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!!