Sharon's Invisalign Adventure

Checking in on the Invisalign blog!

2012-01-18T13:36:00.003-05:00

Wow! I can hardly believe that it is nearing 5 years since I decided to take the plunge into the world of Invisalign! When I look back, it seems like it was such a fast process! (although there were times that it felt like it would last forever...) Believe it or not, I am still using my last two trays as retainers! I sleep with them in maybe about once a week now. Honestly, I cannot stand them in my mouth anymore. I try to use them once a week to make sure that my teeth have not shifted. That was a lot of money to invest and I want to be sure that my results last a lifetime.

Here is a recent image of my teeth, all still in the right place!

Thank you for all of your comments! It makes me happy to know that this blog has been useful to so many of you. Good luck with your orthodontic adventures! :)

Hello From The Future

2010-10-29T13:23:00.002-04:00

I just realized that it's been a very long time since I have updated this site! Well, I've been done with my Invisalign treatment for so long that I felt there wasn't much to say. I realized that there are a few tidbits that I can share.

Since completing my treatment, I still wear the last Invisalign trays at night only. I started out wearing them every night for about a year. To be honest, I really can't stand the way that they feel in my mouth anymore. After that first year was over, I decided to sleep with them in every other night. Now, I am down to about 3 times a week. The trays still fit fairly well so it makes me feel confident that no shifting has occurred. I will probably continue with the 3 times a week routine for as long as the tray lasts me. Keep in mind this was my last tray of the set that I had. I never purchased the Invisalign retainer kit. I'm so glad that I didn't waste the money on it.

As for my teeth, I am still very happy with my results. I am still thrilled that I did it and the year that it took just seems like a speck in time.

Best of luck to you all on your very own Invisalign (or whatever orthodontics that you choose) Adventure!

Invisalign Frequently Asked Questions

2009-03-26T10:20:00.001-04:00

Q: How do I get Invisalign?:
A: You need to have a consultation with an orthodontist or a certified dentist to see if you qualify for treatment. I suggest having at least 2 to 3 consultations with different doctors to compare price and to make sure that you feel comfortable with who you choose.

Q: How much do they cost?
A: This has to be my most frequently asked question. The answer depends on the dentist or orthodontist that you see. I suggest getting more than one consultation to compare prices. It seems the average cost in the USA is around $5000 for a complete treatment. That amount should include all of your regular visits as well. This will probably change in time as Invisalign's competitors start emerging.

Q: Can I get Invisalign for just my top teeth?
A: This depends on the doctor that you see. I had two consultations and was considering getting just my tops done. One doctor said that the would not treat just one arch and the other was willing. As it turns out, I wouldn't have saved much money by doing just the top so I went for it all.

Q: How long do you have to wear Invisalign?
A: That depend on the severity of your case. You are given plastic trays to fit over your teeth that have slight adjustments in them. They are changed every two weeks. I had 16 sets of tray plus I had 3 sets of refinements. My total treatment time was about 10 months. You should be wearing them daily for around 22 hours.

Q: Will I have to wear a retainer?
A: Yes. Your last set will be your retainer (unless your doctor does it differently). I am currently wearing my retainer to bed every night. This may possibly be a lifelong thing, but I'm not sure yet. My orthodontist mentioned about possibly doing ever other night in the future. I honestly don't mind as I want to protect my investment.

Q: Can you eat with your aligners in?
A: No. They must be removed for every meal.

Q: Is it true that you have to brush and floss before you put your trays back in?
A: Yes. Unfortunately this is the part about Invisalign that is a huge pain. You do not want food to get trapped against your teeth under the retainers. This can cause tooth decay. So, you are going to want to make sure they are nice an clean after every meal.

Q: It it okay to drink with my Invisalign retainers in?
A: Only water is the safest. Again, the sugar in drinks can become trapped under the aligner. Also, colored drinks can stain them.

Q: Can I smoke with my Invisalign retainers in?
A: Since I am not a smoker and haven't looked into this one very far. I can tell you that the pamphlet that comes with Invisalign tells you not to. I would guess that it to avoid staining them.

Q: Is Invisalign painful to wear?
A: It depends. When you change trays, you will experience some discomfort for a few days. Particularly when taking them out and putting them in for meals. The new trays are forcing the teeth into a new position so you will feel some pain as the teeth get into their new place.

