November 4, 2006

ONLY TWO DAYS LATER...

Can you see the improvement in the vertical alignment of my top teeth already? Compare the picture above with the "1st day" pictures posted below. The archwire which was bent has now straightened out, and my top two lateral incisors are just about even with the front central incisors. I was amazed at how quickly this took place. SEVEN MONTHS of OrthoClear didn't accomplish this! I'm soooo excited!

November 2, 2006 (cont.)

The two pictures above show the first day with my new braces on top! Can you see where the archwire on my left top lateral incisor is bent a little? That is going to straighten out as my tooth is pulled down vertically.

As you can see, I am wearing my OrthoClear trays on the bottom...yes, I've joined the hybrid club!!

November 2, 2006 (cont.)

(The two above photos were taken the morning before I got my braces put on---my last day with my OrthoClear buttons on top - Yippee!!)

November 2, 2006

Today I finally went to my first ortho appointment since OrthoClear was discontinued after the lawsuit. My next two sets of OrthoClear trays had already been shipped to the office, so my ortho was planning to let me proceed with those for the next six weeks, after which they would take impressions for Invisalign. I told him how disappointed I have been with the lack of progress that I've experienced with OrthoClear, and I asked him if he thought that my experience would be a lot different with Invisalign. He said that in his opinion, the two products were basically the same, and that of the two, he still believed OrthoClear was the best clear aligner treatment. Since I knew what a disappointing experience I've had with the OC aligners, that made my decision easy. I asked him what his opinion was about switching to traditional braces. He said that with braces, that I would most likely see the results I'd been waiting for MUCH FASTER, but that he hadn't mentioned it because he thought that I really didn't want to wear braces again as an adult. Though my first intention (about seven months ago) was to avoid being in braces again, since the clear aligners have been far from invisible, and since I haven't seen the results I was hoping for, I knew that braces would be the way to go. Since my top front teeth are the ones that are crowded, and also the ones that need to be vertically moved, the braces were only put on those teeth. For the bottom teeth, my ortho told me to wear my next two OrthoClear aligners. Pictures are of my progress are posted above. :)

Thursday, August 31, 2006

The above photo shows my first day with Tray 6.

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

The above photo shows my last day with Tray 5. If you compare it with the "closed teeth" shot previously posted below (which shows my last day with Tray 4), you can see a slight improvement in my midline. :)

Sorry about the poor lighting in the picture.

Friday, August 11, 2006

The above pictures were taken today.

To those who have taken the time to add comments to my last post...thanks a MILLION for your advice and support, guys. I can't tell you how much it helps to have other OC patients to "talk to" about the problems I'm encountering.

As much as I hate to do it, I'm going to call, and hopefully visit, my ortho next week to try to get some honest answers about what I should do. I want so desperately to just trust him...I feel very awkward about questioning him (and his assistant) since they don't appear to be worried, but after much thought about this, and after reading hundreds of comments, blogs, message board posts, etc. by other OC/Invisalign wearers, I really believe that I have logical reasons for my concerns. I really have tried to be patient, hoping that the problems would be resolved by now, but after five trays, things don't seem to be getting any better.

Two days ago, I did make the switch to Tray 5. These trays are the tightest ones yet! Yikes! As you can see from the 2nd photo above, the two front buttons still aren't fitting into the holes, and again, there are spaces that extend beyond several of my teeth (even the ones that don't appear to need to move vertically). This makes me very self-conscious about talking/smiling with the trays in. Sigh. To all OC and Invisalign patients: It would extremely helpful to me if you would post clear, UP CLOSE pictures of your teeth (top and bottom teeth apart) with your trays in. I'd just like to be able to compare the way mine fit to the way other patients' trays fit. I'm especially concerned with the space above/below some of my teeth which makes the trays more visible. In my opinion, there seems to be no rhyme or reason for the spaces above/below several of my teeth. It just seems that some of the spaces might be the result of flaws in the pre-treatment molds that were taken...maybe due to air bubbles? Just a theory.

