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Have you looked in the mirror and noticed that with time your smile has slowly started to change? Maybe your teeth have begun to shift or maybe you have noticed changes in your bite or jawline. These are just a few of the reasons that caused me to start thinking, “Should I consider braces again as an adult?”  Here are my top 5 reasons I chose to get Invisalign:

1) STRAIGHTEN TEETH

I had braces as a child and did not follow through with wearing my retainers. Over the years I have noticed a slow, progressive shifting of my teeth, much worse on the bottom teeth than the top. The first sign that I began to notice was overcrowding of my bottom teeth and specifically one tooth on the bottom that started tilting inward significantly. Parts of the tooth and gum were exposed in a way I knew was not normal. I realized that if I didn’t do something to stop the progression now my teeth would continue worsen.

2) ALIGN JAW

Have you begun to notice tension in the muscles around your jaw? Have you noticed that you tend to chew more often on one side of your mouth? This might be an indicator that your jaw has become misaligned.  As my teeth have shifted this has also affected my jaw alignment.  My bottom teeth began to narrow and the mandible, or the bottom jaw began to recede. I also began to notice some irregularity with the TMJ joint from side to side as I opened my mouth.  One side of the temporomandibular joint was more prominent than the other when opening and closing my mouth with some intermittent clicking. These changes happen fairly slowly over years or even decades so it is easy to let things go unnoticed.  

3) COSMETIC

I work with people closely everyday and want to have a professional smile helping me to feel the most confident I can. It was important to me to maintain a professional look while I am in braces. With invisalign, I am able to continue my work without interruption and many people do not even know that I have braces. As my treatment progresses I am starting to see more of my bottom teeth in my smile as my bottom teeth become less crowded and overall a bigger, brighter smile.

4) PERIODONTAL HEALTH

Due to the overcrowding and shifting it has become more difficult to keep my teeth clean with brushing and flossing. At regular cleanings I was noticing more plaque building up between my teeth despite consistent efforts on my part to keep my teeth clean. Since beginning Invisalign I have noticed that I am able to floss easier in between my teeth and I don’t get as much build up between my teeth. 

5) ALLEVIATE NECK AND JAW DISCOMFORT

With the changes that have occurred in my teeth and jaw, I have occasional neck or jaw pain that I want to correct with the help of braces. Getting invisalign to help improve my bite and jaw alignment will relieve strain on my temporomandibular joint that can contribute to headaches, neck pain or jaw pain. In my early stages of treatment I am already beginning to feel that my teeth come together better, my teeth are less crowded and I am chewing more evenly. 

Choosing invisalign over metal braces allows me to be correcting my teeth while still having the freedom to take off my braces. It also allows me to have no restrictions on foods that I eat and the ability to keep my teeth and gums cleaner than with metal braces. I never have to worry about dental emergencies from wires coming out or brackets falling off. I am so happy to  be on my way to a straighter, healthier smile with the ease Invisalign offers. 

This time of year is exciting for all dental professionals because it is the time that "top dentists" releases the list of the best dentists in the USA.   Every orthodontist hopes to be on the list, but it is very selective and competitive and only the top in their field get this coveted distinction.  When Dr Holt opened his mail today he was thrilled to see those satisfying words . . . Congratulations!  You have been named the top Orthodontist for Colorado.  You may wonder how this list gets compiled, so here is a little history on that subject.  And you can feel proud and satisfied that your orthodontist was selected to this elite group.

The top Dentists selection began in January 2007.  They set out to identify and recognize the best dentists and dental specialists. The list is unique because dental professionals choose who they believe is the best in the industry. 

topDentists has refined their selection process and uses the input of several prominent dentists in the United States, to help select the topDentists. Because dentists must be voted in strictly by their peers, every dentist is given an opportunity to participate, and listings cannot be purchased (and no payment is required to be listed), inclusion in topDentists is considered to be a distinct honor. Each year they highlight, general dentistry, cosmetic dentistry, orthodontics, Pediatric dentistry, endodontics and periodontics.

Finding the right dentist or orthodontist is important. Asking friends or using a referral service can be helpful, but beware, some referral services require dentists to pay for their listings and any dentist can pay for one. Dr. Holt is honored to again be chosen as a topDentist in Orthodontics. 

We are following one woman's story as she tells us about her experience with Invisalign in an effort to take you step-by-step through the experience. Kristen, pictured here, with her husband (who also had braces as an adult with Dr. Holt) decided to get Invisalign as an adult to straighten her teeth and improve her bite.

11/27/22

Recently, I had a dentist appt to get my teeth cleaned and had all good reports. No cavities and gums look great! I guess there are advantages to brushing and flossing so many times in a day. I also had my first check up with Dr. Holt at 7 weeks. They checked the fitting of my invisalign, and looked at my teeth compared to the corresponding week on the initial scans that were taken. This allows him to see if my teeth are moving as predicted. Dr Holt and I talked about the  process going forward. I will finish out the trays that I have ( total of 14) and come back to see him near the 14th week. Another scan will be taken of my teeth at that time and I will stay in tray 14 for about 3 weeks while I wait for the next set of aligners to come in.

Thanksgiving was just a few days ago and this was the first time that I took my aligners out for an extended period. I had them out for about 5-6 hours. At the end of the evening, the inside of my cheek was pretty irritated due to the “buttons” that are on my teeth. The buttons had rubbed against my cheek while talking and chewing. Once I put the aligners back in that helped to ease the pain on the inside of my cheek but it has taken several days to completely heal.

