Almost done!!

[ChicagoJohn]

I have to say, I'm pretty shocked that I was able to get my teeth so straight in just 15 trays. I know that some of you have to wear many more aligners than I had to and I'm not quite sure that I could do it. 15 was all that I can take.

So, I'm on tray 14 of 15 right now and I'm really excited about putting my last tray in later this week. I'm not sure what the last tray will do because my teeth look perfect already.

Here are a couple of pics. The first one is a before pic from a few years ago when my teeth were still messed up and the next one is from a few days ago with tray number 14 of 15 in. I don't really have any close up pics so these will have to do. It's clear in these pics though that my teeth were pretty jacked up before. My teeth went from being very crooked to perfectly straight in just 7 months. Technology is amazing. I look like a completely different person with straight teeth.



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[Jamie]

Your teeth look great! I too am on a 15-tray plan, but I'm only on tray 5 right now... time has been going by pretty quickly, but I can't wait to be in your shoes.

Congrats on getting to the end of your treatment and for making the decision to feel better about yourself!

[livelavalive]

Your teeth look AWESOME.
I had the braces for two years and am a bit unhappy with my bite.
Would you recommend Invisalign for bite issues? I would plan on getting them once they switch the impressions to digital technology, (7 years apparently) and, oh yeah, come up with a few thousand dollars.

[Sunny]

wow ... your teeth are looking amazing in such a few trays. It's great that alignment can be corrected with so few aligners! Congrats!

Livelavalive some bite issues can be treated with invisalign as long as you find a skilled ortho.

[ChelseaRox]

Your teeth look amazing...Congratulations!! Do you know the type of retainer you will be getting??

[Phantom Muse]

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Congratulations, John! I know this has been a less-than-pleasant ride for you, but aren't you just thrilled?!?!?! Looks like you wouldn't need refinements even if if you were willing to do them!

Are you going with the Vivera retainer? I really do like mine because it feels so much like a regular tray. I am trying to avoid a bonded retainer, so I may need to wear the Vivera relatively full-time (but without the anxiety of mandatory full-time wear - that's a treat, I tell you!) for another few months at least. My upper front (formerly) snaggle tooth wants to move around still, so I am patiently awaiting its settling.

Again, congrats!

[ChicagoJohn]

Thanks guys! Yeah, I am smiling a lot more than I used to and that was the whole point of doing this. I remember in the past when someone would take a picture of me I always focused on trying to smile without showing my teeth but now I just let the smile rip without any hesitation! It feels good.

Jamie, it seems like I was on tray 5 just yesterday. Seriously, it's going to fly by.

As far as retainers are concerned, I'm still not 100% sure that I want to do Vivera retainers or just go with the permanent fix. I really really hate wearing these trays. I like to snack and I like to drink coffee so I miss those things terribly! For most of my treatment I have dreamed of walking into the dentist office at the end of my last tray and just getting the permanent wire put in and being done with it but Phantom Muse sometimes puts it into a good perspective of how easy wearing Viveras can be. I think that I could handle full time Vivera wear for a while as long as at some point I can start enjoying a longer morning coffee and maybe eating some popcorn at a movie, etc. without anxiety about getting the trays back in right away. If I can just get to the point where I no longer have to brush and floss in public restrooms then I'll be golden.

Livelavalive: Yeah, I would think that Invisalign could be used to fix a bite problem. I didn't have a bite problem but Invisalign certainly changed my bite a little bit with each tray that I wore. It threw it off for a while in the beginning, which had me really concerned, but then it came back around towards the end.

[Phantom Muse]

John,

My exact experience with Vivera - in case this helps! By the way, if my teeth don't fully "settle" within a year - meaning I can wear retainers at night only without feeling that my teeth are shifting during the day - I will probably consider a bonded retainer. I want to give the teeth a chance now, though, because I'd rather not have a wire OR a tray most of the time!

1. My Vivera retainers were tight when I first put them on. There were two reasons: My ortho planned a small movement - essentially like a single refinement tray - that was to be accomplished with the retainer. Second, the Vivera retainers are stiffer, and from what I was told, they really do lock your teeth into place.