Please keep the comments/advice coming! Thanks, guys!

Thursday, July 20, 2006 (last ortho appointment date)

Sorry I haven't taken the time to post. I've been kind of discouraged with my treatment. As far as Tray 3 goes, I continued to use the cotton rolls and one of the stubborn buttons finally went into the hole a few days before I was due to switch trays. The other button never made it in.

I went in for my Tray 4 fitting and once again, the SAME stubborn buttons didn't fit into the holes. This time, the hole for the button that never went in on Tray 3 was even lower on this tray. I thought that they would surely mention contacting the OrthoClear people to address this problem. They didn't. They gave me my next two sets of trays, and told me to change them at the designated three week intervals.

I am actually due to start Tray 5 tomorrow, but to be honest, I am very apprehensive about continuing with new trays while this button issue remains. Neither of the two "stubborn" buttons have made it into the holes this time around, and I just don't want to call the ortho to have them tell me to wear this set another three weeks after they do MORE shaving.

Over the past few weeks, I have contemplated just asking my ortho to discontinue this OrthoClear treatment and start me with traditional ceramic braces. This whole experience has been disappointing from the very beginning. I still feel very self-conscious about how obvious the aligners are - they are far from invisible, due to the buttons on my front teeth - and my lisp has never fully disappeared. They make eating and drinking extremely inconvenient, and because of the ill-fitting buttons, there have been delays in my supposed "six-month treatment." Yes, if I had it to do over again, I would have definitely chosen braces, since they offer the ortho the ultimate control for moving teeth. I have posted pictures of what my trays look like as of today (August 9th) - the last day before I make the switch to Tray 5. If you click on the photo above, you can see a closeup shot - the front buttons aren't in the holes.

If any of you guys have had similar discouraging experiences, please let me know. We'll all get through this together. Thanks!

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

I went in for an ortho appt. today - supposedly to be fitted for Tray 4. Just as I suspected, when I told the ortho that my front two buttons never made it into the holes, they asked me to continue wearing Tray 3...for THREE MORE WEEKS. Needless to say, I was very disappointed.

I am still very confused about this button problem. I really hate to keep questioning my ortho and his assistant about this, but the recommendation of "waiting until my buttons move into the holes" just doesn't seem logical to me. In looking at the placement of the buttons in relation to the windows I just can't see how this will happen.

Before I left the office today, my ortho slenderized both sides of the two "stubborn" teeth (as they called them). They also gave me some cotton rolls to bite down on, which are supposed to help the teeth to sink into the aligners. Again, I just don't see how this will work, since the aligners fit tightly on my front two teeth, which means that there is no space below them that will allow the aligners to move up any, regardless of what I'm biting down on (see previously posted pictures for a visual). I continued to ask them for an explanation of how this would be accomplished, and I also asked if the button problem could possibly be a result of the trays being made incorrectly by the OrthoClear lab. The assistant said that they have seen this happen with other patients, and she assured me that, "at times, certain teeth just don't want to move." She said that the slenderizing often helps. I have to say that at this point, I'm not so convinced. I would LOVE to be wrong about this. I recall some similar posts from another OrthoClear wearer, Christine, who said that her button problems were finally resolved. I just hope I'm as fortunate.

If any of you out there have any suggestions/advice, please feel free to chime in. Thanks, guys.

For some reason, I didn't get any pictures of my teeth with Tray 1 in, but here are shots with Tray 2 (bottom photo) and Tray 3 (top photo). Notice how the buttons on my top lateral incisors are not fitting into the holes on the Tray 3 shot.

The two pictures above show my teeth after the buttons were put on for Tray 1.

In the above shot, you can better see the crowding of my top teeth. The lateral incisors need to be pushed out to line up with my front two teeth.

