Orthodontics Today - all about braces and orthodontic devices

Any orthodontist will preach for safeguarding your Invisalign trays when they are not in the mouth. You get a special box to keep them while eating and you spend too little time without them on your teeth, it’s almost impossible to misplace them. ALMOST.

Three weeks ago I was brushing my teeth in the bathroom, after taking a shower. Even if I am pretty careful with the Invisalign aligners, this time I let them on the sink. And then one fell. My sink is very close to the wallk, creating a very narrow space, enough to have the tray go all the way down to the ground and still enough to not leave me any possibility to retrieve it.

Now what?

The first thing you should do is call your orthodontist to tell him about the problem. Sure, right that moment there’s nothing he can do since it will take some weeks for the Invisalign trays to be sent again from Align Technologies to you. It’s still a good idea to discuss this and have your doctor know about this.

Until you get your aligner(s) that are missing, you’ll keep on wearing the latest ones. NEVER THROW the latest aligners. Otherwise you’re indeed in deep doo-doo. If you’ll have the missing set sent to you, wear the aligners you aready wore for 2 weeks to keep the teeth in that position. In this case your trays will be a sort of a retainer, till it’s all back to normal.

This will slow down your treatment a bit, but it’s still all under control. Such things do happen, so it’s not quite the end of the world.

What have I done?

Sure, I didn’t practice what I preach entirely. I took a chance and it looks like it was still OK. I wore the latest aligner (I lost the lower arch tray) for the time I should have worn the new one. The upper teeth were having the prescribed aligner, the lower ones the last one, which I wore for 2 weeks already.

The chance I took was related to the possibility of the new aligner to fit properly, since I had one missing in the “list”. I misplaced no.6. So, for the upper jaw I had the no.6 aligner and in the lower one the no.5

The time came for the 7th set to be used and I tried to place the new aligners. The top arch was smooth, the lower one worked pretty well. I didn’t notice a huge difference in the teeth placement, so I was able to fit no.7 after no.5 with no issues at all.

This doesn’t mean it’s OK to misplace aligners or solve issues on your own. I was lucky. After over 3 months in the treatment my teeth are very mobile. They move easily and were able to adjust to the “steep” difference between the aligners. When I thought about “jumping” from no.5 to no.7 I also took into account the fact I have to wear 37 aligners on the lower jaw and most of the work is done (we have to rotate a bit some teeth and bring two molars in front to close some gaps). The biggest gap is closed with a power chain tied to a mini-mold and mini-implant so the “work” is done by this too, not just Invisalign. As you can guess I didn’t expect too much difference between the aligner sets and I wasn’t wrong in this.

The conclusion I’d like to present is that misplacing an aligner is NOT the end of the world. Sure, it’s important to try and pass the treatment time without such incidents, but if they happen keep your cool. Discuss with your orthodontist and you’ll be able to get to a common decision. NEVER throw the latest aligners, you’d be in trouble if you didn’t have any aligners to wear at all. And do wear that Invisalign as much as possible (over 20 hours if possible) because your treatment depends on you.

One of our visitors was looking for this information and we thought it would be a good idea for a topic too. It is clear that he/she is currently under Invisalign treatment and the teeth are not as “tough” as they normally are. Our reader is scared about them being loose.

DON’T BE! It’s normal.

The entire orthodontics treatment is based on the ability of our teeth to move to a new position and to rotate. On a regular basis our teeth are strong and very well “welded” into their places. Their movement in this case would be impossible without them breaking or messing the jaw bone too.

This is why we should admire our body’s way to react to the small but constant forces the orthodontics devices place on the teeth: out teeth, when under such constant pressure, start being loose in their “sockets” and then they can be moved and rotated till the orthodontics treatment is getting the desired result.

Invisalign, such as any other system, has the ability to move these teeth. After some weeks in the treatment you’ll already notice your teeth seem to “fall off” from all their mobility. Don’t be scared, they are still well placed there, you won’t lose them, even if you feel 10 years old again.

With the metal braces the movement can be spotted even earlier, but Invisalign, such as all the other systems, also relies on the same thing: our teeth ability to be “mobile”.

So .. if you’re wearing Invisalign and the teeth are loose, be happy. It looks like the treatment is working nicely and your teeth will be OK. It’s NORMAL!

