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!