This is a before-treatment photo. My main concern is minor crowding of my top teeth which has occurred since my traditional braces were removed (in 1989). Also, as you can see, my top two lateral incisors need to be lined up (pulled down vertically). While "crowding" has not been a problem with my bottom teeth, hopefully the horizontal alignment of those teeth will improve as the issues with my top teeth are resolved.

Thursday, June 8, 2006

I went to the ortho's office to pick up Trays 3 & 4. While there, they had me put Tray 3 in, since today was the last day for Tray 2. Tray 3 seems to fit fine on all of the buttons except my top two lateral incisors. Not only do the buttons appear larger than the holes, they are not lined up with the holes. Since I kept asking about it, the ortho's assistant did try to widen the holes slightly, but it still didn't solve the problem. My ortho said that it was because these teeth are the ones that need to move down vertically, but I don' t understand the logic behind this, since it seems that the teeth can't be "pulled down" if the holes aren't hooked onto the buttons. I have read similar posts from other OrthoClear wearers (on the dentistry.com website) which suggest that these types of problems are resolved with subsequent trays. We will see.

I hope to post pictures very soon.

Saturday, June 3, 2006

Just wanted to post a quick update. This past Thursday, I went for my first dental cleaning since starting OrthoClear. The dentist said that everything looked really good. I was relieved. I have never had a history of having cavities, and since starting OrthoClear, I've been concerned about the possibility of my trays "trapping" plaque and bacteria on my teeth, and thus, causing cavities. To make matters worse, I've been struggling with a sinus infection over the past few weeks, which gave me a horrible lingering cough (I've had it for about two weeks)...anyway, because of my CONSTANT coughing, I've reluctantly had to suck on lozenges while my trays are in, which again, made me apprehensive about the thought of getting cavities. I've continued brushing as much as possible, and I always drink lots of water when I'm doing the lozenge thing. Thankfully, I think the worst of my coughing is now over, so I think I can ditch the lozenges - hopefully I'll be done with my treatment before I have another sinus infection/cough. I'm nearing the end of month two of a projected six-month treatment.

Hope all of you are doing well with your OrthoClear/Invisalign treatments. I am due for an ortho appointment this coming Thursday. I am supposed to be receiving Trays 3 & 4. I'll be sure to let you know how things are going once I make the switch. I am continuing to check the dentistry.com message boards, as well as your blogs. Thanks for continuing to post, guys!

Saturday, May 20, 2006

Just an update...

I'm on day 3 of my second set of trays and they are already much easier to pull out. Also, it doesn't hurt when I pop them in, as it did on the first two days. I do still feel slight pressure when they first go in, but after that, I don't really notice them.

Anne - thanks for visiting my blog, and for your comments - BTW, I found your blog to be very helpful! And sure, I don't mind you posting a link to my page on your site. :)

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Last night, I finally made the switch to Tray 2. These trays definitely feel tighter than my first set. And, once again, they are very hard to pull out...especially the ones on the bottom. I thought I was going to rip out one of my front bottom teeth when I pulled my trays out before lunch today! For the first time, there was also some pain - not just tenderness - when my bottom tray locked into place. Fortunately, the longer I wore the tray, the pain downgraded to just pressure.

I'm looking forward to getting past this first week since I know that the trays will feel a lot more comfortable and they should be easier to remove.

My teeth still aren't fitting all the way into my trays, which make the trays a lot more noticeable. Also, it doesn't appear that the spaces are above the right teeth. The ones that need to move up vertically actually fit closer to the trays, when it seems like the space should be above those. I will ask about this on my next visit.

Thanks to Tamara for visiting my blog, and for commenting. Also, thanks to those of you who continue to post to the dentistry.com website. Your comments are so helpful.

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Today, I went to the ortho's office to get a button put back on. While I was there, my doc let me view my OrthoView animation (just so you know, I had to request this). Pretty cool stuff. After I watched the OrthoView animation, I asked him about the possibility of moving certain teeth vertically and he once again stressed that unlike Invisalign, one of the benefits of OrthoClear is that the treatment can be changed according to the patient's request, since all the trays aren't made at once. He said that, for example, if towards the end of my treatment I decide I want certain teeth to come down a little further than the final animation shows, he can "select" those particular teeth and have the last few trays molded to accomplish that. Sounds too good to be true, but we'll see...

