Getting worse before it gets better...

I've been pretty quiet basically because not much has been going on with my teeth. They were getting a bit gappy for a little bit after tray 3 but I figured it was some of that getting worse before it gets better stuff. I see Dr. A tomorrow so will update on where I'm at after that.

Back from Asia and refinements 3 have arrived!

If you're planning to do any traveling with invisalign, you may want to think twice about going to any country that doesn't have drinkable tap water. It's a real pain to use bottled water whenever you brush your teeth. At least that's what I found.

I've been back since Saturday and managed to squeeze in a quick appointment with Dr. A. This round consists of 6U/4L (+3 over correction trays if needed) trays. I hope I'm happy after this. No attachments this time.

Pictures taken at the end of round two.

Waiting

I'm just waiting for my third set of refinements :( It doesn't look like I'll receive them before I leave on my trip so will just take tray 9, refinement 2 with me and take it easy for the next little while. Would post pictures but I still have some packing to do since we leave tomorrow!

Refinements 3

Wow.... when I started my treatment I never imagined that I would go through 3 rounds of refinements!!! It was supposed to take 10 months originally and has stretched out to over 3 years. I'll post pictures before I go on vacation and update with details of my third round when I find out more!! Let this be a warning to you my fellow snaggle toothed friends....

Quick update

Not much to say really. Am going to go through with the last 3 overcorrection trays of 9 tray set (refinements round 2) and then will reassess if I need to go to refinements round 3. Argggh... will post pictures once I get to tray 9. Just switched to tray 8 on Monday.

Refinements round 2!

Well, I knew it had been a long time since I updated but I didn't realize that I haven't posted since August!! Oh my - since then the snow has fallen twice where I live, halloween has past and we've even instigated a garden light war in our neighborhood.

And my teeth... well when it comes to my teeth I suppose there's two ways to look at it. On the negative side, I had to go through a second round of refinements after getting through my uber round of 20U/13L refinements. On the more positive side, there are only 6 trays (+ 3 overcorrection trays) and I have really little attachments (see if you can spot them) this time around.

I just saw Dr. A yesterday and things seem to be on track so far according to him (I'm a bit concerned about my uppers) and I as given my 4 through 6 trays. Pictures below and my next update to come in 6 weeks!

wheee.... refinements round 2!

Well the good news is that I had kind of been hoping at the beginning of this set of refinements that I'd be able to get my attachments off before an upcoming wedding where I'll be a bridesmaid and I now have my attachments off. I have exactly two weeks to whiten before then too! The not so good news is that Dr. A and I decided that I am probably going to go for another round refinements. I kind of guessed this would be happen given the length of time the appointment was scheduled for but still a bit disappointed that my treatment is going to take a while longer before it's finished.

It's like playing Monopoly - except every time I get close to getting back to GO, collecting my $200 and moving on retainers, I keep getting sent back to jail for an involuntary break from treatment and then it's back to crawling slowly toward the GO again. I'll get there some day, even if it takes all 3 sets of refinements...

Here are pics of every fourth tray of this set of refinements:

End of first set of trays

Refinement tray 4

Refinement tray 8

Refinement tray 12

Refinement tray 16

Refinement tray 20

Attachments off!