Updated pics!

Lots of updated pics of my OrthoClear treatment are here! This shot is with aligner set #18 in.




And for those who want to know if the aligners fit completely around your teeth, here are how my current aligners are fitting. You can see some space at the bottoms of my upper aligners, as well as on the bottom ones. It's not very noticable, especially when you're talking.

This is the first shot of my teeth before I began treatment. Can we say "Snaggletooth"?

This shot is after five months of treatment. A big improvement!





This is the latest pic, 12 months into treatment. There's not much change in the front teeth, but my molars are in the process of moving outwards. My smile is looking more square than it used to. My overbite is greatly reduced as well!


Here's a sequence of comparisons of my aligners between my first set and set #19 (which I don't have in yet). Click on the image to enlarge it!


The most dramatic improvement has been with the reduction of crowding on my lower teeth. While my teeth aren't completely straight on the bottom yet, they are much better than one year ago!

This shot is of both aligners stacked so you can see how my overbite (and overall bite!) has been improved.


Here's a comparison shot of my top aligners. I still have straightening to do, but I hope I'm close to being finished with my treatment!

One Year!

I just realized today that it's been about a year since I started my OrthoClear treatment. My ortho told me that the process would take about a year, but I haven't finished yet.

In fact, I'm not even close to finished. While my teeth are vastly improved from what they were in the beginning, they are still not aligned correctly to the point where I feel that they would be considered 'straight'. I guess my ortho feels the same, because he's not venturing to guess when I'll be done.

While I prefer the invisible aligners over braces, I still haven't become used to the fact that I can't really snack. I like to sip coffee or tea all morning, and I've had to curtail that habit. I am very active physically, which requires that I eat regularly during the day. I used to eat five small meals a day. Now I eat three large meals a day, but I still find myself getting grumpy due to hunger between meals. I suppose that I could still snack like I used to, as long as I brushed after each snack. But who wants to brush/floss five times a day?! I can barely tolerate the brush/floss routine three times daily.

My dentist is thrilled with my teeth, though. I went in for my semi-annual cleaning, and she was very happy about how clean my teeth are. That's always a nice thing. :) I had to have two small fillings, though. It's difficult to say whether the cavities were due to the aligners or the natural form of my teeth (I have deep crevases in my molars that are tough to keep clean).

Still, I wish I knew when I'd be finished with the treatment. I don't think I could tolerate another year of this!