Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post. However, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
I spent years of my life in braces. I was so thankful for them. When my top teeth came in, one of them was completely sideways. I wanted braces!
Just thinking about it, the memories come flooding in. As much as I wanted my teeth straightened, the whole experience was rather tortuous at times. I had the bands that went all the way around my teeth. Getting fitted for the bands and then having them adjusted every few weeks was painful. I wasn’t embarrassed about wearing braces, but then came the head gear. There can’t be anything much worse for a pre-adolescent shy kid! Oh and I dare not forget the tongue spurs! I had three prongs sticking straight out toward my tongue to train me to swallow correctly. I don’t think I’ve ever met another soul that had to wear tongue spurs!
How exciting it was to finally get the braces off, but then came the years of wearing retainers. That was okay though. I was so happy to have straight teeth.
I wore the retainers all day for years and then I wore them at night for several more years. I don’t remember being told that I had to wear them forever. I thought I wore them as long as I was supposed to. Pretty soon after I quit wearing my retainers, however, my bottom teeth went a little crooked. I don’t ever remember really caring that much. When I smile you mostly just see my top teeth anyway. My top teeth stayed straight…until now!
In April I experienced a miscarriage. It was during this time that I had the opportunity for a makeover. My husband took photos of me in my new look. I had him take lots of photos to make sure I’d have a good one I would want to post. As I was looking through the photos that he took, I gasped. My front teeth looked crooked!
I ran to the mirror and sure enough my front teeth have shifted with one overlapping another just slightly. I felt sick. I quickly searched photos of me from the last year to see if I could pin point how long they had been crooked. It turned out just in the last six months to a year because a year ago I have photos with straight teeth! After all those years of braces my teeth are going crooked now. They don’t look all that bad yet, but I wonder how crooked they are going to get. I had just had a miscarriage and just felt like everything was going wrong with me. My husband was so sweet. He said that we would look into getting them fixed and told me not to worry.
I already had a dentist appointment scheduled, so I talked to my dentist when I went in. He suggested Invisalign and told me it is very common for people who have worn braces to have their teeth shift at my age. I am seriously considering Invisalign! I can’t even imagine going back to braces like when I was a kid. Among the new advances in orthodontia, removable aligners, like Invisalign & Invisalign Teen, are fast becoming a popular choice. The system uses a series of clear aligners made of lightweight plastic that sit smoothly on the teeth allowing for a more comfortable fit and they work as effectively as traditional metal braces. I am so excited about this alternative!
Have you or someone you’ve known used Invisalign? And if so, what was their experience?
To learn more about Invisalign please visit their Website. Keep up with the latest info and promotions through their Twitter and Facebook pages!
Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post. However, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Well, you put my picture here with you, and obviously my teeth aren’t straight, though I wore braces. My teeth never did get as straight as yours, and they also shifted some after the braces were taken off. I remember the whole braces experience as pretty awful, so I sympathized with my children. And the orthodontist told me when I was ten that he could fix my teeth but that my childen would have crooked teeth!
My daughter had the prongs to keep her from sucking her thumb. I had braces put on in my early 50’s and 6 years later the 2 teeth that they were straightening fell out.
I have an overbite. When I was younger, I always wanted braces and I envied others who got to wear braces. But my parents were self employed and could not afford to pay for braces.
My overbite did come in very handy for playing the flute though!
Unfortunately, my kids inheritted my overbite, and they needed to wear braces to correct it. They didn’t seem to mind at the time, and they now have beautifully straight teeth as adults.
Invisalign sounds like an awesome alternative to braces!
I haven’t used invisaline but I know what you are talking about regarding thinking you were fine not wearing the retainers. I had no idea I still needed to wear them and after a year of wearing them only at night I stopped. My teeth have slipped behind each other again. Not as badly as they used to be but definitely not straight. I were my retainers every few nights now. They don’t fit well but they do help. I would wear them every night but I get frustrated with them in my sleep and lose them if I wear them too much. And since I can’t afford to have them fixed I’ve decided I better take good care of them. 🙂
Just wanted to share that each time we are pregnant the estrogen softens our gums and everything else. It is especially important to wear retainers when pregnant. My heart hurts for you in your miscarriage. I had five miscarriages and then found out I had a clotting issue that only occurs while pregnant. It’s a simple blood test to find out if you have it. Blessings.