Q: What are attachments?
A: Some teeth need to be rotated from side to side. The orthodontist will glue a small tooth-colored piece to the tooth. The trays will have a bump in them for the piece to fit into. Each tray will have a slightly different position of the bump to help that tooth rotate.

Q: Will I have to have attachments?
A: That all depends on the severity of your case. You'll have to have a consultation to know for sure.

Q: How long until you start to see results?
A: I remember seeing a difference in as little as 6-8 weeks.

Q: How do you clean your Invisalign aligners?
A: Although the Invisalign pamphlet says not to use denture cleaner, I did it any way. I soaked them in Efferdent every morning while eating breakfast. It did a great job and I had no problems with it. I also use toothpaste and a toothbrush to clean them as well.

Q: Will my insurance pay for Invisalign?
A: The only way to find out is to contact your insurance company.

Q: If you had to do it all again, would you get metal braces instead?
A: No. Overall, I am very happy with the results of my Invisalign treatment. I loved the fact that they were not very obvious and the treatment was relatively quick.

A Little Update

2009-03-26T10:09:00.004-04:00

I have been absent for a while as there really hasn't been much to report. I have to wear my last tray every night to bed as a retainer. There have been no problems doing this and my teeth are still looking nice and straight. I have a follow-up appointment with my orthodontist in July.

I want to apologize to all of those that have asked questions that I haven't been able to get to. Since I am having a hard time keeping up with the YouTube questions, I will be turning the comments off for now. I finally did what I promised a while ago, I came up with a list of Frequently Asked Questions about Invisalign. I will add that as a separate post after this.

As I will be keeping the comments open here, feel free to post your thoughts on your experience with Invisalign. There are a lot of visitors that stop by daily. If you have anything that you want to share with them about your Invisalign, post away!

Best of luck to you all!
Sharon

An Update Long Overdue...

2008-11-14T16:50:00.005-05:00

Where does the time go? I should have written this blog weeks ago! Forgive me, I am a stay-at-home mother with a photography career on the side. I'm always going this way and that way all at the same time!

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):

This Is It!

2008-09-17T10:23:00.002-04:00

This is hopefully my last week of Invisalign...new trays anyway. I am wearing my last top refinement tray. (I was given 3 additional trays, BTW) I'm still wearing 15 of 15 on the bottom as a retainer. All of the bottom attachments were removed at my last appointment. My next appointment is on Monday, September 22. It is my hopes that we are both happy enough with the results that she will remove the two upper attachments and allow me to continue wearing the trays are retainers. Do I feel that the tops are 100% perfect...well, not exactly, but it's really, really close. I know that if my orthodontist agreed with me, she would be willing to throw on metal braces to complete the job. If that's the case, I will pass. These are close enough for me and I'm feeling ready to be free of orthodontics soon. From my understanding, Invisalign only gives you one set of refinements, and my orthodontist will finish anything with braces for no additional cost. But honestly, I am quite happy with the results. My teeth look so much better now. Plus, I just can't wait to be attachment free!

I also wanted to mention my experience with a Invisalign and travelling. Honestly, it's a pain. I took a trip to Seattle last month and found it a little bit annoying to always try to figure out where to brush my teeth. This was a working trip so I was on the go with my camera gear all day, trying to eat quick lunches and then figure out what to do about my trays. One bit of advice my orthodontist gave me was that if I couldn't brush, swish really well with water and put them back in. One advantage that I did have on the trip was that I was waiting for my refinements and I'd been wearing the same trays for several weeks so it was okay to go a little extra time without them in. If you are considering Invisalign, keep this in mind if you travel a bit.

At some point when the attachments are off, I will be taking new photos, so be on the look out for those. I will also be creating an Invisalign FAQ's here. I've gotten so many questions about them and a lot are the same so I think having a FAQ's will be very helpful to all considering this orthodontic treatment.

Also, I apologize to all who have left me comments and questions here and at YouTube that I have not yet responded to. I've been really busy and haven't had the chance to sit down and answer. I will be working on that slowly but surely!

Waiting For Refinements

2008-08-01T08:25:00.004-04:00

My last appointment with the orthodontist was on July 21st. We both agreed that the bottoms look perfect and are done. There is a small crack in my bottom retainer but she said that isn't a problem and that I should continue to wear it full-time for 3 months. The tops, however, aren't quite finished. Even though my teeth look pretty straight, there still is some improvement to be made. She took some pictures of my teeth and will send them back to Invisalign and they will make refinement trays.

