Eating with invisalign

Yikes - I've always been on the thin side but lately (my fiance) and I have noticed a sizable bit of tummy hanging over the edge of my jeans.  I'm not quite sure how that happened especially with Invisalign but I do know one thing's for sure, once my mom spots the offending bit of tummy she will quickly point it out, perhaps poke it a bit and remind me to exercise.  Or worse yet, she'll warn me in a foreboding tone that if I don't keep a close eye on things I may not fit into my wedding dress(es).  I don't know if it's something that's common amongst Asian moms or not but that's my mom.  I do still love her though.

Anyhow, back in the fall when I had my wisdom teeth removed, I initially lost quite a bit of weight.  Eventually once I began to eat solid foods again, I tried to follow the Canadian food guide as closely as possible to make sure I ate balanced meals.  Given that I was already thin to begin with, I didn't want to disappear into my wedding gown.  Once I started Invisalign, I had to adjust my meals again so that all the snacks I was used to eating two to three times a day could be incorporated into my meals.  I even drank meal replacements shakes some afternoons to circumvent any weight loss.

A picture of a typical lunch is below:

It seems then that I've succeeded in gaining weight while using Invisalign where so many others have lost it.  All I can say is that it's too bad the extra weight couldn't have been more effectively targeted.

End of tray 7 update with pics

This tray was really tight and reminded me a lot of my tray 3, when they first put my attachments on.  My IPR gaps haven't closed yet but it looks like my right front tooth is finally looking a bit straighter which is nice to see.  On one hand I want the next few trays to hurry up and be over with but on the other hand, I've got so much to do with the wedding still.  My mom has just returned from a trip overseas so I'm excited to see if she notices any progress over the last several weeks, well in addition to seeing her again of course.

Pictures below:

Who's afraid of the big 3-0??

A little while ago, perhaps when I was 28 or 29, I had a mini-existential crisis.  In my mind I wondered ... had I lived a meaningful life?  ... where was I headed?  ... what can I do to improve my situation, improve myself?  etc. etc.  

Eventually I ended up writing up a list of things to do before I turned 30 (today!).  I haven't dug up that list yet and will have to check and see what I haven't gotten to yet.  One thing I'll be able to proudly check off or mark "in progress" at least though is the one entitled "fix teeth".   

Yay! 

Wheee - clincheck!!

Having a great day today as I:

• Was on course and got to go home early 
• Am loving the extra hour of daylight
• Get to see my brothers in just a bit
• AND most importantly... I just got access to and figured out how to post my clincheck!

One thing I realized as I was looking at my clincheck is that the first several trays have mostly been of the "it gets worse before it gets better variety" (I guess I was mistaken when I thought I saw some progress earlier) and that it's the next 7-8 that are really going to result in some noticeable change; the last few trays seem to involve minimal movement.  I'm so excited about the next few trays.

Enjoy folks (sorry, would've uploaded to youtube but it was in gif):

Front

Upper arch

Lower arch

(Note:  I am currently on tray 7, engagement photos happen at around tray 10-12 and wedding at about tray 15)

IPR fun and a wedding update

So I went in to Dr. A to get some IPR done on my front teeth today.  The drilling sound was quite dreadful throughout but wasn't painful.  The worst part for me is the sound of the instrument going in between my teeth.  Pictures of the resulting gaps are below:

As I've noted previous posts, I was getting to be a bit discouraged but today was the icing on the cake.  Let me count the ways:

1. Finally got the issue with my health insurance sorted out.  They're covering 60% of my $4500 bill!
2. Dr. A told me I had access to my clincheck which I've been dying to see again.  I just have to sort it out with his assistants.  Will post if I can!
   
3. I got to see tray 15 (which is where I'll be by my July wedding) and it looks great.  I'll be so happy if my teeth look like the tray I saw today.
4. Even tray 10 which I brought home today looks like it will be a vast improvement over where my teeth are today and it looks like snaggy my crossbite tooth is finally going to become less noticeable.  Pictures below:

Bottom trays (L tray 10, R tray 1)

Top tray (L tray 1, R tray 10) 

Note position of Snaggy (right of right front incisor)

In other wedding related news.  My photographer agrees that I should take my trays out for the wedding and Dr. A confirmed that he'll take out my attachments a week before the wedding.  I'm having a great teeth day.  Le sigh.

End of tray 6 update with pics

Pics from the end of tray 6 below:

I had such high hopes for this tray.  I really hoped that this time I’d see some noticeable differences as I assumed this tray would close the IPR gaps made at the end of tray 2.  Alas, the gaps are still there and Snaggy the little crossbite tooth is still trapped behind my front tooth.

 

A (dental hygiene) reality check

As you may recall last week I went for a 3 hour dental hygiene appointment at the local dental school.  Since I've gotten serious about my oral health several months ago and especially since I got my invisalign trays, I've been very conscientious about brushing (3x), flossing (at least 2x) and rinsing (1x with salt water and 1x with fluoride rinse) daily.  I've also had my teeth cleaned professionally 2-3x in the past several months alone.  So I was really surprised when at the end of my 3 hour session last week (this was the assessment alone!!), the dental hygiene student (let's call her D) told me that she'd need to see me at least twice to get all the build up off of my teeth.  

I have to admit I feel a bit badly about seeing D since I never visited the clinics when my friend T was going through the dental hygiene program and was looking for volunteers to have their teeth cleaned.  For the most part, I think I was just really embarrassed about the state of my teeth.  Since I started having all of my dental issues looked after in addition to my invisalign, I've felt a lot more confident about my teeth.  In addition, D happens to be wearing invisalign too which is kind of a nice coincidence because at first I was worried that my student wouldn't know what to do with an invisalign patient. 

Today I went in for my first of said 2-3 sessions.  It was rather uncomfortable but interesting to hear D and her instructor converse about my teeth and gums.  Her instructor was wondering why my gums seemed a bit inflamed relative to the fine layer of build up and eventually came back and pointed out that my invisalign trays were the likely culprit.   Anyhow, hopefully after my appointments with D are over, I'll be back to 2 cleanings per year schedule.  

The two things that did make me feel (sore teeth and all) a bit better was that D commented on clean my teeth are despite some of the buildup below the gum line and... the cleaning cost me only a fraction of what I normally pay for a cleaning ($26 at university vs. 20% of $300 (or $60) at my dentist's office).  It's not a huge difference I suppose but with the upcoming wedding and also in anticipation of some of the other things I'd like to have done with my teeth (ie. whitening) saving money by any means has become more and more rewarding to my increasingly frugal self.