in two months.  But  the changes are  already pretty encouraging.   At lunch this week I mentioned my overbite to a new co-worker.  “  Overbite?” she  said  ” You don’t  have  an overbite” .  How nice was that.

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Invisalign Progress Report

I am now at 26 weeks of my 42 week treatment program with Dr Jacquie.  My lower jaw is gorgeous!  I keep sneaking peeks in a mirror, barring my teeth like a puppy to check out  the perfect  row of even  white teeth.   I never really cared about the overcrowding in my lower jaw and focused on the flare on my upper jaw.  However one of the reasons  for the almost scary overbite is that the flare from the lowers pushed out the upper teeth.  Now that the lower bad boys have  been brought in line, the Invisalign  retainers can focus on my upper bite problems.

In the before and after X-rays you can see the flare in both  my upper and lower  jaw.  When I  first saw  how pronounced it  was I wondered how I could actually chew.  In the after, the flare in the upper jaw  is reduced, but still has a way to go.  But  the difference in the lower jaw is pretty amazing.

Now the focus will be on the upper flare and I wonder if  I  will feel a difference in the way the aligners fit.  Will they get tighter?  Over the past months some aligners have flet extra snug but nothing genuinely uncomfortable.

I have heard about ” Invisalign buttons” that are attached to the teeth during treatment.  Holes are cut in the aligners and a rubber band is attached to the buttons and is pulled across the teeth.  This increases tension on the teeth to promote a shift in position.

The short answer is “no buttons”.  The buttons and bands are used primarily  where the bite is mismatched.  Known as malocclusion, the extra pressure is used  to move the jaws to line up evenly one on top of the other. The good news is that I have plain, old-fashioned buck teeth.

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Invisalign- Visible Results After Just Six Weeks

I was really looking forward to my six week appointment with Invisalign.  I had gone through three sets of aligners and  felt a definate change in my bite.  The first set of aligners were super easy to wear.  Not only were they totally comfortable, they kept me from snacking.  Without aligners, I would  reach for a random cookie or chunk of cheese– but with Invisalign eating even one bite meant taking it out, scarfing down the food,  a trip to the sink to brush my teeth and replacing the aligner.  Few foods now seem worth the trouble.  I also noticed that my teeth were much whiter  because I could not drink tea and coffee while wearing Invisalign.  Cutting back on  my 5-6 cups of tea and coffee certainly kept  my smile  brighter. 

The second pair of  aligners were  pretty snug.  And walking in cold windy weather seemed to make them feel even tighter.   I was a little concerned that things were going to get tougher but the next two sets  were as comfortable as the first one.

Dr Jackie started this visit by announcing she was going to  make me look like Madonna.  I wondered what she meant.  Would I get blonde wavy hair?  Skinny arms?  Then I got it.  Dr Jackie   treated my teeth with IPR or Interproximal Reduction.  IPR is an important of most Invisalign treatment plans.  Using a rotating disk Dr Jackie recontoured my teeth to create a  tiny  bit of extra space between my teeth and reshape them for better alignment.   It’s a much less invasive and expensive option than extracting 4-6 teeth entirely.

In addition to having an  overbite on top and crooked teeth on the bottom, my teeth had a masculine, awkward shape. ( Top photo) My teeth were significantly wider at the bottom than the top and lets face it you can’t line up two slanting lines.  By rounding off jagged  and boxy edges, IPR made  my teeth prettier and more feminine. ( Bottom photo)  In less than a week, the space has closed up as the teeth moved naturally into a better position.

When I started Invisalign, I just wanted to reduce the overbite.  The subtle reshaping that is part of  the Invisalign program is such a welcome bonus.  So far, Invisalign has exceeded  my expectations.

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Invisalign- The First Three Weeks

My first two weeks wearing Invisalign  were painless, both literally and figuratively.  Just four days after I started, I thought I could see changes in the alignment of my lower teeth.   I assumed  it was  my imagination, but  by the end of the first 14 days I had objective  proof of change.  My teeth had been so tightly packed together that I had needed  to use the thinnest dental floss to get the job done.  By the time I packed away my first set of aligners, I had to switch to a broad floss for optimal dental care.

The Invisalign rules are  easy to follow , so easy that I got  a bit  lazy.  Instruction sheets make a point of  advising me to always  place retainers in the plastic carry case.  I followed this rule  religiously but  toward the end of week two, I took them out  to eat dinner and thought I put them on the endd table in the living room.  After eating dinner and brushing my teeth, I went to put them back into my mouth, only to find  they had disappeared.  I  searched the house for more than an  hour but no Invisalign.  Next morning,  I found them in bright sunlight– just where I  thought  I had placed them the night before.  They are designed to be invisible and apparently  were as hard to see on furniture as they are when worn!  I learned a good lesson, and  now compulsively put them in their little  case when they are not in my mouth.

The second set of aligners certainly cranked up the treatment.  They were tight, so tight, it gave me a bit of a headache.  I found myself taking it out more often, just to get relief from the pressure.  After  four days,  either my teeth shifted  or the device stretched a bit because it felt  more comfortable.    It is still tighter than the first retainers, but not so much that its a problem.  I am so encouraged by the progress I can see in  just three weeks that  temporary discomfort doesn’t matter.