2. I had the "new tray" ache for 4-5 days, and then it was like a regular tray.

3. I have had retainers now about 2 months, and I can easily go 2 hours without wearing them (although they feel a tiny bit tight when I put them back in, but the sensation disappears within a minute or two). I have gone up to 8 hours without wearing them, but that's a little too much for me right now. My teeth aren't quite ready for that. I generally now will eat a leisurely meal - what a treat! - and then not replace my retainers for another hour or so.

4. I can snack whenever I wish and not worry about compliance. I do like how clean my teeth have felt for so many months - I am kind of addicted to that - so I generally will take care of things soon after I snack. However, if I am out and about, I don't feel badly if I have to wait to brush and put in the retainers.

5. Although I know that all teeth can move your entire life, I really only feel my front (formerly) snaggle tooth wanting to shift. It was the primary reason I went with braces again. Your front tooth looked to be similar to mine, John, so do not be discouraged if you experience the same sensation as I have when you are in retainers. It will settle.

6. Brings me to my final point... when you have braces as a child, the teeth have not been in your mouth for very long and they are used to moving and the bones are not finished growing and... It simply may take longer for the teeth to settle after having treatment as an adult. My ortho reminded me on Friday that one year is a reasonable estimate of the time needed. I am okay with that as having retainers is so much easier than having the regular trays.

Just some things to think about...

[ChicagoJohn]

Very good and helpful info Phantom Muse! Thank you!

I really like that idea that you mention about trying out the Vivera retainers for a year and then switching to permanent retainers if my teeth are still trying to shift at that point.

As you mention, just being able to relax for an extra hour after a meal would make life sooooo much more normal again. It probably makes flossing a lot easier as well since your own saliva has a chance to remove food particles in that extra hour. Flossing right after a meal is aggravating.

One concern that I have is that a couple of my front teeth were pulled down with the use of attachments. I just wonder how a Vivera retainer without attachments will keep those teeth from moving back upwards again.

If a year from now I can be at the point of only wearing a retainer at night I will be very happy. Just last night I was at a friend's house to watch a football game. Of course there were snacks and things being passed around and as usual I had to awkwardly decline everything. I felt really bad about it because the girl that made all of the food had obviously spent all day long preparing it. I felt like I was being rude but I just didn't feel like explaining to everyone there that I had aligners in my mouth. I took the aligners out only once and made a plate and ate it really quick and then I had to do my disappearing act and go brush and floss. I'm so close to the end of this lifestyle and I can't wait!

[Sunny]

John I think the most important thing to remember is that there's no such thing as a 'permanent' retainer. It's a bonded retainer and needs a lot of care due to the risk of the bonding coming off one or some of the teeth. It needs to be checked daily and a removable retainers still needs to be worn at least two nights a week. The bonded retainer holds the front four or six teeth ... so the rest need the removable retainer at night to take care of them.

A combination of the two, with additional care taken of the bonded retainer, is often recommended as one of the best options.

[ChicagoJohn]

Sonny, I had a bonded retainer on my bottom teeth for about 25 years so my bottoms never went crooked again. But for some reason my childhood ortho never put one on the top, so of course my upper teeth shifted right back. I remember always getting scolded by the dentist for years about not flossing good enough in the area where the bonded retainer was but other than that it was never a problem. When I chose Invisalign, my current dentist removed the bonded retainer and I had to wear 7 trays on the bottom, although I'm not quite sure what those trays did. Maybe they moved my bite around a bit.

I guess my point is that I'm ok with wearing a bonded retainer. I did it for 25 years and it's actually taken me a while to get used to not having it in there anymore because it was such a permanent part of my mouth for so long. But I agree with what you guys are saying. There's still always the chance of having it break as well as only holding the front teeth in place. Plus, having two of them in might be a bit annoying.

I'm leaning more towards the Vivera. I think I can get through it to the point of only nighttime wear. Not to mention, I've sort of become obsessed with cleaning my teeth really well now since I have to do it so much with Invisalign. But I wonder if I can keep it up for the next 20 years.

[MCOMarkhamOrthodontist]

Invisalign patients tend to be great removable or Vivera retainer wearers. They will wear them at nights and are quite compliant. If they were not, they would not have achieved their excellent final results. Unless there are extremely large spaces or rotations, very few of our Invisalign patients get fixed retention. Even still, we always back up fixed retention with some sort of removable retainer for posterior teeth retention, but also as a back-up in the rare case the fixed retainer comes loose.

