02.19.08
at 6:03 pm by admin
Back two weeks later (and I’m told my moulds were ‘so’ good they even got my wisdom teeth! - I think perhaps this excites the dental world more than us mere mortals) and I watch in awe at a video of my own teeth on screen moving step by step (or tray by tray) to a perfect arc. Still I’m skeptical, will this ‘really’ work – what if the teeth simply move straight back? What if I break / drop / stamp on my trays? What if the really crooked tooth won’t move?
All of my queries were answered in a satisfying way and I decided I may as well give it a shot. At the very least I will be paying for a year of outrageously good teeth brushing, starvation and weird lisping. The latter I’m assured goes away in time, once your mouth is used to them…
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02.05.08
at 8:52 pm by admin
Finally, after 30 years of feeling fairly despondent about my teeth I’ve decided to get Invisalign. A major factor in this decision is the fact I now live in the US and have discovered the price tag is approximately 50% less than where I used to live. I also currently have great health care which pays half the fee. All in all it’s a very good deal.
I started my quest for perfect teeth with a dentist that took my dental insurance plan. The first was really more of a spa, and an intense dentist who, although I’m sure did a great job on my gums didn’t quite measure up to my old dentist back home. The location also wasn’t convenient to get to and my suspicions were raised when I was continually asked to pay for treatments that fell outside of my dental plan. It was nice to have a hand massage and listen to chill out music while my teeth were worked on though.
Next I used Yelp! to search for a convenient location and a really great dentist. Nobody ever complained about my new guy, he had the perfect location, used Invisalign himself and seemed a friendly, harmless sort. His average rate on Yelp! is ridiculously high (not that I’m saying all the views on here are to be trusted, but still - it’s a good score).
I registered and immediately was booked in for x-rays. If these seemed ok I would then be brought back for moulds to get the final conclusion of whether Invisalign was something my teeth would be suitable for. Luckily for me, my teeth didn’t seem quite as badly deformed as I initially thought. I was shown a video demo of one of my dentist’s patients and watched in awe as some pretty vile teeth were pulled into shape over a series of trays. These trays were to be worn every hour of every day (only taking breaks to eat and brush teeth).
What I liked about the idea of Invisalign was that I would be able to wear it constantly without anyone noticing, no Ugly Betty style train tracks or pieces of metal at all. Better still, if they really upset me I could just take them out. What I wasn’t too keen on was the incessant teeth brushing, but I figured I could probably just eat less.
I went in for the moulds. My dental technician laughingly told me ‘I may’ gag when the gel forces its way down the back of my throat but I should try and not worry. Excellent, this is perhaps when it stopped being a ‘fun’ idea and a bit more freaky, but I was now in too deep to turn around. Actually, it wasn’t that bad and my speedy technician whipped out a spatula tool to catch the gunk that had started to make its way down my neck with remarkable accuracy. After a few minutes wait and a serious amount of tugging, the moulds were all done and I now had to wait for final confirmation I could use the Invisalign treatment and get my own teeth straightening video demo set up. How exciting!
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