Since the bottoms were done, she drilled the attachments off. It was a happy moment to get rid of those! I can't wait until the last two on top are gone. Even though I am used to them, I still catch myself being self conscious of them.

Here are a few photos that I took (on my good equipment this time) to show my progress:

Just when I thought they weren't noticeable!

2008-07-09T18:49:00.004-04:00

I can't believe it. I had dinner the other night with someone that I have never met in person before. We had only communicated via email and website forums. She had no idea about my Invisalign treatment. About 20 minutes after getting our food and chatting, she says "So, what is that, pointing to my mouth, are you wearing braces?" I was shocked!! These are my last trays and not a single person has appeared to notice my Invisalign! She's a fellow photographer and we do tend to be very aware of small details. She said that she noticed them from 10 feet away! Now that's observant! I'm starting to feel paranoid now. I'm wondering how many people have noticed and were afraid to ask!!

8 Month Video Update

2008-07-02T20:23:00.001-04:00

You have to pay $400 for an Invisalign retainer?

2008-06-24T07:55:00.003-04:00

At my appointment about a month or so ago, my orthodontist told me that she would make me a retainer and that it would be less clear and more flexible and than Invisalign. I wasn't very happy about that since I'm already used to the way Invisalign looks and feels. So, I go back yesterday because I lost an attachment and she now tells me that the last trays will be my retainers. She clarified her mistake about the other retainer and that's fine, I didn't want to get used to something new. What upsets me is that my last trays will still have the bumps in it for the attachments. (which will be removed once we are done with these trays and possibly refinements) I wouldn't mind this much if I only had to wear them to bed but she told me that wearing them 3 months full time is best. (luckily it isn't necessary to have them in 22 hours per day like new retainers)

After expressing my concern about having to use a retainer with the attachment bumps, she then tells me that Invisalign offers an "Insurance plan" for $400 which gets you retainers with no bumps every so many months. This is very disappointing to have spent so much money on these and I can't even get a "bump-free" retainer from Invisalign without spending more??

15/16 U & 15/15 L

2008-06-20T14:51:00.002-04:00

Wow, I can't believe I'm almost done! (unless I get refinements, of course...) I just have to say that I fully expected the last trays to be the easiest. I figured that the teeth are pretty much moved into place and the movements would be minor. Well, my assumptions were wrong! I just started 15/16 on top and 15/15 on the bottom last night and OUCH did it hurt getting them out this morning. The bottom was so tight that it ripped one of the attachments off when taking it out for breakfast. So it's back to the orthodontist next week to get it back on. My next scheduled appointment is on July 21 and it will be decided if I will get refinements or a retainer. The one tooth that I mentioned in my last post still seems a little out of place so it it doesn't change by next month, I probably will get the refinements. And that will be okay since I expect perfection with the price that I paid. :)

I haven't had time to do a video and a lot of you on YouTube have been asking for an update. I will get one out soon, hopefully. I have so many things going on that it's hard to find a few minutes to throw one together. Thank for all of your messages, comments and feedback and also for sharing your Invisalign stories.

Have a great weekend!

Getting Closer To The End

2008-05-15T08:24:00.003-04:00

My orthodontist was very pleased with the results so far at my appointment last week. She decided to give me the last 5 trays. I'm still very happy with the way they look. It's amazing to be able to see the progress! I'm now on trays 12 of 16 and could possibly be done in late July. There is an issue of one of my front teeth appearing to be slanting a bit, but she will evaluate that in July. She will take x-rays and if the root is not straight, I will get refinements. It's a tooth that has bonding on it and it's quite possible that by shaping the bonding better, it will no longer look that way.

If she decides that I am done in July and need no refinements, she will remove the attachments. She will make a new mold of my teeth and make a retainer for me in her office. I'm a little nervous about the retainer because she said that it isn't as flexible or clear as the Invisalign aligners. She's thinking that I will have to wear it full-time for 3 to 6 months. I'm not to excited about this but am thinking that it isn't as critical to get 22 hours a day in since it's a retainer. (I need to confirm this thought) I'm looking forward to going out and eating a meal, going out for coffee or a snack and not having to worry about brushing my teeth!

