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!