As I predicted and hoped… #8 has been great!
I am always a bit nervous when I begin a new tray since I know they will fit on my teeth, and therefore into my mouth a bit differently. So far, I haven’t experienced anything too drastic. At the start of wearing #8 I was once again experiencing some increased saliva, and the accompanied management of saliva difficulty which I feel has affected my speech (‘thshpeech’). I notice that my family has been asking me to repeat myself more than usual, so I suppose it’s not ‘all in my head’. After a few days the aligners seem to attach better to my teeth so there’s less saliva issues and improved production of words, especially those with an -s- in them.
My upper front teeth are slightly inverted (numbers 8 and 9).
In photos I have felt that my smile is adversely affected by this inversion. A faint shadow is created, and it looks like there are dark areas on the insides of each of these teeth. I am hoping that Invisalign will correct this, and I suppose I am being a bit impatient. On the back of my upper aligners there are bumps. I thought that the function of these bumps was to perhaps push these teeth into an appropriate position, not inverted.
I don’t know if I have ever practiced this…
but I do notice that my spontaneous smiles are always better than my poses. As I find myself taking more ‘selfies’ I suppose I will improve my smile. So – what I learned from looking at old and new photos is that I need to learn to smile better and that I need to change my hairstyle ☹ I lost my concentration on the shadow created by my ‘inversion’ – self criticism seems to be all inclusive.
Dr. Gallagher has assured me
that my aligners (I have 12 to go) will address my slight front teeth inversion. As I reach up and touch numbers 8 and 9 – with aligners in – there is smoothness and flatness. Now I wish I would have done this early on and have a memory of what aligners/trays 1 or 2 felt like. Has my inversion diminished at all?
I am 40% through this journey.
And am thrilled that I made the decision to do it. I am taking better care of my teeth; I am consciously doing something to improve myself inside and out and I’m SMILING more (that can’t be bad). So… I need to stay on track!
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- Wear aligners at least 22 hours a day.
- Follow guidelines from Dr. Gallagher and Dr. Kuhn
- Make a hair appointment
Louise C.
