Just one thing before we start...

One little snag during my checkup. Xrays revealed something strange: a 20 yr. old crown showed the root had actually split. Apparently, this rarely happens. Not that I'd had any problems with this particular back molar, but I had noticed something had changed in my bite & I could feel the top of this crown when chewing with my back molars which I normally hadn't felt before.

Off to a dental surgeon for his opinion: not a big deal if it wasn't giving me any grief . He told me I might have it for 3 months or 3 years yet - it was hard to predict exactly. I could opt to have it extracted immediately or wait until it "was time - I'd know when it was." I decided to keep it as long as possible.

That decision ended up being taken out of my hands when the very first dental impressions were taken to see if I was a good candidate for Invisalign - out it popped & became embedded in the tray. It was fairly loose by that time, anyways. Not surprising that the suction of removing the tray took the affected crown with it. This just sped things up a bit. It had to be taken care of before I proceeded anyway.

The extraction was very simple (Sept. 13/05). No problems with aftercare or healing & I was back at my regular dentist to proceed within 3 weeks, the minimum time she advised for proper healing. We discussed viability of treatment along with cost/payment options & I gave the go ahead to proceed.

My next appt. Oct. 13th, was another recall exam with a cleaning in preparation for the final impression trays to be taken. These will be the moulds that Invisalign will use to generate their computer models. A couple of areas of excess plaque build up were found. A deep cleaning to correct this was necessary. A few areas of wear - likely from overzealous brushing - also needed some filling on my lower incisors.

Nov. 2nd - the deep cleaning/scaling for the problem areas was done along with panoramic xrays for my Records appt. My hygienist also took my glamour shots - photos of my bared teeth (lips held back with plastic retractors - ooook! All in the name of progress.
Dec. 5th my final impressions taken with just a bit of ado. Because my arch is so narrow, there was a bit of a problem getting the plastic trays to fit properly which Invisalign needs . A little warming in water with a little coaxing into shape did the trick & a lot of overfilling of the goop in the trays to "catch" all of my teeth in one fell swoop. Not too bad but hard not to swallow/gag for the necessary length of time with a mouth full of goop.
Cost of treatment will be $4,500 Cdn with equal monthly payments for a year minus deposit: $1,000.00 down was paid. This includes any refinement needed at the end & a whitening treatment. My choice of retainer - either similar trays or a permanent wire attached to the back of my teeth, will be an extra fee of $150 to $200 depending on which I choose to go with. After the initial treatment plan was sent by Invisalign, there were several back & forths for tweaking the plan by my dentist before she was satisfied with the outcome. Jan. 10th, I was able to view the final video of my treatment plan.

ClinCheck® is the proprietary software Invisalign uses that depicts the movement of a patient's teeth in a three-dimensional view from the beginning to the end of treatment. It allows the patient and doctor to review the projected movement. All views (even from inside looking out) of my mouth & how each tooth would move into place over the treatment. With my final approval, Invisalign was notified & my trays would be on the way soon. 23 trays for each the top & bottom. Turns out my uppers (which have always bothered me the most in appearance) are the easier to fix. To simplify things, my dentist advised I have my trays for both top & bottom over the same amount of time. I agreed.

At this appt. the office sent me a simplified version of my Clincheck via e-mail. Upon my request, they also fiddled with the imagery to supply me with a still shot of my profile before & after treatment. Notice the missing lower second molar (cracked root crown that impeded my progress a bit - & that upper skewed wisdom tooth). Also notice how my bite is off on this side - the upper teeth should mesh within the grooves between the lowers like how bricks are laid. When I look at my bite in the mirror, the opposite side seems to mesh as a normal bite should - probably due to that molar that was extracted a long time ago. This is not or has ever been a problem for me. I can chew just fine. My treatment plan will only straighten my teeth & close the gaps & not mess with my bite alignment.














You can see 2 of the "buttons" in these pics: tooth coloured resin attachments that have been bonded to certain teeth to aid in their specific movements - they'll be removed when treatment is done.







After