Dentalspa Geelong receptionist Casey has begun her Invisalign treatment recently and will be sharing with you her experience through blogs and videos to give you an inside view on what Invisalign treatment involves and helps those currently undergoing Invisalign with some tips and tricks to help you through your own journey.
Why Casey chose Invisalign
First Casey would like to share with you why she chose Invisalign. When Casey was in primary school she had a serious fall which resulting in knocking her face. Through the impact of the trauma, one of her front teeth was pushed back and the nerve slowly died. As the nerve died, the tooth became discoloured and darkened.
At first Casey had a porcelain veneer placed to mask the discolouration but she was never really happy with the final look of the tooth, feeling that it could be improved and found that food was constantly getting stuck in this area.
It wasn’t until Casey began working at Dentalspa Geelong that it was suggested to consider Invisalign to move the front tooth into alignment with the other teeth to help not only with look of the tooth but to improve the gum line as well. It would also fix some crowding in the lower front teeth. Casey was so excited that Invisalign was going to work for her to achieve the best cosmetic goals and make her feel confident about her smile again.
First Invisalign Appointment:
To start the process of Invisalign an impression was needed for ClinCheck which is a special program that Invisalign uses to plan the treatment with how many movements and aligners needed to complete each case. It also generates an estimation of the end results.
This was no different to having an impression taken for mouthguard or whitening trays and by the end of the appointment, Casey knew exactly what to expect and how long the treatment would be. Casey will receive her final result in 12 months of Invisalign, with a total of 20 aligners needed. This is an average length of treatment.
Second Invisalign Appointment:
In order to control and make tooth movements, some tooth coloured attachments need to be bonded to certain teeth. To create some space to fix Casey’s lower crowding, IPR was performed to remove some enamel from between the teeth, rather than needed extractions. Casey felt that it was a comfortable procedure and very simple. ‘My teeth felt a little sensitive after the IPR but I found by using sensitive toothpaste it helped’
Casey has found some useful tips from experience to share with you and help you with the initial adjustments to Invisalign.
1. The first night with my aligner I felt some pressure discomfort. I took some nurofen before I went to bed and slept through the night. I woke up with no discomfort the next morning. I was a bit concerned about being bale to sleep with the aligners but was delighted to find they had not affected my sleep at all.
2. Eating and drinking have been the hardest to adjust to. Being a grazer, I have to keep reminding myself not to eat while the aligners are in. I did find having the IPR some areas were getting more food stuck- making flossing every night a MUST!
3. The best advice I found was when my aligners were sharp in my mouth, using nail file to smooth the areas that were uncomfortable really worked well. The Dentalspa orthodontists showed me how to do this without ruining my aligners.
If you would like to ask Casey any questions you can email her directly at info@dentalspa.com.au or pop in to our practice and ask her in person. Casey looks forward to sharing more of her Invisalign experience with you over the next 12 months.