Those of you who have been following along for the past year know that I’ve been receiving complimentary Invisalign® treatment in exchange for sharing my experience (read past posts, here). Well, I recently completed my treatment!

I wore my Invisalign clear aligners for approximately one year, and had the attachments removed a little over a month ago. I’m now using a temporary retainer (only at night), which looks just like my old clear aligners, only without the space for attachments. Next week, that will be replaced with my sturdier, final Vivera retainer by Invisalign. My doctor was Dr. Zhu in NYC who designed my Invisalign retainer to have minor over-corrections, to make sure my teeth stay nice and straight.

It’s so satisfying to look back at old pictures and see how much progress my teeth have made. Before, my front teeth overlapped a little bit and one was much more forward than the other. Bad lighting made it look like I had one tooth! I rarely had to show my crooked bottom teeth in photos, but talking in videos made me self conscious. It might not have seemed like a big deal to anyone else, but it’s something that made me insecure.

A photo before my Invisalign treatment

A photo of my 3D scan of my teeth with iTero before receiving Invisalign treatment

 

But straightening aside, one of the biggest differences I’ve noticed is in my bite. My teeth were crowded and I often bit the sides of my tongue, because my bite was so narrow. I have a wider smile with less of a gap on the sides, my slight overbite was corrected, and it’s more comfortable, overall.

If I knew how easy this process would be, I would’ve done this a long time ago. Since I’m a procrastinator and anxious about just about everything, taking that first step is the hardest part. Once I committed to the Invisalign treatment, it was a breeze. My appointments rarely lasted more than twenty minutes, yet the doctor was thorough and informative throughout the entire treatment.

Even though the treatment flew by, I’m so, so happy to be done – because it means I have straighter teeth! I’m always happy to answer any questions you have, so please ask away. If you want to know if Invisalign clear aligners are right for you, click here.