Since this blog will go on forever as it has since 1999 (different domains, same purpose), I have been trying my best to keep up with life and still jot down things that I experience. I don\u2019t write these posts for Google SEO or traffic but it\u2019s nice to just put things out there that either cost me a considerable amount of time, money or effort.<\/p>\n
For 36 weeks, I lived every day with a piece of 3D printed plastic in my mouth in attempt to simply straighten my bottom front teeth that had a slight overlap. I had relatively straight teeth as a child with the only issue being a slow underbite that many dentists noted but nothing worth fixing. I have never had a cavity or braces or any dental work but when my wisdom teeth came in starting around age 19, I completely ignored them until I was 25. This action forced all of my teeth to push forward and cause crowding and some teeth to overlap. You had to really look for it in a photo but it wasn\u2019t ideal. My wisdom teeth became impacted top and bottom and were forcibly removed at 25.<\/p>\n
Thanks to my job\u2019s incredible insurance, they would cover 50% of orthodontic work per year so Invisalign quoted me $1900 and work covered 50% of it. I was out of pocket around $850.<\/p>\n
The initial experience was pretty straight forward. The dentist\u2019s Invisalign specialist took a lot of photos and scans of my mouth with a tool that looked like a CueCat scanner (younger people may have to google that one) and then they showed me a proposed before and after image of what my teeth would look like. There was no pressure, only a quote and discussion on what my treatment plan would look like. Two weeks later, I called up to arrange for Invisalign to start right before my shoulder surgery would commence.<\/p>\n
The treatment plan was pretty fluid because the patient and provider have no idea if the treatment plan will be perfect. They may need to adjust things or order more trays depending on where you are at various intervals of treatment. The good thing is, that amount I paid up front was the most I would pay so if they decided I needed 70 weeks instead of 36, this was all included as were the visits and the final delivery of my overnight retainers.<\/p>\n
I picked up my first 12 weeks of trays before my shoulder surgery, a carrying case, a storage case and a few other accessories. They booked a follow up for 1 month in. I went home and ordered some Invisalign cleaning crystals, another carrying case and some whitening gel I didn\u2019t start using until after my treatment ended. They also installed on my teeth some retaining clips that hold the trays in. These orthodontic adhesive tic-tacs take getting used to. You rub against them while chewing, they don\u2019t look good when the trays are out and they are removed by a dentist filing them down with a grinder with white dust going everywhere. They are not removed but shaved off with a dremel tool. I still have some remnants of them on my teeth I can feel with my finger and tongue. Easily the worst part of this was those being installed and subsequently ground off. You don\u2019t notice they were ever there but I can feel them.<\/p>\n
The first 4-weeks were pretty easy from a comfort level. The lifestyle adjustment of having to remove the tray to eat and drink was the hardest part. \u201cInvisalign Diet\u201d is a pretty common term. I had 3 other colleagues in treatment at the same time and we\u2019d each have to remove our teeth before having coffee or lunch with the team then run to the bathroom to floss and brush our teeth before resuming our day. This lifestyle change eliminates all snacking. I was skipping breakfast some days because I\u2019d wake up with my tray in and think \u201c3 more hours to lunch so I\u2019ll just have water until then\u201d I feel like the first 4 weeks, no adjustment happens at all. It was just plastic in my mouth that I had to get used to speaking with and adjusting to not being able to do any snacking. After dinner beer \/ wine, is out because you have to wear your trays 22 hours a day, 7 days a week. After dinner, brush teeth, put them back in and no more snacking unless you want to repeat that process.<\/p>\n
At week 6, my tongue was cut while talking in a meeting. One of the trays wasn\u2019t sitting flush on my molars so the back of my tongue started bleeding. I went to the dentist and they shaved that tray and it eliminated the issue. This can happen. Your doctor should work with you to fix the issue so you don\u2019t have tongue damage or lose a week of adjustments.<\/p>\n
Weeks 4-15 were all pretty easy. Every week, I\u2019d put in a new tray on Monday night and I\u2019d have about 2 days of uncomfortable feelings and \u201cloose teeth\u201d. Since Invisalign is moving teeth slowly, the gums were loose on some teeth as things were relocated. It would sometimes be hard to chew on one side of my mouth. I also would have an issue sleeping the 1st night after a new tray was in due to the pain but by day 4 of 7 in each tray, there was no issue at all. It all just slide right in and I\u2019d anticipate starting over again the next Monday.<\/p>\n