Here's another snapshot of the progress:

IPR - Interproximal Reduction

2008-03-24T21:35:00.006-04:00

IPR, what's that? That's what I thought the first time that I heard it too. It's the formal term for tooth shaving. When you have a crowded mouth they have to make room for the shifting teeth, so they need to slenderize some of them so they can straighten out and fit in. Today, I had this done for the first time. I was a little nervous, however, I read online from other Invisalign wearers that it's not a big deal. And, they were right. There is no pain involved. Just a little concern that some of your teeth are being shaved and your hoping that your orthodontist has a steady hand! I hear that there are two ways for this to be done, one by a drill and the other with floss that is like sand paper. My orthodontist used the drill. It has a small disk at the end of it that she slides between the teeth. I can see a difference where some of the tooth has been removed. She said that she will do a little more at my next visit since a couple of my teeth aren't aligned enough yet.

I just started trays 9 today and I have to say that I am really happy so far! I can really see a difference! Even my husband (who didn't think that I really needed this to begin with) complimented me the other day about how good my teeth are looking. I'm so excited that this is going so well! As long as everything continues to go well, I should be done with this late July. I may need a few refinements, because my orthodontist claims that she is a perfectionist and that's okay with me. When you pay this much for something, you want perfection!

Seeing Results

2008-02-13T16:44:00.005-05:00

I just started tray 6 on Monday. I had an appointment to get the next three sets of trays and be checked out by my orthodontist. She was very happy with the way things were looking. It's really exciting to get the new trays to see the improvements! I have 6, 7 and 8 now (out of 16 top and 15 bottom). I like to take out tray 1 and compare it to the most recent tray that I have.

I can honestly say that I can see things changing. The tooth that sits on top of my front tooth has moved back a bit and my two front teeth are slowly moving to be side by side! This is really exciting to be able to notice a difference! I have to go back to the orthodontist when I finish tray 8 on March 24th. She said that she will be "slenderizing" (tooth shaving in other words) some of the teeth. I can see why this needs to be done with a crowded mouth. I'm not sure what it's going to feel like, but I can't imagine that it's pleasant. She will either be using something that is like floss that files the tooth down or a drill. It depends on how things look when I get there.

So here's a side by side from the original snapshot to one that I just took this morning. It's not a huge difference, but it's good to see some change!

Invisalign Video Blog - 9 Weeks

2008-01-22T23:12:00.000-05:00

I finally got a few minutes to create a video blog!

January Updates

2008-01-10T21:50:00.001-05:00

I've had my attachments for 10 days now. Well at least five of the six attachments. I've been back to the orthodontist 2 times now to have one stubborn one glued back on. I wasn't feeling very happy about the attachments at first because it feels like they are really obvious. I've been hiding my smile and my husband pointed that out to me. So, I decided to let go and just smile. The way they look is certainly less obvious than metal braces but still noticeable in my opinion. I still haven't had anyone question me about them, but then I was thinking that it's probably one of those "Oh crap, my friend has broccoli stuck in her teeth do I tell her and embarrass her or let her walk around like that all day?" sort of situations. LOL, sometimes I think about what I think other people are thinking way too much. (did that make sense? I wonder what you are all thinking about that statement...) :)

Anyway, the bottom line is that I am getting over my self-consciousness of the attachments. I think it's important for people to know about the attachments. Invisalign doesn't make this obvious in their advertisements. It looks like a little piece of white rice and it's attached to the teeth that your orthodontist wants to rotate. The Invisalign trays have little bumps in them for the attachments to fit into. It makes taking them off a bit difficult, especially for the first couple of days.

I am currently on Upper Tray 3 of 16 and Lower Tray 3 of 15. I change them on Monday the 14th. My orthodontist is already talking about refinements. For those of you that don't know, they are another series of aligners that are made after the first series to correct the teeth that didn't quite end up were they should have.