Your smile looks wonderful ChicagoJohn! It does seem like just yesterday you were posting questions about starting treatment. Time flies!

[Phy]

Your teeth look great ChicagoJohn!! I am so envious..I have only just made it to Tray 3 of 33..your 15 trays sound like a dream!!! Hoping for time to go by faster..because like you, I really really don't like the trays. A lot of people seem to not mind them after a while but i still dislike them after a month because they affect my jaw and bite, and I think I lost 3 kgs this month because of them. I'm trying to eat as much as possible during mealtimes including dessert however am not having much luck in gaining back the weight. Oh well, trying to stay positive!

[ChicagoJohn]

Dr. Tam and Sonny: Thank you so much for your always helpful advice and for explaining things so well to us. This forum has been a huge help! I think I'll be fine with Vivera retainers just as long as I can go for that second cup of coffee or enjoy a glass of wine slowly with dinner without rushing to get my trays back in. Wearing trays seems and feels quite normal now so I think that I can do it as long as I start getting some free time back. As with the original 15 trays, hopefully time will fly!

Phy: Yeah, I consider myself very lucky to have only had to wear 15 trays. My teeth were very crooked and I was kind of shocked when my dentist told me that it would only take 7 months, but it worked! I have the same problem as you do with wearing the trays. I lost about 8 pounds (3.6kgs) over the course of wearing the 15 trays and I didn't need to at all. What I'm looking forward to the most of anything is to be able to start having longer meal periods so that I can get my weight back up to normal. Yeah, stay positive! It's the best way to get through it!

[Invizzle Rizzle]

Good job dude, your smile makes you look like a different person.. I bet you're lovin it

[Mona]

Congrats, bet you are soo glad to be nearly finished! I'm on 14 of 17,and although the time did fly by, I am now counting the days to the end! Unfortuantely still have to have ceramics on the lowers for a few months, but that's a lot less hassle. The worst for me was/is the planning of eating and drinking (or not) when out and about. I will appreciate it a lot not having to do that anymore... at least in the beginning!

The results so far have been definitly worth it though, I have to add, and I so much prefer this solution to having to wear normal, "visible" braces..

[Stellina]

WOW ChicagoJohn this is the most amazing transformation I've seen on Invisalign.. my teeth were not as crooked (I think) and I got 22U trays! ;-) Fact is I never wore a retainer when my first braces were taken out 10 years ago.. mind you I wore the removable one but a dog ate it and I never went back for another..
Another point I share with you is the annoyance of not being able to do such a simple thing like eating pop-corn in the cinema (even if you want to put them back shortly after eating either you start picking up the sticky things in your teeth or go floss/brush to the toilet therefore you will missing the whole film..) or avoid snacking at a get-together when everybody is doing so.. or having dinner and rush straight to the public toilet to brush your teeth... But you know what, I think despite all this fuss it is totally worth it and you can see the results amazingly soon apart from the fact you unavoidly pick the habit of being more careful with your teeth.. I am now in tray 11 of 22 for my upper and 11 of 11 of my lower and I can't wait to get to the dentist next week to have the lower removed!!

Now this raises a question.. perhaps I should open a thread on this.. Thing is that I am guessing my dentist is going to propose (obviously) retainers for the lower part already and although the permanent retainers seem more difficult in the sense that you really have to clean and floss the area properly I cannot see myself wearing a removable retainer forever!! :-S.. What is the main difference between the fixed ones and the removable ones? Are the second ones more efficient in terms of fixing your teeth? I have seen the prices and they are really costly (from £150 to £600!!!!)...

Thanks for sharing your experiences!! They are really encouraging!!

xx

[ChicagoB]

ChicagoJohn,
OMG, you look amazing. Like a totally different person. You've got a beautiful smile. I just signed up for invisalign today and should get them in about 6 weeks. Can't wait.

[ChicagoB]

John,
Where did you get yours done? I'm also in Chicago.

[ChicagoJohn]

Thank you ChicagoB,

I am getting mine done by my dentist, Dr. Sood on N. Clark Street. I was skeptical about not using an ortho at first but he's been such a good dentist and he has several other patients also doing Invisalign right now so I decided to give him a chance. I'm glad that I did because I'm able to combine cleanings, etc. with Invisalign appointments and the results have been astoundingly good.

Where are you getting yours done at?

John

[telleki]

Congratulations John - Your teeth look great!