This continued until week 30 when I had a check-up and I was nervous because I didn\u2019t know if the 32 trays they gave me would be enough. They confirmed that I\u2019m in a good place. Things went sideways because I was then booked for a week 32 checkup to get my night retainers and end the treatment. I went in and they said \u201cit looks good, we\u2019ll order you retainers\u201d It turns out my dental assistant didn\u2019t do that 2 weeks prior so I had to wear my last tray for 4 more weeks (the same set) while I waited for those to arrive. Then i received a call the next day saying they decided to get me 6 more weeks of trays to take care of some gaps on the top left row of teeth. I refused the additional treatment out of frustration because my bite was perfect and what I needed solved (lower front crowding) had been eliminated. Due to the customer service issues, they express ordered my retainers and those came in 2 weeks later meaning I only had to wear my final set 4 weeks instead of 6-8. They apologized for the last few weeks snafus of being done with treatment, then not being done and making me continue to live with one set way beyond one week and they were getting pretty dingy.<\/p>\n
The final appointment involved removing the carrier pieces with the dremel and then getting my 2 retainers. These will cost $300 each to replace if I lose them (which we all know is BS since they\u2019re 3D Printed) but supposedly I\u2019m not suppose to ever lose them because I have to wear them the rest of my life while sleeping. This ensures no regression. In addition, the first 6 months are critical because my jaw bones themselves are still adapting to the placement of my teeth so I\u2019m to wear the night retainers as much as possible so I\u2019ve been wearing them 12 hours a day (8PM to 8AM) after dinner and before my first coffee. I can wear them as much as I\u2019d like.<\/p>\n
Since it\u2019s one set forever, I\u2019m relying on the Invisalign Crystals to keep them clean which is a low-cost solution and comes in packs of 50 (soaking them once a week and brushing them to keep them clean). Everyone I\u2019ve spoken to who stopped wearing their retainers was considering re-treating their teeth again just 10 years later so it\u2019s something I need to continue doing if I want the results to last but is no different than braces.<\/p>\n
My treatment was insanely short, very affordable and I\u2019m happy with how it went overall. I\u2019d recommend you wait for deals as Invisalign sometimes does deals on federal holidays like Christmas and July 4th and see if your dental insurance will cover 15-50% which can be huge.<\/p>\n
Along my list of other things like rotator cuff and ankle surgery, LASIK, nutritionist, weight loss and working out, this is the second to final thing I did for myself this year to correct mostly something aesthetic and it makes flossing, brushing, eating (fixed my bite) much better as well. I also always had tarter and plaque buildup where my lower teeth were crowded and my cleaning in December confirmed that this space is much better off now that things are straightened.<\/p>\n
I would recommend Invisalign to anyone who has straightening or bite issues and can afford it. What they say is true, no one ever asked me if I was wearing them unless I mentioned it or had to step away to remove them and then they noticed my retainer clips. As for my smile. It\u2019s perfect.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since this blog will go on forever as it has since 1999 (different domains, same purpose), I have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2023-12-11T13:57:35Z","apple_news_api_id":"d3ba1e46-0dcb-4e7f-82e0-21c742a15ed5","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2023-12-11T13:57:36Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A07oeRg3LTn-C4CHHQqFe1Q","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_custom_appearance":"","csco_disable_excerpt_posts_layout":false,"csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12184","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-life","7":"cs-entry","8":"cs-video-wrap"},"apple_news_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb3IC4-3aw","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1367,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2011\/01\/10\/our-morning-routine\/","url_meta":{"origin":12184,"position":0},"title":"\u2605 Our Morning Routine","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"January 10, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"It's 6:30AM and your alarm clock goes off. you hit snooze Around 6:45, you grab your iPhone and browse through email and make your way to the bathroom flipping on the coffeemaker as you pass. From the shower to a brush of your teeth to the comb that goes through\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Motivational"","block_context":{"text":"Motivational","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/motivational\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Morning Sunrise","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3195\/3070621622_140f59a8fe_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3195\/3070621622_140f59a8fe_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3195\/3070621622_140f59a8fe_z.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2282,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2011\/04\/27\/the-medical-industry-hates-travelers\/","url_meta":{"origin":12184,"position":1},"title":"\u2605 The Medical Industry Hates Travelers","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"April 27, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"It's as if we are\u00a0committing\u00a0a crime when the itch arises to explore the world. 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