Oopsies

Sorry to not be updating as much! It's hard to describe the changes only I see and I doubt all the tiny details are that interesting. But I will want to know these things later on to track my progress. SO...only a few more days left of this tray. Feeling about ready to change them, so that's a good sign. They were sore a few days into the current tray, which is a little unusual for me at this point, but like I have said before pain=progress and that makes me hopeful. So I try to ignore it and know it means it's working.

I noticed today when I was looking at my teeth that the bottom ones- especially on the left side- are straightening out considerably. There are 2 teeth that I have been waiting for to move for awhile now. They are the ones on the bottom row near the corners of my mouth when I smile. They were the ones that were really crowded on my bottom room. And it seems they are finally straightening!! My smile is looking so much better. I really need to add some pictures! I'm not self conscious about showing my retainers for the most part anymore. The only thing that sometimes makes me uncomfortable is the attachments because they stick out. But really it's minor.

One thing I've noticed is that I am not very good at eating/drinking. The other day my sister bought me an orange julius as a little present for an event we were celebrating and I just took a drink without thinking. She was like, "did you take your retainers out?" and then I realized OOPS! No I didn't! But I just kept them in and when I got to my car I realized 1) the juice was seeping in and my retainers/teeth were turning pink mmm triple berry and 2) the seeds were really annoying because you can't really chew in your retainers (not that I haven't before, but it's just too risky and feels weird) Plus I will never get used to people giving me food to try quick when we're cooking or someone's eating something good and wants me to try and it's awkward but I have to say "I can't. My retainers are in" because it's so inconvienient to take them out for a second and putting them back in.

Another bad thing is if you eat something quick and then just put your retainers in, you don't realize what you're essentially trapping in your retainers. So even a dry brush is pretty necessary. And my last complaint is gum chewing. Which I basically can't! I used to chew gum as a way to not snack. But if you take your retainers out to chew gum, they won't be in very long and therefore won't be doing their job. But the bad things are so little compared to what it could be. And unlike braces I can eat whatever I want. It's only a short amount of time these retainers are on. And I guarantee it will be so weird to get used to not wearing them. I am going to have the smile of my dreams and that is totally worth everything!!

Looking Good

Ok well I suppose the title is true. But partially, I feel like it's not. Let me explain. My teeth are still moving and look great, but I personally feel they have gotten to a point where they look a bit awkward. Like they are so far pushed forward that it doesn't look natural. My two front teeth look oddly shaped. There are somehow tiny gaps between every single tooth. I'm sure it's just getting to the point where everything is now moved forward so they will soon be moving back, but I feel a little weird with my retainers out. I know for sure I am more critical because I notice things on myself on a far higher magnitude than other people do. Just hope they move back and start looking more natural. I still am getting compliments on how good they look. I personally am just really picky about myself in general so I tend to notice EVERY tiny flaw in myself.

Otherwise things are going good. I somehow managed to pinch the inside of my lip with my retainer the other day, but I'm sure no other person can do that. I'm just talented in the ways of clumsiness. Without my lip ring, my teeth are center stage. I love the way they look with the retainers in. They seem like they're all in place. I can't imagine not wearing a retainer. I probably will wear them at night forever, even after treatment! I will have to ask about that when the time comes. A sort of embarrassing problem the retainers tend to have are if your lips are dry, which mine are a lot (especially in winter) when you talk or smile your lips can sometimes get caught on your retainer. Happens to me quite a lot lately! But it's not THAT big of a deal, I guess.

Don't get me wrong, I still love my invisalign and reccomend it. Just wanted to be honest about my struggles with it. Still far better than the stories I've heard from those with braces. Now time for a funny story. A couple days ago (Tuesday), I had to go in for my invisalign check up. It's every 6 weeks and it's where they make sure my teeth are moving like they should be (they just ask me how it's going and look at my smile) and give me 3 new sets of retainers. Since I'm a day behind, the hygenist made me try on the new set to make sure they fit even though I wouldn't be changing into them until the next day. So I tried them on, they felt good. (I was totally ready for a new set. Usually you can tell when your teeth are done moving for the set. And mine usually don't feel ready until the day it's time to change, or sometimes not even then and I push them. But this time the night before they felt SO ready) I put the old set back in my mouth and she held open the little ziplock-like bag it comes in so I could put the new ones back in. Socially awkward me couldn't get them in the bag so I was touching her bare hand with them. I couldn't get it so I told her, "Sorry, I'm not trying to rub you with them" and she laughed and said it was ok and she dealt with them everyday. But then she dropped the bag so I could do it myself. LOL. It was so awkward, but funny.

Anyway, that's my update. I will try to get some new pictures up soon. I know they're not the best quality, but maybe I can take some with my actual camera.

New year, new smile!

I just changed retainers two days ago, which resulted in some pain. But it's pretty much all gone now. My teeth are once again at a weird angle, but I've gotten better at adjusting my chewing so it's not a problem. And you rarely could tell when your retainers are in. That's the key to success too, so all around it's important to keep those retainers in. Which I don't think is much of a problem because your teeth feel better IN the retainers. It's like they feel more supported and "in place". It will be weird to go without the retainers in the future.

I think the biggest show of change is watching videos of yourself talking. I have been taking some videos over the past year on and off and I started watching them recently. The old videos really showed me how bad my teeth were, which I hadn't realized the severity. The new videos show a completely different story... My teeth look GREAT! I can't get over how amazing they look on camera, which means that's how they look to others. When I look in the mirror, I see the imperfections and tiny adjustments that need to be made, but in reality they aren't that much. If my teeth stopped moving right now, I would be a lot happier with my smile than I used to be.

In a couple weeks I go for another checkup to see my progress and get more retainers. I'm very pleased with my journey thus far, and am always excited to move on to the next step!! Here's an undated picture:

Sorry for the blurry webcam, but you can see the general shape. Looking so much better than I ever thought they could!!