Wedding day update with pics (limited time only!)

I could be wrong but I think I've finally recovered from my wedding day festivities as evident from my desire to do laundry, organize our house and getting around to writing up this post.

The wedding itself went surprisingly smoothly.  While there were a few glitches in the morning, it got better and better as the day went on.  And what a long day it was.  The girls and I started getting ready at about 6:30 am, the tea ceremony started just after 9:00am, followed by a buddhist ceremony at 11:00am, vegetarian lunch and then formal photos until cocktail hour at 5:30pm, reception at 6:30pm and a dance that went from about 10pm until sometime in the wee hours in the morning.  

I had my aligners out all day.  To make matters worse -  I forgot them at my mom's house and didn't get them back until the next day so in total I probably had them out for upwards of 36 hours or so.  I was so glad when I finally put them in that they still fit although my teeth were supersore after having them out for such a long time.  We took some friends from out of town to see the Canadian rockies for a few days after that so my teeth had a chance to readjust to tray 14 before I went in to get my attachments reattached.

Getting my attachments back was pretty non-eventful.  One thing I did notice is that is there considerable more bonding left around the attachments on my teeth this time but I didn't notice that until I left Dr. A's office.  I have to say, my teeth look a lot more crooked now that the attachments are back on and it took my teeth a few days to get used to having them on again.  

It probably wasn't a bad thing to have them reattached at this stage though as my aligners seem to be a better fit again and hopefully will line up nicely with these last few aligners.  Speaking of which, I found out from the assistant during my visit that I actually only 3 aligners left instead of 6!  Yes, you read that correctly.  My first round of aligners ends at tray 17U and not 20U as I originally thought.  Dr. A had a few over-correction trays ordered just in case my teeth haven't moved as planned by the end of tray 17 (mid-August!!).  

While my teeth still look a little ways from being done, I'll reserve my judgment until I've finished tray 17 at least.  Having said that, I'm glad I have a couple of options to address any remaining issues (over correction or refinement).  Tray 15 which I switched to last Wednesday, left me pretty sore for a few days;  whether it was because of having attachments again or there was a lot movement involved, I'm not sure.  It seems though that there might be some hope to be finished sooner rather than later yet.

I wish I was able to capture the whitening process somehow but I wasn't able to get the same lighting or positioning more than once.  I did notice that my teeth were noticeably whiter in my wedding pictures though and you'll have to let me know if they seem whiter to you.

Anyhow - a few pics from the wedding.  I'll just leave them on here for a few days.  After that, just send me (lemon_tree) a note on bracesreview.com or archwired.com if you've missed the cutoff!

Post wedding thoughts...

Total cost of my wedding $$$$$

Cost of my photographer $$$$

Cost of invisalign treatment $$$$

Cost of whitening gel: $$

Being to smile confidently in my pictures and all day long: priceless

So glad I decided to go through with it.

Will post pictures when I get a chance.

Tray 11 update with pics

My teeth are slowly moving into place as the countdown to the wedding begins.  It's less two months away!  And while there has been a lot of progress and I've gotten so many positive comments on my teeth lately (!!), I'd really love for Snaggy, my little crossbite tooth, to move in line with the others soon.  You know, he just looks so lonely back there.

Now that I'm on a 12 day schedule instead of my original 14, I'm trying to keep my trays in as long as possibly but it's gotten harder and harder with all this wedding business coming up (silly wedding keeps getting in the way of my invisalign!).  I'll have to have them out for close to 3 hours for our upcoming engagement shoot and at least a couple more for cupcake sampling this upcoming weekend.  Hopefully I'll be able to space things out my appointments so they don't both happen during the same tray.

I was thinking back today about whether I should have taken Dr. A's offer at the beginning of treatment to change trays on a 10 day cycle (I was extra cautious and said no at the time).  I might have been finishing up by the end of this month if that had been the case.  Looking back, I probably would have made the same decision to change on a 14 day cycle again.  I might just be overly cautious but I really wanted to make sure nothing went wrong during my treatment and my teeth weren't forced to move too quickly.  To me, having straight healthy teeth is a lifetime investment, not just something to show off in a few wedding photos and hide away in my mouth forever more.

Anyhow, in terms of the actual trays, tray 11 was mostly uneventful.  The one thing I have noticed is  some changes in my gums as a result of teeth moving.  This may be tmi but it looks in some places like my gums are a bit underdeveloped or pressed down where my teeth were overlapped.  Also, I've noticed a line where I assume my gumline used to be on my molars and wonder if it's because my molars, which were tipped on one side before, are being tipped back with these last few trays.  I may take a pic and send back to Dr. A's office.  

Picture update below:

Halfway through!

I've been pretty excited about the last few trays. It feels like every day my teeth are straighter than they've ever been and each time I change trays, they get even straighter. Much more satisfying than the first 7 trays or so which were very much of the "it gets worse before it gets better" variety. I'm smiling more and more in pictures I've noticed and I'm beginning to get a better sense of what my teeth actually look like. Not that I didn't know before but I can now make out the actual shape and size of my teeth now that they're no longer rotated and pointing every which way. hahaha... I could go on and on but suffice to say I'm quite happy with the progress I've had so far.

I went to see Dr. A yesterday and he seemed to be quite happy with my progress as well. When he commented on how I must be wearing them 22 hours a day because the trays seemed to be fitting so well, I sheepishly said that I tried even though I've been cheating a bit lately (but only because I'm more this set for an extra day (I'm such a rebel!)). Having just finished tray 10 (half way mark for me!!), I was given trays 11-14 and managed to squeeze a few questions in with Dr. A before heading out.

I'm so glad that I did because (in addition to finding out that I didn't have a tongue thrust problem and that a minor issue with one tooth during tray 10 was inconsequential) we managed to figure out how to time my next few trays up until my wedding.

So this is the plan:

• next 4 trays will be worn for 12 days each- my next scheduled appointment will be bumped up by a week so that I will be at tray 15 by my wedding (clincheck here for reference)
• will take off my attachments at the next appointment
• will do some whitening (2 x 0.5 hours per day, supposed to be more effective) while I have my attachments off for the two weeks prior to my wedding

I suppose I'm being a bit vain but the wedding was a huge motivator for me to get invisalign so I'm just so glad that I'll be about 75% done by July and will even get a bit whitening in. I guess now that I'm on a 12 day schedule I'll have to make more of an effort to wear my trays for as close to 22 hours as possible per day. Will post pictures when I get home!

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: