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.