Aligners

This is one of those record keeping posts, but it will start with an introduction where the story of my teeth out me as being mentally unwell.  There is no other honest perspective.

It all started when I was an anxious little kid - I bit my nails so much that I angled one of my front teeth to be quite crooked.  At least, that's what I think happened.  For what it's worth, I would also fold origami paper so crisply with the same piece of my right thumbnail that the nail wore down in that place, which makes my tooth theory plausible.  This is not a great start.

In middle school, I got braces from an excellent orthodontist named Dr. Kolman Apt.  They came off right before high school, which was perfect timing, because all the boys were supposed to fall in love with me.  They did not.

When the braces came off, one of the dental assistants used a professional tool to sand down the surfaces of my teeth.  The assistant was rather clumsy, and left some weird ridges on there.  I have had moderately deep tooth cliffs on the sides of my canines ever since, but it's no big deal.  The point is that I learned that teeth could be sanded.  (I have since learned that many people have filed teeth.)  One day I got tired of the bumps on the bottoms of my front teeth, which are called mamelons, so I sanded them off.  This is my sister's favorite story to tell people because it is apparently quite horrifying.  George calls it "cringeworthy" and shudders when the topic arises.  I see their point, but I also think that waiting for mamelons to straighten out on their own takes patience.

During the time of my braces, I got an annoying space between my upper first and second molars for my headgear.  The space on my right side closed, and the one on my left stayed open.  It's not a big deal - chicken can get stuck in there, and that's gross.  My front two teeth weren't perfectly straight, but they were a lot better, and I paid them no mind for a quarter of a century.  Everything was fine.

Then the pandemic happened, and I started making music videos with my sister.  Seeing videos of my front teeth did kind of bother me - the light always glistened from my crooked tooth.  Glistened, I tell you.  So once again, I messed my teeth up even more.  Before I would fall asleep at night, I would push on my crooked tooth with my tongue.  I don't really think I was trying to straighten it - it was more like that tooth was annoying me and I was fussing about it.  It became a huge habit.

Then my dentist, Dr. Vincent Ip, told me I had a tongue thrust.  Can one give oneself a tongue thrusting problem?  I think I did this!  I have had major teeth grinding issues for years, and he had suggested aligners to help.  I declined.

Then a month ago, on Nov 2nd, I went in for my regular cleaning appointment.  Not only has my grinding been terrible, but my self-induced tongue thrusting problem has, by now, really misaligned my upper and lower palates.  Meanwhile, my bottom teeth have somehow tilted inwards, as if leaning towards my tongue.  Maybe this is the only problem with my teeth that isn't actually my fault, but I do have a habit of sucking in my teeth, and potentially I could see this habit having this effect.  Anyway, because of my grinding, which is very strong, I am now putting an enormous amount of pressure on a bite that is not only horizontally misaligned, but also angled in such a way as to place all of the force onto my lower molar corners.  The force is enough that I had recently broken off a sealant.

This is not good.  I agreed to aligners.

The point of the aligners is to help me not chip my teeth away and... eat them in my sleep.  What an unsavory practice!!!  My bite will line up properly, and the surfaces will be square.  The aligners are acting like a nightguard now, and they will continue to do so when all of this over.  My front crooked tooth will be straightened, and the chicken gap will be no more, but those two things are just happy side effects.  I will still have cliffs on my canines, because now I am too wise to sand them off.  But am I?

In other news, I brush too hard and my gums recede.

Brand: SureSmile

Aligners, Case, & VPro Vibration Device

1.  28 Nov 23 - 07 Dec 23

2.  07 Dec 23 - 16 Dec 23
3.  16 Dec 23 - 25 Dec 23

4.  25 Dec 23 - 03 Jan 24

5.  03 Jan 24 - 12 Jan 24

6.  12 Jan 24 - 21 Jan 24

7.  21 Jan 24 - 30 Jan 24

8.  30 Jan 24 - 08 Feb 24

9.  08 Feb 24 - 17 Feb 24

10.  17 Feb 24 - 26 Feb 24

11.  26 Feb 24 - 06 Mar 24

12.  06 Mar 24 - 15 Mar 24

13.  15 Mar 24 - 24 Mar 24

14.  24 Mar 24 - 02 Apr 24

15.  02 Apr 24 - 11 Apr 24

    New Set

16.  24 Apr 24 - 03 May 24

17.  03 May 24 - 12 May 24

18.  12 May 24 - 21 May 24

19.  21 May 24 - 30 May 24

20.  30 May 24 - 08 Jun 24

21.  08 Jun 24 - 17 Jun 24

22.  17 Jun 24 - 26 Jun 24

    New Set

23.  17 Jul 24 - 26 Jul 24

24.  26 Jul 24 - 04 Aug 24

25.  04 Aug 24 - 13 Aug 24

26.  13 Aug 24 - 22 Aug 24

27.  22 Aug 24 - 31 Aug 24

28.  31 Aug 24 - 09 Sep 24

29.  09 Sep 24 - 18 Sep 24

30.  18 Sep 24 - 27 Sep 24

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Milli

04 Jan 24 - Orthodontist first appt

24 Jan 24 - Spacers

07 Feb 24 - Spacers check in, no more quarter turns

03 Apr 24 - Braces (Purple & Orange), keep Spacers

20 Apr 24 - Broke bracket

23 Apr 24 - Bracket repair (Black & Red)

30 May 24 - New wire (Purple & Green)

11 Jul 24 - New Wire (Teal & Green)

Embarrassing

BEFORE