Invisalign progress update and Q & A

It has been a while since I first posted about getting Invisalign, so it’s definitely time for an update! Cutting to the chase, I have been blown away by the results so far. I honestly didn’t realize how bad my teeth were. I thought I just had one tooth that was starting to hide behind another tooth, as well as an open bite. But now after not quite three months with Invisalign, I’ve seen my bite shift and I’ve noticed a change in literally every single tooth’s alignment. I had no idea so many teeth were out of place, but my entire mouth has changed!

Not only does my smile itself look completely different, but my profile has changed since my bite is no longer as open. I’m incredibly excited to see how my results continue to progress.

I see Dr. Tatum at Tatum Dentistry about once a month or so, which gives her a chance to check my progress, complete any additional inter-proximal reduction if needed, and then send me home with a new set of aligners.

I switch to a new aligner once a week, which is about half the time that Invisalign recommended for me to leave each aligner in. But, wait a second—how am I switching to new aligners so quickly?

To help speed along the rate at which my teeth move, I use my Acceledent device every single night. It’s an extra cost when you get Invisalign, but I swear by this! It has a timer for 20 minutes, then shuts off. This device has been proven to help your teeth move quicker. It also helps tremendously with any tenderness you may have when you switch to a new aligner. I talked about it more here.

I went to see Dr. Tatum a couple weeks ago and we did another scan using the iTero machine, which shows a 3D image of my teeth. This is a totally painless scan—it’s just a little camera taking constant pictures.

Here’s what it showed!

The rendering on the left is my before. The image on the right is where my teeth are today. Can you believe this can happen in under three months?!

This technology is so cool. It even has an option that will show which teeth are moving just as scheduled and which teeth are a little behind. The green teeth in the image below are the ones that are moving on track. This tool is great for Dr. Tatum to see because with Invisalign, you can do as many revisions as you need at no extra cost. A revision is when brand new aligners are made based on the current state of your teeth.

Because of this technology, we were able to see that I needed further inter-proximal reduction in between my bottom teeth to allow more room for those teeth in yellow to move. (See how important these dentist visits are? This is why I believe those “mail in teeth aligner” companies aren’t the smartest move.)

I am going to do a few more sets of aligners and then in a few weeks, we will scan again and see if we need to have a revision done in order to get those teeth back on track! Again, revisions are just new aligners that Invisalign creates for you (at no additional cost) based on the current status of your teeth. Because, just like with anything… your teeth aren’t always going to move perfectly according to plan. Sometimes you’ve got to revise a few things. Dr. Tatum said this is totally normal and most everybody needs at least one revision! Call us: (843)577-6453.