After two years of Invisalign treatments I finally have my complete results. I’m pretty pumped up about it and loved my experience. I always say I’d recommend it to anyone - so now I’m writing a blog about why.
My First Go Around: With Traditional Braces
In the seventh grade I had traditional braces. For me, they a were horrible experience of epic proportions, really painful, and just looked really unattractive. I was also a pretty dramatic teenager, but all the same it wasn’t fun. At the end of my treatment I had issues with my then orthodontist creating gaps in my teeth and then by closing the gap creating another. When the treatment lagged on 6 months longer than it should have, I begged (and cried and screamed to) my parents to get them off and they made the orthodontist do it after signing some sort of waver. I of course, pissed from my awful experience, didn’t wear my retainer. By the end of high school my teeth were all jacked up again. (The picture you see above on the left is one of my senior portraits) This horrible experience was roughly $5,000.
If You Don’t Like Something About Yourself - Change It.
Most people have at least one thing that they don’t like about themselves. You know- that one thing that you see first thing in a photo or that thing that just makes you fixate on it. For me it was my top teeth. I felt like I saw the problem all the time, I felt like when someone met me that was the first thing that they noticed and I noticed it first in every picture. I started seeing ads for Invisalign when I was about to start college and I knew I had to look into it. When my mom and I talked about it she understood what it was like to be really upset about something like this, especially something as important as your smile, and we decided to move on it.
Getting Started
Not everyone is a candidate for Invisalign. Some cases can not be fixed by the aligners and need traditional braces and the only way to determine if your case can be fixed by Invisalign is to have a meeting with an orthodontist. When I found this out I panicked, because I knew that Invisalign was my only option. As much as I was upset about my teeth, I would have never even considered going back to traditional braces. So, we made an appointment with Dr. Vance Misuraca at Misuraca Orthodontics.
The Process and The Downfall
Obviously, it was determined that I was a candidate for Invisalign. Initially, I only wanted my top teeth to be fixed, but Invisalign only comes in two sets so my bottoms became part of the process too. After your initial impressions it takes a little while for the aligners to come in. When they did come in, I had to have buttons installed on my teeth. (Buttons are little pieces of hardened glue that the Invisalign snap to) When I got these I thought I had made a horrible mistake choosing Invisalign and I started to feel hopeless. Imagine having a little glue dot constantly on the front of your teeth, driving you crazy. On top of that, the aligners are really painful at first because your teeth are moving. I also had a really hard time taking them out a first, partly because my mouth was so sore and partly because they were tight. Things were awful, my choice was looking dim and I was about to lose hope. However, things turned around REALLY quickly. By the third day the pain was gone, I was used to the glue dots in my mouth, and I could take them off with ease.
Keep On Keepin On
The best part of Invisalign was that they were NEVER as painful as they were for those first three days. Every time I switched aligners I had a little bit of soreness but it was no where near the pain I felt after every tightening of my traditional braces. As I got more adjusted with them and my schedule of when I would be wearing them it became second nature. It felt awesome to go to my appointments, pick up new aligners, and leave. All of my 6 week appointments only took around 15 minutes.
Just DO IT!
For my life as a college student it was pretty inevitable that I wouldn’t be able to wear them constantly and they still worked out to do amazing things to my teeth. Granted, the process does take dedication. You have to stay motivated to wear them how you are suppose to. The great part was that it was something that I could easily make work with my life. I’ve done braces both ways and I can tell you for sure that Invisalign is the far superior choice. After my results and easy going experience I really would recommend them to anyone.
Misuraca Orthodontics
I’d refer you to my orthodontist too, Dr. Vance Misuraca, check his practice out at: www.misuracaorthodontics.com They were just as great as the product- so invested in the success of my treatment and just overall enjoyable people.
Now, if I could just get used to these permanent retainers…