I’m hugely grateful to Anna who writes the great ‘a whole lot of chitty chat’ blog for writing this super article on her experience with Invisalign.
Hello readers of UK adult braces!
I’m Anna and I blog (occasionally) on my little slice online, ‘a whole lot of chitty chat‘ (you’ll soon realise the name is quite fitting). I originally started blogging as an escape in my very early days of living with anxiety and panic attacks. I’ve since grown so much, not only in person but on my blog too. Over my three years of blogging so far I’ve gone from being pretty much unemployed to now working a full time job, never thinking I’d be able to be independent again to learning to drive and pass, regaining my independence and freedom back. I’ve also added in to the mix different days out, concerts, tips and advice, things I love, topics I find interesting, whatever I feel about writing waffling about. My most recent achievement is my journey with Invisalign and overcoming my fear of the dentists in the process.
Throughout my teens I didn’t really have a dentist and in all honesty my teeth weren’t high on my list of priorities either (bad, I know). Now I look back a lot of people around me were getting braces and improving their imperfections with their smile, I wasn’t. I was having remarks sent my way, ‘why are your teeth so yellow?’, ‘why are your gums so red?’. The answer to both of them questions was I had no idea, I don’t think that my teeth were that yellow or my gums that red but admittedly I didn’t look after my teeth and don’t have any photos to see what they looked like as smiling with my teeth just wasn’t something I did.
Fast forward a few years, a few horrible dentist experiences and one where I left the dentists’ in tears. Naturally after that experience I avoided the dentist. It was not until a new dentist opened up in my town that I thought it was about time, so I gave it another shot. It wasn’t overly bad, it wasn’t exactly great either.
From one dentist to the next, my current dentist. He is the nicest dentist, he put me at ease the second I walked through the door to have my consultation about Invisalign. I’d been wanting braces for a looonnggg time and finally decided to pluck up the courage and make an appointment, the first step is always the hardest. Beforehand I did some research online and had made my mind up about what brace treatment I wanted, Invisalign.
Invisalign for me was a no brainer. It was pretty much invisible, you could take it out to eat and drink whatever you wanted, it meant less time being spent stuck in a dentist chair, it meant control. I spent a while before booking my appointment searching #invisalign on Instagram because I just couldn’t believe the difference it could make. Trust me, it is amazing what difference it makes.
The Invisalign process is very weird (in a good way of course), you are able to see how your smile will look. You have total control over how your smile will turn out. It is seriously crazy how it works, my mind is still blown (I think it always will be when it comes to this).
Invisalign comes in different treatment plans, the two case options I had was a ‘lite’ case (meaning less than 14 trays I think it was, don’t hold me to that) or a full/complete case. The difference between the two was the lite case would use less trays, be cheaper and didn’t include any extra trays (refinements) if need plus my teeth might have been pushed out on the top set. Invisalign full/complete case the trays were unlimited, included any extra trays (the refinement stage) but unfortunately cost more. Once you’ve had your impressions taken (you can read more about that on my blog if you want, I go into more detail about it), your dentist will send them off to Invisalign and Invisalign will return to you a ClinCheck which is basically a little video to show you how your teeth will move over time and how they will look at the end. I felt it was really hard to visualize how my teeth would look at the end because I couldn’t predict the future so I played it safe in the long run I think and opted for the full/complete case. I don’t regret my decision at all.
If you are thinking about getting braces of any form, do your research. Look at all the options available and make your own decision, don’t let anyone make your decision for you.
Having Invisalign has definitely improved my fear of the dentist, I knew that it would. You know the fear you can sometimes feel at the dentists? I experience that on a regular basis with anxiety, I used to feel it on a much stronger level than I do now though. So the one way I’ve learnt how to deal with a fear is to face it, even in teeny tiny steps. Teeny tiny steps are a million times better than just standing still.
Anna