I was due to change trays for the first time tomorrow, but since one of my buttons had come off about a week ago, my ortho told me to wear Tray 1 for an additional week before switching. Oh, well, I can live with that, I guess. I was just kind of looking forward to moving on ahead tomorrow.

Monday, May 8, 2006

I am now two days away from doing my 1st tray swap, and I'm ready to move on to the next set. Thankfully, most all of the tenderness has subsided, and the trays aren't uncomfortable at all. As a matter of fact, it now feels kind of good ("squishy") to bite down on them. The trays now fit in my mouth so much better. My bite is closing together better, too, so there isn't the big empty space between my top and bottom front teeth like there was in the beginning. Pulling my trays out isn't hard at all now, but after reading numerous posts from other OrthoClear wearers, I anticipate that changing when I get my new set of trays.

One thing I've experienced this past week is waking up (before my alarm clock goes off) to the sound of me biting down on my trays as I sleep. Has anyone else experienced this? I've never been told by my husband that I'm a tooth grinder, but I've definitely been biting down on my trays lately during the night.

Saturday, April 29, 2006

For the first time, one of my buttons popped off while I was removing my upper tray. Fortunately, I had read about this on the dentistry.com message boards, so I wasn't too alarmed.

I am getting a little more used to wearing the trays. I don't notice them as much unless I'm talking. I still notice a slight lisp with the letter "s." If I slow down while I'm talking, it helps...it's still a little frustrating.

I am due to switch trays on next Thursday. I am actually looking forward to it. It's hard to see a lot of progress at this early stage, but I know (and feel) that my teeth are moving.

I hope to post Tray 1 pictures sometime this weekend...depends on how much time I have.

April 25, 2006 (Tuesday)

After several days of wearing the trays, the tenderness has centralized in the back teeth, mainly on the left side (molars) – even when the trays are out. For the first time, it hurts to chew in the back on that side. On the upside, removing the trays is becoming a little easier. My bite is still not fitting together. When I remove the trays, it feels like my front teeth don’t match up anymore. The bottom teeth feel like they are tipping out slightly. The trays definitely have cut out my snacking - and now, I don't waste any time when I eat. I finish my meal and go straight to brush my teeth AND the trays, and then I pop them right back in. I've had to get used to brushing after lunch at work. I'm a former braces wearer (had them in high school), and compared to those, the trays are definitely inconvenient. I miss gum and mints - I only drink water while the trays are in.

April 21, 2006 (Friday)

At work today, while talking to a friend, she said, "you got bite trays." I explained what they were, and she said that they reminded her of some trays that she once wore for her TMJ. Anyway, it was not a surprise to me that she noticed them...at least now I know that my concerns about the visibility of the trays is valid.

Fortunately, my ortho projects that I'll only have to wear my trays for six months. I hope it doesn't last longer. I'm counting down the days!

April 20, 2006 (Thursday)

I started this OrthoClear blog a few days after I started my treatment, so I'm including the correct dates above my posts until I get caught up.

Day one of the OrthoClear trays – no real pain, just slight pressure. Trays are extremely difficult to remove – especially the ones on the bottom. Talking is awkward, but not as bad as I thought. My bite feels really weird - my front teeth don't fit together at all when I have the trays in. There is at least a centimeter of space between my top and bottom row of teeth.

I was very disappointed since the trays are noticable due to fact that there is a good bit of tray space which extends beyond the tips of my front teeth. Also, I have buttons on several of my front teeth, which are hard to miss, if you are up close and personal having a conversation with someone.

My husband and a longtime friend did not notice them, but I was never really up close while talking to them, and it is usually dimly lit in our house.