And even though I refused to smile for the first week with my attachments, I will gladly post a photo for you to see what they look like. :)

Attachments

2007-12-31T16:54:00.000-05:00

Today, I got my six "lovely" attachments put on. They are much more visible than I was expecting. It may take me a little while to not feel so self conscious of them. It looks like little pieces of rice stuck to my teeth. There are two on the the two teeth next to my front tooth. Those are the ones that I am most conscious of. Getting them glued on was easy and quick. The trays are a little more tricky to put on and pull off, but it's manageable so far. I was excited that no one was able to notice that I had braces, but I have a feeling that won't last long. They are especially ugly when I don't have the trays on. I don't have time at the moment to take a photo but I promise to get one up soon. And if I find even more time (which is hard to do these days...) I'll tray to get another video put together. I'd even like to see for myself how noticeable they are when I talk.

Happy New year!

The Next Day

2007-12-07T16:03:00.000-05:00

Well, it seems that I did need a good few hours for that upper to be able to settle down on the back molar. It feels normal today. At least the position of the aligner feels normal. As for my teeth, they are quite a bit sore today. When the trays are on, the pain is minimal. I'm feeling mostly the tightness at that time. But when it's time to eat...look out! My kids thought that it was quite humorous to see me scream out loud as I took each bite of my food! When the front teeth (the only ones that will be moving) touch each other as I bite down, I feel like I am going to go though the roof! But if I remember correctly with the first tray this will go away in the next couple of days. I expected the trays to be really difficult to take off since they are so tight, but I really didn't have much trouble with them. I don't think that my speech was effected at all either, in fact it may have improved from the last set because they were starting to feel loose. I noticed that I would lisp until I bit down and made them fit tighter.

That's my experience so far with tray U 2/16 and L 2/15!

Trays 2

2007-12-06T21:07:00.000-05:00

Just a quick post...after dinner this evening, I switched to my second trays. I've had the first in for three weeks and I'm glad to change them. They felt like they were getting loose. These are SUPER tight and a slight bit uncomfortable. But I expected that. What I didn't expect was for the upper right hand side to not want to completely cover the back molar. At first I thought that it was a defect (it was too late to call my orthodontist), but now I'm guessing that the teeth need to shift a bit. It felt horrible for the first hour or so. I kept biting down on it and it would feel as though it snapped in place and when I'd let go it would snap off. Now it's feeling a little more secure. Hopefully by morning, it will feel completely normal. This is the last set of trays that I will wear without attachments. I have 6 of them coming my way in 3 weeks.

Week 2

2007-11-29T08:20:00.001-05:00

Today marks my second week of wearing Invisalign. I still have another week to go in the same trays. My orthodontist wants me to wear the first two sets for 3 weeks. Here's a quick video update that I recorded yesterday:

My next post will probably be in a week to talk about moving from one tray to the next.

The First Week

2007-11-21T19:32:00.000-05:00

After almost an entire week of wearing my Invisalign, here are some of my thoughts. I'm still getting used to them being in my mouth. I am very aware of them and am running my tongue over them all of the time. I often find myself pushing on them and wanting to bite down on them. I feel as though I am speaking fairly well with them but I have to pay attention so that I line up my front teeth in just the right spot to get a good "S" sound. So far the visibility of them has been the best part. Even though I feel like they screaming out to everyone "Hi! Look at me!" nobody has pointed them out. The first day that I had them in, my husband was speaking with me and didn't even realize that I had them in yet. My mother knew that I was getting them but I decided to let her figure it out for herself and after two days, my daughter spilled the beans to her. She never even noticed and was very surprised. The rest of my family and friends aren't aware that I am going though the Invisalign process and haven't said anything to me about it. As far as pain goes, they were a bit sore the first few days and I took a Tylenol to help with that. But for the most part, it's quite bearable. I know very well that when the attachments come in a few weeks, it will be a different story. But that's okay, no pain no gain!

Happy Thanksgiving!

They're Here!

2007-11-15T14:26:00.000-05:00

Well, I've had them in for about an hour so far! Here's a little video blog that I made 10 minutes after putting them in:

ClinCheck!

2007-11-07T17:02:00.000-05:00

My orthodontist called today to tell me that after making changes, she finally got the ClinCheck where she wants it! She had me drop by to check it out and was cool enough to let me video tape it! I'm really excited now! She's approved it and now the trays will be manufactured. They could be here in as little as two more weeks. Oh, another surprise that I got is that I will only need 16 trays for the top and 14 for the bottom, which is less than she expected. She seems pretty confident that we will want refinements though...so it may take a little longer if they don't turn out as expected.

