Week 3 - Attachments and New Trays

Today was the big day – my first follow up appointment which means I got my attachments.

Originally the ladies in the office estimated that the visit would take about 30 minutes. Ummm…. not so much – closer to 2 hours! I entered at 9, left at quarter to 11. So, ya. a bit longer than expected.

What are attachments?

The purpose of the attachments as was explained to me is that some teeth are more difficult to move than others. Attachments allow the aligner to apply extra pressure to the teeth and force the root to move into a new position in the arch. The Invisalign website offers some additional info about the purpose of attachments. But essentially, that’s the reason.

 How do they put them on?

I knew I was going in to get “composite” today. Admittedly I had no clue what that really meant. For whatever reason, I made up in my head that the dentist was going to apply some bumps or ridges to my trays and file a few things then pat me on my head and send me on my way. I couldn’t have been more mistaken.

As I said, I spent nearly 2 hours in the chair with the Jennifer the RDA who is worth her weight in gold. Whatever she is paid isn’t enough since she has to put up with me. Jennifer applied little tooth-colored cement bumps to the front side of my teeth. This is what they refer to as “attachments”. 

Seriously, the attachments remind me of little thorns sticking off my teeth. The feel funny but don’t hurt. They are challenging to see unless you are looking for them. The camera does not capture the images too well – which in reality is a good thing. But you will get the point. Plus, I have a lot more than what are visible in these images.

The reason my appointment took nearly 2 hours was that I ended up with 19 attachments! Jennifer said that this was the most she had applied on a single patient. Yikes!

 

Now, that doesn’t mean I have attachments on 19 teeth. Actually, some teeth have two attachments, others just one. Thankfully, I do not have any on my two front teeth. Likewise, I am thankful that the bonding material was a close match to my teeth color. Ifs the color did not match, then the attachments would be more visible.

I won’t lie to you. The installing of the attachments isn’t very fun. The chemicals that are used taste bitter. And if you have sensitive teeth or any gum erosion like me, at time it zings your nerves. 

But this is where a really good RDA comes in handy. Jennifer was incredibly patient with me and took my constant moaning about everything. Her willingness to go at a pace I could handle was probably the main reason that my appointment took so long. Had she pushed or been more assertive with me, I would have been miserable. Thankfully that did not happen. And there is a bright point. While it isn't pleasent, it's not so bad as to require the use of needles.

Now, for some good news. Generally speaking, this part of the process is a one-time deal. They may need to adjust individual attachments along the way, but as long as everything goes according to plan, I won’t need to go through this again. This is not something I would want to endure every couple of weeks.

There is one minor caveat, should we decide any refinement needs to be done after the process is complete, then attachments may need to be done again, but to what degree would depend on what needs to be refined.

Also, I want to point out that if one of the attachments falls off, that means that I will need to call in right away to get a new one put on. Why? Because a missing attachment means the aligner won't be able to do its job. Hopefully that won't happen, but I felt it was worth the mention.

How do the new trays fit?

Okay, so now you are undoubtedly wondering how this changes the fit, look, and feel of the trays. In my opinion, the trays are slightly more noticeable because they are not as smooth as before. The trays now have protrusions which are there to accommodate the attachments making the trays more noticeable. As you can tell from the image, the difference is minor. 

The other thing to point out is that with the new attachments the trays are incredibly more difficult to get out. They are much tighter than before. I find that I really need to be comfortable applying some force to the trays to remove them. I am also guessing that the more attachments in your mouth, the tighter the trays. But that's just my guess. 

I am told that the aligners will loosen up after a few days - which I know does happen based on the last two weeks. However, I suspect that each new set of trays will likely be a similar experience of tight then eventually looser. It’s just part of the process. 

At the moment, I doubt that I could remove the aligners without looking in the mirror, if that give you any indication of how challenging they are right now. So, I will need to make allowances when at work or in public.

My progress so far...

My progress so far is shown below. I certainly have a long way to go, but the images do show some movement in the teeth, which is encouraging.

What's next?

As for what happens now – well, I was given 2 sets of trays – my new set and my next. I will wear these for 2 weeks and the next for two weeks again. That means I follow up with the dentist in a month. 

From that point, I should only need to visit the dentist after 3 or 4 sets of aligners (aka 6-8 weeks). I am told my appointment times will average about 15 minutes unless there are adjustments that need to be made to the attachments or the aligner trays.

I also verified how many sets of tray I have. I have 35 sets to go. At 2 weeks per set, that means about 70 weeks of treatment until completion. Of course this assumes that all my teeth cooperate and that there are no hiccups along the way. If that;s the case, then I should finish by September 2015.

In addition to the 35 sets, I have the possibility of needing/wanting to refine my smile. This means that if something isn't quite to my or my dentist's liking, then I have 5 sets of refinement trays that will allow us to polish the smile to perfection. But these are optional.

All in all, it sounds pretty great to me! In the mean time, I will keep you posted on my progress.