#20 At Long Last (& Yeowie!)

This is the first set that I can honestly say HURT upon insertion - but only for about 20 seconds, then subsided to immense pressure only.

Actually he pressure wasn't that bad & the pain dissipated quickly. I'd put in this new set right after an extra long, lingered over dinner though, so that likely had something to do with it. Here's some pics taken about 15 hours after insertion - sorry, not the best:

Feeling the pressure with this set on my upper left molars - which don't show to be moving at all in my (albeit simplified view) Clincheck still for this stage. Tthat's happened before too &. Strangely, on my right side where I expected to feel the most pressure after seeing which teeth are moving with this set, I'm really not feeling anything at all - not yet, anyways. Can't explain that at all except that maybe we can't always see all the movements in our Clinchecks exactly as they happen.

Hope you can see how nicely rounded my top arch is getting.
Not a whole lot more movement is going to happen with my front teeth (but there will be some) as most change from here on in will be in widening my molars a bit more:





























My lowers are lining up - it's really noticeable now when I look at them from the inside. Just my right central incisor & the left canine (cuspid) with it's neighbouring premolar need to straighten up some more as they're all still tilting inwards a bit.

Side views - I'm not convinced my central top incisors are straight enough yet or moved inwards as much as I'd like. Will discuss this with my doc at my next appt. I need to know if they can be refined anymore without interfering with my lowers when I bite together:

Trays 1 to 21 Comparison Shots

The changes between my very first set & #21 (which I'll finish a month from now)
This shows the difference between Set #21 compared to my first set below - even the shadows plainly note the changes in shape.




















Here's Set #21 on the left compared to my first set on the right.




















Interesting to lay Set #21 right on top of my first set.

You can see how much both my arches have widened -
the whole shape of especially my upper arch will have changed tremendously in the 9 1/2 months over which these trays take me.




My upper midline will end up shifted off center - slightly to the left, but remember I am missing a molar on that side from long, long ago. 
This is the view from below looking up with the respective sets together in occlusion:
(as near as I can manually place them in occlusion anyways)











Frontal together:







& The view in occlusion from above looking down:











And here's the screenshot from my Clincheck of #19 where I am now.
You can compare that to the pics below - right on target.

What A Difference A Day Makes

Taken right after IPR yesterday:







Just 30 hours later:

The Dirty Deed is Done

My IPR was completely painless - done in about 5 minutes during my lunch break. I will say it sounded a whole lot worse than it felt (in fact, I didn't actually feel a thing). You know how sounds are magnified within your head when it's happening inside your mouth? Both the little disc power tool & the hand held strips of diamond sanding paper were used. The smell took me back to the last drilling I'd had for a filling - which was a loooong time ago.

I was prepared for having to spit copious amounts of "toothdust" out, but didn't even feel any. My hygienist kept the waterjet & vacuum going through the whole procedure while she held my lips out of the way the whole time my dentist did the procedure. Just gave a rinse with water for good measure afterwards & a quick mirror check to survey the damage - not bad at all! Just a very straight & even gap opened up between my central incisors both top & bottom (.30 mm to be exact). The shaving between my lower ones is actually pretty noticable right now to me, mostly because those 2 teeth are still pretty crooked, so it shows more than the top one. You can almost see how that little black triangle that was forming between my uppers will be eliminated - hopefully.

You see the difference in the shots below - the first is before & the second after my IPR:











I also got to see the ClinCheck view from the top looking down on my lowers, which showed much better then my frontal screenshots the movements that will be happening there. Also I could see clearly that the movements will all be on my right side from here on in - the left is pretty much done.

So - seeing as how I'd had to delay this changing to the next set by a few days due to my appt. being pushed back to accommodate my being out of town, I popped in Set #19 immediately after dinner. Couldn't wait another minute - besides, I want to see how quickly it takes for these gaps to close up now. Have to say this particular set was the most difficult to insert - it's not much more pressure than others at this point, but it certainly was more challenging just getting it in.

Was just comparing my 21st set to my first & marvelling at how each tooth has been realigned compared to how they were at the start of all this. My crowded lowers were kinda helter-skelter in the way they staggered in &amp. Already (less than 9 months later) they are lined up much more evenly - what a difference in these trays.

IPR Coming Up

Tomorrow I have my first (& only) IPR scheduled. We'll see if I still have reason to smile then.  May post a pic to show the difference & how noticable the spaces are between my central incisors - if at all.


I'll also get my tray sets 19 to 21. That leaves only TWO more sets in my plan after that.