The little dots on my teeth are where they will put "attachments." These are little tooth colored pieces that are glued to the teeth to help them move.

Here's the Clincheck:

Molds & X-Rays Today

2007-10-15T18:05:00.000-04:00

Today was the official start of this little adventure! I wasn't really sure what to expect today. It was pretty simple and 99% painless. :) After I made my first payment, I was escorted to the next room. The next step was a series of photographs. I was surprised to see that they were using a very old Canon 35mm camera! I had several shots taken which pretty much felt like mug shots. (no glamor photography here, that's for sure!) They were using a ring flash on the lens to get some close up teeth shots. Next was an x-ray machine that held my head in place by putting things in my ear. This was quite the contraption! Then it was over to the panoramic x-ray machine that took an x-ray all around my head. And finally they finished up with a couple of frontal bite shots. Wow, I should be glowing from all of that radiation!

Now the fun begins with the molds. I've read a blog or two of other Invisalign patients and none seemed to appreciate this experience. So, I braced myself. Honestly, it really wasn't that bad. The goop that they use isn't the most pleasant tasting stuff in the world but it was tolerable. The problem that I had was that the first molds didn't come out complete and she had to put a little more goop over the bad spot and make me bite down hard for 4 minutes. That was my 1% of pain for the day. My jaw was a little sore and shaking for a little bit after that. It was the same feeling that you get in your arm muscles after carrying something that was a little bit too heavy for you.

And that was it! Now the hard part, waiting! It could be 4 to 6 weeks before I get my trays. My orthodontist says that she is very picky so she almost never accepts the first ClinCheck that comes in. It will probably be a few more weeks before I post further. Hopefully when I do, I have nothing but good things to say! :)

I've Decided To Get Invisalign!

2007-10-11T19:44:00.000-04:00

My obsession with my crowded teeth probably started around 4 years ago. I just discovered a passion for photography and an outlet to sell images. The photos that I create are sold as stock photography and are used in anything from magazine ads to billboards to television commercials, etc. When I started this hobby/business I needed models for my images but I didn't have the time or studio space to hire them. I am a stay-at-home mother and at the time my babies were still quite young. So, I decided to jump in front of the camera while they took naps and pose for my own shots. This was tons of fun for me as I had a dream at the age of 14 to be a model. My shyness held me back from ever pursuing that fantasy. Here I am 21 years later fulfilling an old desire! I love being in front of the camera as much as behind it but there was one thing that really started to annoy me. My teeth! From straight on, they aren't "too bad." But turn me to the side and WOW! I never realized that the were so jammed in there. Over the years I got really good at Photoshopping my teeth to perfection! So good, in fact, that I actually found a dentist using one of my photo on his website when I was searching for Invisalign!

So, why did it take me so long to finally do something about this? Part of it had to do with the cost and the other part was due to my insecurity about it. My husband is the most wonderful man on earth! He so often told me that my teeth were beautiful just the way they were despite hours of listening to my complaining about them. I believe that he feels that way but I don't feel that way when I see them for myself. I would on and off think to myself that maybe they are fine. Then I would plan my next photo shoot with myself. And I would be back to the beginning with wanting to fix them. So, I started saving some money in case I got bold enough to do it.

Here I sit after a four year struggle with myself about what to do about it. I recently visited 2 orthodontists that had total different opinions on how to fix my problem. One was an old schooler and really tried to push me into traditional braces. At 35 years of age, the idea of that doesn't excite me (or my husband). The orthodontist even went to the extent of pointing out a click in my jaw and would insist that I sign a waiver in case there should be any problems. The second orthodontist was a younger woman who happened to work on my husband's teeth when he was a teenager! I really liked her and she said that my click was so minor that she doesn't see it being a problem. She said that I was a perfect candidate for Invisalign. She was even willing to just correct the top (which really bothers me) but highly recommends doing both. The price difference wasn't much. I thought that the bottoms looked just fine and wasn't going to fix them but after taking some additional images, I see where improvement could be made. Plus, I would hate to have any regrets of not doing it.

So, I have an appointment set for Monday the 15th with the female orthodontist to have the records taken! This is it! I am really going to do it! I'm so excited and quite honestly frightened as well. I know that there is pain involved and also tooth shaving. (it hurts just to say that...) But like they say, "No pain, no gain!" Below are some snapshots of where I am today: