#25: Fix your smile, once and for all.

Date Completed:  5/20/2010

I almost can’t remember a time when I wasn’t working on my teeth. It all started with braces in 7th grade. I was so impatient and they came off way too soon. Then there were the retainers (never a head gear thankfully). Over the years, my teeth continued to shift, though, and it got to a point where I wanted my smile to look like it did after my braces. So, I found Boger Dental and Dr. Joe Madden and we started back at it. I ended up getting with an Essix retainer which is truly a torturous device. Basically, a mold is taken of your current alignment. Then, through computer imagery, a new appliance is formed of hard acrylic to match what your teeth *should* look like. Then, you just force it onto your teeth and wait for them to move. You can probably imagine how much your teeth and surrounding nerves hurt. Eventually, they do conform though, and if you survive the headaches and intense pain for the first couple of weeks, you begin to adjust to wearing it almost all day and night like Invisalign. I swore I’d never go through the process again, but after a while I still wanted my teeth to shift a bit more. So, I went through a second iteration of the Essix and then decided to get a lingual wire put on the back of my top teeth to keep them in place so I could dump the retainers. Years ago, lingual wire these were stainless steel bars that were cemented on your teeth. Now, they’re very thin threaded wires made of nickel and titanium for added strength. They’re coated with acrylic so you get used to them quickly. I was even able to have a new whitening tray made that is molded around the wire so I can still do night treatments as I like. The whole process has taken several months, but I’m glad I took care of this before they shifted more. Lisa is part way through her Invisalign which was on her list, so we're both all smiles these days!