NOT happy (& pics)

So since it is TWO days from my appointment where I get my attachments off and essentially am done with treatment, I thought it would be a good idea to get a good look at my mouth to see how everything looked. And let me tell you, I am not happy. First pictures:

Basic front overview. I noticed today (yes this is the first time I've noticed this) my top teeth line is not aligned with my bottom teeth line. It wasn't like that before treatment and I'm actually very, very upset. Little things like that bother me & this is pretty obvious. It's like the top row of teeth is shifted over too far, so it looks funny that it's not aligned.

This is my bottom teeth. They are pretty straight, minus the sideways tooth you can't really see from this angle

These are my top teeth. They are crowded still and not completely aligned. But they certainly don't bother me near as much as the actual tooth line situation. I'm sure invisalign can't do the intense movements that would be needed if I would have gotten braces.

This is another view where you can see the tooth line misalignment.

I'm not entirely sure what to do about thi problem. I guess I can ask my orthodontist. At this point, I am very upset with them and their lack of communication. Obviously my teeth have improved, but I feel like this isn't what I was promised. I should have shopped around for orthodontists, but I was very taken in by what they told me. I could deal with minor imperfections, but last time I saw him was RIGHT before this set of retainers, which was 4 weeks ago. And he said things looked perfect. There were more trays I COULD wear, but he said I didn't need them. And I'm thinking I may have. I hate to waste more time, but I am not very happy with this. I certainly don't want to waste money.

It's not even just one issue either. It's the misalignment, the weird bite in the back right, the crooked side tooth, the crowded tops... I'm not sure if there is anything they could do, but I sure hope there is. I waited so long to be proud of my smile, and I want to be completely happy with it.

Yes!

So I've gotten very uncreative with my titles. Pinterest is sucking my creativity in other directions. On to the teeth! 2 days ago (on Thursday) I changed into my 22nd set of retainers!! They didn't really hurt at first. Later in the day, it felt like the bottom might need to be sanded because it was slightly digging into my gums, but it ended up not. The bottom right was sore again like it has been lately just for the fact that the turned teeth are moving. And the tops were fine, like the last few times as well. Now 2 days later, pain in 98% gone!! It's very exciting to get out of the pain phase so quickly. And even the pain in the first 2 days was mild compared to the past. Makes me very hopeful!

Now for the promised pictures:

Here's a look at the bottoms. They're almost perfectly straight from what I can tell. The ones in the "corners"are the ones that need to kind of swivel to sit upright.

These are the tops, which obviously have more work to be done. When you see them at this angle you can tell they need to align more. Which I find weird because I haven't felt any pain from the top retainers in months.

And here is probably the number one thing that bothers me. If you look where the middle of my lips are, you can see the middle of my teeth are not aligned there. Which isn't a huge deal I suppose, but it looks funny to me because I really notice it. I definitely hope that this fixes itself or I will say something to my orthodontist. My top teeth do have lots more to do, so hopefully it won't be an issue.

And here is a general look of how my teeth are doing. They look far better from this angle than they do when you see the teeth in back. Even though I rarely will be showing my back teeth (if at all) I want everything to be straight and perfect!! I'm very pleased with the way my smile looks, but that's not all the teeth my mouth has. I also want my bite to feel natural.

Anyway that's all for my teeth news. Thankfully there is no complaining of pain in this post! Let's hope it stays that way. Or for the sake of progress, relatively pain free!!



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!!