12/4/22

So what made me decide to get invisalign? Well…. I had braces as a kid and at one point had beautiful, straight teeth. Once I was finished with my braces I got plastic retainers for the top and bottom but don’t recall hearing about the importance of wearing the retainer. My teenage brain must have tuned that part out! As a result, I think I was pretty quick to stop wearing the retainers.

Through the years I have had my share of cavities. I have 2 crowns, 1 root canal and multiple fillings. Despite taking better than average care of my teeth, cavities regularly show up on my routine xrays at my dental cleanings. As I have gotten older I have tried to improve the health of my teeth in order to prevent cavities by making sure I have both good nutrition and tooth care. I have gotten to the point where I finally found a good pattern with brushing, flossing and rinsing that translated to less cavities.

As I have been paying more attention to how I care for my teeth I have noticed shifting of my teeth that has progressively gotten worse. My bite no longer was aligned and I had some occasional discomfort and tension on the right side of my jaw because I seemed to be chewing mostly on the right side. This began to concern me as I thought about the long term health of my teeth and gums. It only makes sense to me that if my jaw and teeth are not lined up optimally it may result in uneven wear and tear on my teeth, gums and jaw.

I am a physical therapist and pilates instructor and I work in close proximity with people all day. I want to have my best smile and I want to take care of my teeth now and prevent problems in the future. This is why I chose to do Invisalign.

1/19/23

I have finished my first set of trays and have been in the 14th week tray for 2 weeks. I had a follow up appt with Dr Holt today to look at my progress. Overall, he is very pleased with my progress thus far.  Dr Holt said that I can now switch to “retainer mode”, which means that I only need to wear the invisalign at night since we are just holding the teeth in position at this time. He took another scan of my teeth and I will wait another 4-6 weeks to get my next set of aligners. I have to say it is a welcome break to be able to go without wearing the invisalign in the day.

2/27/23

The last 6 weeks I have been in the 14th week retainer and I have enjoyed having the freedom to eat and drink when I want without having to brush and floss throughout the day. I am surprised that my teeth did not shift back at all despite cutting back to only nighttime wear. I picked up the 12 new trays today.. At my appointment, I was fitted with the first tray without any problems.

I have noticed a spot between my last 2 teeth that has a filling and seems to be a food trap. I asked Dr Harris if I should get the filling redone at this time but she advised me that I should wait until I am done with this set of trays as my teeth may close together more and I may not need to get the filling redone. Well, here we go with the next stage of this journey….

 I am getting closer to being finished with my invisalign. YAY! I am currently in tray 11/12 in my second set of trays. Since my last entry I have had another dental cleaning and things looked great. I was relieved to find out that I did not have any cavities and the dentist felt that things were looking great. I also had seen Dr Holt a few weeks ago and he felt that my teeth were moving really well toward our long term goals. At that time I was feeling good contact with the back teeth on both sides and I continue to be amazed at how much more effective I am with chewing when my teeth are aligned. The front left side of my teeth are still not where we want them so that is what we are going to address with the next set.  One more week until the next scan….

6/23/23

I have been in “retainer mode” for the last 6 weeks waiting for my next set of trays to come in. I just picked them up today and there are 12 more. I was anticipating that there would be less than that but I would rather have more trays and the best result possible so I am ok with 3 more months. I have still been wearing them as many hours as I can but I don’t worry about it as much if I have them out for a couple hours in the day.  Once I am done with this set it puts me at the end of September which will be almost a year since starting this process.

We are following one person's story of Invisalign. Kristen had braces as a child but found that her teeth moved as she aged, which left her thinking about options to straighten her teeth and align her bite again as an adult. She chose Invisalign and here's what happened as she gets started -

Week one in the books. I’m so excited!I am already starting to feel and see a lot of positive changes in the way my bite fits together and my teeth are aligned. The hardest adjustment for the first few days was weighing out if it was worth it to eat what I wanted knowing I would need to brush, floss and rinse afterward. I think after a week I have come to a happy medium where I snack less and try to eat more at meals while still giving in to some of my snacking or drinking desires outside of meal times. I have learned to make things the most convenient and put a travel toothpaste, toothbrush, and an extra case for the trays in my purse, car, and at work.  This helps me have easy access to what I need no matter the location. I have been wearing my aligners about 22 hours/day taking them out only to eat/drink. I did have a party to go to last night and left them out for 3 hours. I didn’t have any trouble getting them in afterward. This morning I put in the week 2 trays and I felt a little more pressure on my teeth but not pain and no trouble getting them in. I’m excited to see the changes the week brings.

Being a foodie on vacation is a bit of extra work with invisalign. I was in the mountains for the weekend and I had my list of all my favorite restaurants that I like to eat at for breakfast, lunch, happy hour, dinner and dessert. I was not about to miss out on any of my favorites. I did a lot of brushing! One day I brushed my teeth 6 times. Even though I took the invisalign out a lot, I didn’t have them out for long periods. I was able to stay on track and still move up to my 3rd week aligners on time. Something I have noticed is that each week I change the aligners out I notice a new area of focused movement or soreness. This is keeping me excited to see what will change from the new aligners. After completing my first 2 weeks my bite is significantly improved and my teeth are widening out and closing together better.