I’m writing this blog at the start of my teeth alignment treatment with Invisalign.
This is designed to be one of many real-time blogs that are aimed at making a patient understand what they will feel at every stage during this process. My treatment is meant to span the next 4 months and I promise at least one “behind the scenes -dentist undergoing treatment” version of the treatment every month. So strap on and let’s see where this takes us.
TAKING THE PLUNGE
My decision to get Invisalign resulted from an embarrassing conversation with my husband when we were boasting off who had the better smile. He had a mouth full of dental work and me with my pristine smile was bound to win but as he pointed out my crooked lower teeth and his perfectly aligned ones, the winner seemed obvious even to me! Reluctantly so I called up my orthodontist and resigned myself to my 3rd round of braces only this time I was determined no one would know.
DIGITAL IMPRESSIONS
A week later I found myself in my orthodontist’s office getting a digital impression. A cool technology that had replaced the gooey gummy stuff that would be stuck in my mouth making me gag-this, on the other hand, was like a camera that clicked some thousands of images of my teeth to reconstruct them on screen and eventually into 3D models. I was done in 5 minutes and back at my clinic treating patients again. Now all I had to do was wait while the plan arrived in 3D virtual animation
SIMULATION
In a weeks time, I received a call to come to discuss my simulation. This was basically a video showing the different stages of my teeth moving from their starting crooked position to their final straight positions. This video was so reassuring to watch as it made the whole treatment worth it cos you could see what you were getting at the end of it.
I remembered how as young kids we would strap on braces without any guarantees or idea where our teeth would end up and how that would make us look. So this was super-starting with the end in mind -skyrocketed my motivation to get it done.
THE PROMISE
With that out of the way my orthodontist now wanted my solemn oath of cooperation-a promise that I would wear the aligners for 22 hours a day for them to work, they had to be in my mouth. To be honest, when I signed up I really wasn’t sure how conscious I would be consulting with my patients with invisible braces and I probably thought I would wear it a few hours a day so I promised ( with my fingers crossed at the back ) I had no choice my smile straightening had officially begun.