I have started my orthodontics treatment 1 year ago. A complex case, with a lot of work to be done to get a decent bite and some well aligned teeth. I had severe crowding, a canine that was too high and almost over the near incisor, a bicuspid in front of the other (even my doc was shocked) .. a lot of fun for the orthodontist. He was sure this is one of the hardest cases for him so far and the guy treated hundreds of patients.

Even if this “uniqueness” made me a bit proud, I kinda knew what to expect: a lot of discomfort, a lot of hardware in my mouth, some good and some very bad days. But I was up to this, as I am now, after 1 year with 15 months of treatment still ahead of me.

With all the work done so far and all the huge changes in my life, I was ready for it all and had a very positive attitude that REALLY helped me. A lot of other patients were shocked to see how much this changes their life and how many days are not that good, but I knew from the beginning this is not an easy ride and went ahead with all my strength.

The weird thing is that this attitude made my treatment more than bearable, I went through 7 months of Damon braces and almost 3 months of Invisalign now, countless powerchains tied on my teeth, now a mini-implant (a small screw “stuck” in my jaw bone, under the teeth) and all the jazz without too much suffering. My doctor was pleased to see my attitude and told me this also helped a lot.

They have a lot of patients who don’t take it well. They are shocked to see how many things they have to change in their lives, that sometimes it does hurt a bit, there are plasting things, ceramics or metal in their mouth, they look weird, they feel weird and those teeth seem to take forever to move.

Here are some of the things/ideas that helped me “fly” through 1 year of treatment and be ready for 16 more months.

1. I CHOSE this, it’s not enforced on me.

I think this was the thing that really helped me. In case you get sick, you have to go to the hospital and undergo treatment because you are “forced” by the illness and the doctors who are there to save your life.

In this case the orthodontics treatment was MY choice. I didn’t get sick, I didn’t have a terminal disease (God forbid). I chose to go through all this because I wanted a better healthier bite or (to be honest) to have some good looking teeth. I was the one to go to the doctor and ask for a fix. I asked for it and now I got it

2. What you know can’t hurt you

When I was a teenager I used to read Shogun. Had a thing for Japanese culture, so it was just logical to “eat” up the book. Some of the ideas stuck in my head for years and one was “Ignorance is death”. Sure, not knowing what the orthodontics treatment is about won’t mean you’re gonna get killed, but it helps A LOT knowing what to expect there.

When I was certain I’d go through all this, I was already well informed. Read all I could about this and shocked my doctors with the knowledge I had. It’s something that will affect my life, it’s normal to care about this as much as to read some articles. This blog was “born” from my need to also share some of my information.

Read all you can and ask your orthodontist ALL kinds of questions. Don’t be shy, it’s your right to be as informed as possible. The moment you have all the facts you won’t be scared anymore, you’ll know what’s happening to you and why.

3. In the end there’s nothing a painkiller can’t fix.

We are scared by the pain. This is one of the things ANYONE fears when entering such a treatment. There will be pain, don’t expect your teeth to rotate and move without any discomfort, because you’ll be in for a big surprise.

Still this pain is not like giving birth or having a dislocated shoulder (I tried the latter option and it wasn’t pleasant at all). Don’t expect huge pains, don’t expect Morphine. Still there will be some pain when they place spacers (some patients require these), when you’re getting your brackets placed on your teeth (first days), when putting a new Invisalign aligner.

I recall using a light painkiller twice in my entire treatment. Once after having the 3rd extraction in 8 days time (1 pill) and one after the second adjustment (when wearing Damon). In 13 months of treatment I required 2 pills. The pain was most of the time light and wound’t require medication. You can take painkillers with no problems if you feel like it.

For some people the discomfort is bigger, for others it’s almost nothing. You can take medication to ease it when you just want to be relaxed.

4. I have a good doctor and trust him completely.

The advantage of chosing a TOP orthodontist is clear. My doctor had hundreds of cases so far, is one of the best in Romania and also Germany. He’s got a lot of experience and knows what to do. I trust him completely and wasn’t wrong to do so. 13 months in the treatment and all looks excellent, the teeth are aligning little by little and I am very positive about this all.

These would be the things you should also have in mind. Don’t be scared, or at least don’t let these feelings make you dread the treatment. Just think about the outcome and be ready for the result. The road to this goal is a tad scary, unpleasant sometimes, but the result makes it worth it. THINK ABOUT THAT!