Okay, My last appointment was in September. I pretty much felt like I was ready to be done. My orthodontist had previously given me the impression that I would not be able to get any further refinements. So, to my surprise she said that we could at my last visit. While we agreed that they look really good, she did feel that it might be possible to make more adjustments with refinements. I decided that I wanted to stop where we were. I'm really happy with the results and I honestly didn't feel like dealing with the Invisalign anymore. She also threw me another surprise. Previously she said that I would have to wear the last sets as retainers full time for 3 to 6 months. I think she could tell that I was ready for my freedom again. She said that I am an adult and I will know if I am not wearing the retainers enough, so just wear them at night. If they are too tight and hard to get on, I will know that I haven't worn them enough. Well, I've been doing this for a month and a half and have had no problems at all. And let me tell you how much I appreciate not having to think about where I am going to brush my teeth after a meal out! When I put them in at night, they don't feel so comfortable anymore. They didn't bother me too much when I was wearing them full time, probably because I was used to them.
I have a follow up appointment in December, if anything interesting comes up, I will post it here. (eventually - LOL!)
My apologies to those of you who left comments on my YouTube videos. I will be getting around to those at some point.
In conclusion, I am very happy that I did this! I love my smile now. I can stop obsessing over my crooked teeth. I can walk by a mirror and feel happy about my smile and not try to see if they look crooked in the lighting that I am in. Yes, it was expensive, but worth it in my opinion. I did it just for me. I'm sure glad that I did.
I'll leave you with a few samples of some commercial images that I modeled my new teeth in (and just an FYI, my teeth are not that white, they were enhanced in Photoshop):
