I went to Dr. Shefferman to get a consultation and to help determine if I should get braces or Invisalign.
My initial consultation with Dr. Shefferman involved taking pictures with a digital camera and him examining my teeth alignment and bite.
I asked him whether Invisalign or regular braces would help fix my bite problems and my pain. He informed me that I would be a good candidate for Invisalign and that my pain should go away from just using the retainers. Hallelujah! I was told many years ago by several orthodontists that Invisalign would not be suitable for me.
After he reassured me, I decided to sign up for Invisalign!
Today, I went in for my X-rays and pictures to be used for the 3-D imaging. The pictures for the 3-D imaging involved having a tool press against my teeth and snapping away. The tool tended to dry out my mouth and caused some sensitivity. Still, it was kind of cool to see my teeth popping up on their monitor screen. I could see just how bad they looked!
Scanning the top half was a breeze. For the bottom half, my orthodontist had to come in and shave my bottom teeth first. He informed me that the shaving was to make room for them to move around. If he didn't shave them, my teeth would protrude out even more - no thank you! The shaving would have no impact on sensitivity and he informed me that he's done this on most of his patients (of which most are adults).
The shaving process was pretty quick - about 5 minutes total. He took a series of strips (that kind of looked like a high end sand paper) and started sliding them in between my teeth. He took each strip and sanded in between a few times. He used a total of about 5 strips - so that's 5 times he sanded between my teeth. Afterwards, he took a piece of floss and demonstrated how easily the floss would now go in between my teeth.The assistant then scanned my bottom teeth to be sent off.
Now, I have to wait 6 weeks to receive my first set of aligners and to have bumps put on to keep them in place. Excited!
Total estimated length = 1 yr
Total price = $6600 (yes it's steep, but it includes retainers; also, in case I need more treatment after 1 yr, they will order more aligners for free until my smile is perfect)
Background:
I have an overbite, and my front and bottom teeth protrude out a bit. My bottom teeth hit my top teeth and sometimes cause me pain. Some mornings, I wake up with my teeth clenched and have a lot of tension in my face. This causes pain throughout the day. On top of the pain, I notice that I often don't allow my teeth to sit on top of each other and leave my teeth open, but my lips closed. This alleviates the pain, but I sometimes wonder how it would feel if I could just let my teeth rest on each other. I also dont like how my teeth look, especially from the profile. My teeth look almost straight when you look at me head on. However, from the side, my teeth look slanted and protruding out. Not a good look and I dont like any pictures from the profile.
My initial consultation with Dr. Shefferman involved taking pictures with a digital camera and him examining my teeth alignment and bite.
I asked him whether Invisalign or regular braces would help fix my bite problems and my pain. He informed me that I would be a good candidate for Invisalign and that my pain should go away from just using the retainers. Hallelujah! I was told many years ago by several orthodontists that Invisalign would not be suitable for me.
After he reassured me, I decided to sign up for Invisalign!
Today, I went in for my X-rays and pictures to be used for the 3-D imaging. The pictures for the 3-D imaging involved having a tool press against my teeth and snapping away. The tool tended to dry out my mouth and caused some sensitivity. Still, it was kind of cool to see my teeth popping up on their monitor screen. I could see just how bad they looked!
Scanning the top half was a breeze. For the bottom half, my orthodontist had to come in and shave my bottom teeth first. He informed me that the shaving was to make room for them to move around. If he didn't shave them, my teeth would protrude out even more - no thank you! The shaving would have no impact on sensitivity and he informed me that he's done this on most of his patients (of which most are adults).
The shaving process was pretty quick - about 5 minutes total. He took a series of strips (that kind of looked like a high end sand paper) and started sliding them in between my teeth. He took each strip and sanded in between a few times. He used a total of about 5 strips - so that's 5 times he sanded between my teeth. Afterwards, he took a piece of floss and demonstrated how easily the floss would now go in between my teeth.The assistant then scanned my bottom teeth to be sent off.
Now, I have to wait 6 weeks to receive my first set of aligners and to have bumps put on to keep them in place. Excited!
Total estimated length = 1 yr
Total price = $6600 (yes it's steep, but it includes retainers; also, in case I need more treatment after 1 yr, they will order more aligners for free until my smile is perfect)
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