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Invisalign — the first week

Two months after my first appointment with Dr Jackie, my Invisalign  devices were ready.  There are twenty- one in the set and I am to wear each one for two weeks.  This means that in 42 weeks, I will be done.

  There were rules.  Not that  many and not that bad, but still rules:

*  I cannot eat or drink hot  or colored liquids.  The  heat can distort them and the colors can stain them

*  I need to wear them 22 hours a day.  This means I need to wear them all the time except when I eat– and I need to eat quickly.  After eating I need to brush  my teeth before reinserting the aligners.

* To  clean them, I swish the aligners in Efferdent, the denture cleaner. 

Then came the moment to put  in my first aligner.  I was worried that I had started something I couldn’t finish.  What if they hurt? What if   they looked so strange I  didn’t want to wear them in public?  I clicked the first one into place and relaxed.  I was aware that it was  in my mouth, but no pain.  I could talk normally and no one seemed to notice them.  I couldn’t stop smiling.

They are easy to wear and I often forget I have them on.  The biggest  problem is that I can’t sip coffe or tea  as I go about my day.  The aligners also discourage snacking, which is not such a bad thing.  In the first week of wearing Invisalign, I dropped a pound.  I didn’t realize how much I was nibbling throughout the day, but since  each  bit means I have to take them out, eat,  brush and reinsert,  I just skip the snack. Weight control is a nice value added benefit  to Invisalign.

In my first week, I also noticed that  my teeth looked whiter, probably due to  fewer cups of tea and coffee.  Although its been  a very short time, I actually think that I can see a difference on my bottom teeth.  I really didn’t care that much that they were not straight on the bottom, but I’m loving the new  more even line.   Apparently tiny Invisalign changes can have a huge difference on dental contours.

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Invisalign for an Anti-Aging Smile

When I first started  my anti-aging journey I identified a dozen different signs of facial aging. On that list I noted only a single dental problem– stained/ yellowed teeth.  Turns out that changes in our smile are part of  often  unrecognized changes that  make us look older.  The overbite that I see in the mirror was just a symptom of  changing dental contours, rather than the cause  of  my aging smile.

Here’s how it works:  According to Dr Jacquie, the full wide smile of gorgeous celebrities ( think Angelina Jolie, Jessica Alba, Halle Barre, Kate Middleton) is a youthful smile.  As we get older, our smile often becomes smaller as the jaw  loses bone mass, shifting the teeth forward. 

To check this out, I dug out old family photos and there it was– a full wide smile.  As a thirty something Mom, I had a little overbite, but my  broad youthful smile  had two rows of an even white teeth.  Comparing that smile with my baseline  pix from Dr Jacquie, you can see the difference a few decades make.  The overbite is more pronounced  and the side teeth have receded and are barely visable.

Looking at these photos I realized that I certainly under- estimated  the impact of aging on the mouth– and I’m not alone.  Even in New York where you can trip over dermatologists  and cosmetic surgeons, it took me two years to find  a full service cosmetic dentist– someone who is focused on the smile problems of adults.   At Dr Jacquie’s office, I noticed the  beautiful models and actors walking in the door, and I began to suspect I was finally in the right place.   If  the other patients in the waiting room have a curfew and are carrying  that thick SAT book, you’re probably  in the wrong place.

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Invisalign, Take 2

Last year I tried to get Invisalign orthodenture, but “Dr Braces” as  I call her said I was not a candidate.  Instead she offered a plan that started by extracting four back teeth.  Then full metal permanent  braces for at least two years and at the cost of at least 10 grand.   I got out of that office so fast I left skid marks.

This year at Beauty Bash ( the lifestyle expo created by Geri Brin at  Fabulous Over Fifty, I made a point to touch base with the cosmetic dentists.  I was especially impressed by Dr Jaqueline Fulop-Goodling  aka Dr Jackie.  She is one of the top Invisalign dentists in the US.  I was impressed by both her credentials and her dazzling smile.

 From the first  moment I  walked into her  New York office could sense a difference in  her approach.  Instead of  a plaster mold of my teeth,  Dr Jackie takes a  digital panoramic radiograph of   the mouth.  Standing up at the machine,I put my chin on a head rest and my teeth were clenched  on  a little bar.  The screens of the machine revolved around my face, capturing every missplaced tooth.

This time the report  was very different.  According to Dr   Jackie, my overbite  was not due to overcrowding, but another sign of aging.  Apparently as the years go by, the  jaw bone loses density and the teeth start to shift around.  They can sink back, twist around and/ or  push forward– all problems that Invisalign can handle.

Dr Jackie will also be  shaping my front teeth a bit so that fit  together better.  It will take about a year at about half the cost of the torture plan from Dr Braces.  At the next appointment I will get fitted for my first series of alignment trays.  Its much more fun getting orthodenture without having to deal  with  homework and curfew.

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