27, 28, 29... and 29.

I haven't posted picture updates in awhile.  I have taken update pictures pretty diligently, except for #29, which I'm currently wearing.

I have been wearing 29 for about a month now since those side teeth do not want to come down.  I visited the orthodontist 2 weeks ago, and he told me to keep wearing these trays for 2 more weeks and "keep chewing those chewies."  (I have chewed two sets of chewies in half and have had to order more from Amazon frequently.  These two teeth are a pain!)  My next appointment is Thursday.  If all goes well, then I will possibly have some teeth "polishing" (filing) done, and I will get many sets of trays.

Here are the pictures.  My #29 pictures are coming from today, which is roughly 6 weeks since I took my #28 pictures.  You can see a little improvement with those two side teeth.

#27

#28

#29

School Pictures Revisited

I got my school pictures back in October, and I did a side-by-side comparison of this year's picture with my picture two years ago.  (Last year, I had JUST gotten Invisalign, so my smile was a little bit awkward and different.)

Here it is!

I can't even list all of the good differences I noticed!

26th Trays

Here are pictures from my 26th trays.  I went to the ortho last week.  The only issues I'm having are still those two teeth next to my two front teeth coming down.  Otherwise, I'm on track to go back in November!  At this point, I'm thinking I should be done with everything in May!

#25

I switched to my 25th trays on Tuesday (just in time for my first day of school Wednesday!)  They are super-tight on some of my front teeth!  I also have big gaps to fill in this time around, so I've been chewing my chewies a lot lately.  I have just over a week until my next orthodontist appointment!  Crazy!

Next weekend also marks a year since I had my oral surgery to start this whole process.  I'm almost a full year in!  (That means I have less than a year to go!  Awesome!)

Unrelated:  I keep having horrible dreams that my teeth are falling out!

Here are my picture updates:

#24

Here are pictures of my 24th trays that I put in a week ago.  My top front teeth are really hurting with these, but the pain has gotten better with days.  The biggest movements that have to take place are with my lateral incisors.  I had HUGE spaces in my trays when I put them in last week.  The spaces seem to be getting smaller.

I took these pictures at night, so they are kind of weird in terms of coloring.

22 and 23 and Comparisons

I switched to my 23rd trays today and realized I never wrote about my 22nd.  I guess I don't have a lot to update.  I went to the orthodontist two weeks ago (to get trays 22, 23, 24, and 25) and scheduled for another appointment in September.  The ortho told me that everything is going well and that I'm obviously following the rules.  He also noted that I'm over halfway finished.  Alright!

Here are picture updates for 22 and 23



22:  bite













22:  side bite

 22:  other side bite

22:  smile














23:  bite














23:  side bite














23:  other side bite (look at those two front teeth!)












23:  smile










And now some comparison shots!

Here is my bite at tray 2 vs. tray 23:

Here is one of my gaps at tray 10 (when the fake tooth "bubble" was first removed from my top trays) and at tray 23 (the back tooth is moving forward a bit!):

And lastly, here we are at a wedding last summer and at a wedding THIS summer!  (Enlarge the pictures to see a HUGE difference!)

21st Trays

Between finishing the school year and moving, I forgot to take pictures of my 20th trays.  Oops!  I don't have a lot to say about them, either.  I could really feel them in my two front teeth.

I put my 21st trays in on Tuesday.  They were surprisingly more fitted than most of my trays up to this point.  One thing that I observed quickly was that there isn't really space below my two front teeth to move like there has been with previous trays.  Usually, that is the most space left for movement!  I had to leave one set of trays in for an extra week for my two front teeth to move into that space.  This time around, however, the space seems to be below the teeth immediately next to my two front teeth.  Maybe that means they will move downward and more in line with my two fron teeth?!

Here are pictures:

I feel like my overbite is improving, but I really can't tell.  I do know that my jaw pops a LOT these days!

You can see the space below the smallest tooth in front.

I have had a change in my gum structure a little bit.  For a few months, when I took my top trays out, I somehow kept scratching the gums above my little tooth in the middle on top.  Over time, that made the gums wear away a little bit, and now, some more tooth is exposed than it was before.  I'll post a comparison shot of this at some point.  Scratching that gum was not very pleasant (and I didn't do it on purpose!), but I'm not really upset about the result. :)

Current smile.  This has really changed in pictures.

Here's my whole mouth.  As you can see, there are still a number of teeth that need some serious shifting.  My bottom teeth are getting close to being aligned, though!

My next appointment is on July 7.  I'm looking forward to that so I can see where I'll be in 10 weeks or so!

Trays 18 & 19 and Comparisons

I've been so busy lately, I don't have much to say about trays 18 and 19.  They weren't as bad as 17!  I move to trays #20 this Tuesday.  After that, I'll have two weeks of #21, and then I have my next ortho appointment!

Here are pictures from 18:

And here is a comparison shot of top tray 5 to top tray 18:

The two front teeth have changed a lot.  They clearly don't point as far inward and down anymore!

Here are pictures from #19:

And here is a comparison of #2 top to #19 top:

See how much bigger the teeth appear to be!?