INVISALIGN DAY!!!

Hello fabulous fans!

I have been out most of this week on babysitting duties for my little nieces. I got a crash course in what it would be like to have 3 girls! So far I realized it's a lot of playing mediator in little arguments and listening to who can out-talk the other! In other words, DRAMA! But even though it has been challenging at times, it is so nice that my daughter and her cousins are like sisters, fights and all.:)

I wanted to talk about the upcoming Invisalign Day in our office, on Monday, April 26. We are so excited about this day! Why is it different from any other day? Well, for one, it's all about Invisalign! What could be more exciting than that? We have seen so many smiles transformed with this product. And without pain and suffering! Patients who come for Invisalign are usually there because they can't wait to get their next set of aligners. They can't wait to see their updated photos and see the changes in their mouth. It is so fun for me (and the patient) to look at these photos. Not only do the teeth change, but usually you see big changes in the gums, especially if there was a lot of crowding. The gums begin to be less puffy and red, and the patient can clean and floss more easily, and then the teeth somehow appear whiter. As an Invisalign patient gets further into treatment, he or she starts to pay closer attention to their smile and take better care of it. It's amazing! These are patients who actually want to be there, are excited to be there, instead of most people who dread their dental visits. It is very rewarding to be able to provide this service to our patients.

So for Invisalign Day, we try to get as many candidates ready before the actual day. If anyone is interested, we make an appointment for the consult before the Invisalign day, and take any records that may be needed.  If the patient has treatment to be completed, we will get everything finished before starting Invisalign.  Then, on Invisalign Day, we can take impressions for these patients and they are on their way to getting their aligners!  Of course we will also see any interested patients for consults on that day as well. For patients who get started during the month of April or on Invisalign Day, we are rewarding them with a $500 match and complimentary teeth whitening. For any patients who take their impressions on Invisalign Day, we are also offering a 5% discount!  We will have some raffles, goody bags, refreshments, and fun! It's a day to celebrate these patients!

We have done Invisalign Days in the past and they are usually quite successful. They are very motivating for our staff and are a great team-builder! We at Esthetic Dentistry, have seen the power that these little plastic trays hold!

Hope to see you on Invisalign Day!

:) invisaligngal

My "perfect teeth"

I was thinking today about my teeth. Yes, I know, how unusual for a dentist to think of such things! To be perfectly honest, I was thinking about the absolute hell I went through to achieve this smile! In the end it was all worth it and I get compliments all the time, mostly from patients who seem to think I am some sort of smile snob. They look nervously at me while I talk to them about Invisalign and what it can do for them, and somehow they believe I was born with perfect teeth. Wow, nothing could be further from the truth!

I started out with upper braces in the sixth grade. I don't have much recollection of this time, except to say that the braces did not add any glamour to my class picture that year. But I could also blame it on the fact that I had succumbed to yet another BAD perm, or that I had not yet been introduced to brow waxing (and would not be until my wedding, unfortunately). Who can say? I think I wore them for about a year. I also don't recall any sort of retainer or follow-up after this. 

Fast forward to college. It was at this point that I realized that I needed braces. AGAIN. My upper teeth were all crooked and seemed to stick out, although my side tooth (the lateral, if you want to be technical) retruded back, so that in pictures, with the right shadowing, it appeared that my front tooth was missing or at least very very dark. Not a good look, let me tell you. Especially because I was still suffering with the "bad Korean perm" affliction. Anyway, I saw this orthodontist in my hometown who declared that I had a condition called "tongue thrust." I tentatively asked, "What does that mean?" To which the doc tactfully replied, "You're like a lizard. Your tongue sticks out when you swallow, but it should go up." I was slightly horrified, to say the least. 

This resulted in braces for the second time. Top and bottom. I was lucky enough to get the clear brackets on the top 6 teeth but the rest were all metal. I had to wear the suckers for at least a year and a half. And I was in college. Yay me. 

It wasn't so bad. I adjusted. I knew I would be happy in the long run. So I accepted the punishment and moved forward. Until the visit back home where the orthodontist told me, "Now you need head gear. And elastics." What the....?!?!  I went back to school and held an emergency meeting with the roommates. I showed them this new torture device and explained that I would be wearing it at night for the next 5 months. As they all began to snicker, I exclaimed, "Get it all out NOW because I don't want to hear a word about it later on!!"  I wore the damn head gear but it was not easy! Half the time I would find it under my bed the next morning.  A few times I would be going to the bathroom in the middle of the night and one of my roommates would see the back of my head with the head gear straps and burst out laughing. Then there were the elastics. Those were a challenge, especially when talking. Once, I was looking at the summer job board alongside another student. I said something to her and a second later, my elastic flew out of my mouth and sprang right past her eyes! She was like, "What was that???" Boo for elastics! But they worked...

I also went to TONGUE THRUST THERAPY. Yes, you are reading this correctly. I would go to this lady's house, I guess she was a tongue thrust therapist? Actually she was a speech therapist. She had me practice putting my tongue in the right position, she told me to put tic tacs on the tip of my tongue until it melted, and other strange exercises. Whether this really worked, I doubt it. But I remember that my university health insurance paid for it, so I thought, well why not try to squash the lizard in me?

But FINALLY, I got those braces off.  It was a day of celebration! The doc put fixed upper and lower retainers so I wouldn't have to worry about wearing retainers every night. It was a pain to floss, but I tolerated it for a good 10 years. Then I became a dentist. And I married a dentist. And jointly we thought, "Well those retainers have been on long enough. Let's take them off!" So hubby removed the retainers.  I was thrilled. Guess what happens next...

Now about 2 years later, I found myself wearing Invisalign! I was guilty as many of my own Invisalign patients. I had previous orthodontics, but was not faithful in wearing my retainers! But in my case, I had them and thought I could stop wearing them. My teeth shifted! Or as we say, I had orthodontic relapse. My case was minor,  but it was enough to prompt me to do something. I wore Invisalign for 5 months and it worked out beautifully. Now I DO wear nightly removable retainers and will for the rest of my life! 

invisalign gal ;0

Starting Invisalign Gal's Blog!

Hello Friends!

I am really excited to be starting this blog! I have never "blogged" before, unless you count keeping a journal...is that just the antiquated form of blogging? In any case, I certainly never expected to start a blog, and who knew it would be all about Invisalign! When I first got certified I just had no idea that Invisalign would open so many doors and make me excited about coming to work everyday. It is great to meet so many new patients who actually want to be there! OK, so maybe I am stretching the truth a little here. But patients are genuinely interested in seeing how their teeth are moving. We take photos regularly, and people love to see them. The patient might say, " I don't think my teeth are moving," but once we show the pictures, it is obvious that things are changing. What has also been surprising is how much I have learned about people and their lifestyles, simply based on their use of the Invisalign aligners. One patient has discovered which gum won't stick (Orbit) to the aligners, another drinks hot coffee through a straw, a patient's new puppy keeps chewing up his aligners...one young woman left her bottom aligner at the Playboy mansion, and yet another gal put her aligners through the dryer! And they still fit!

It has been an interesting journey so far. I'm sure there are more stories to come!

Your invisalign  gal