Restoring Your Smile After Teeth Begin Shifting Again

I honestly thought the day I got my braces off in middle school was the day I was done with my teeth journey. In college, I tossed my retainer into some drawer, certain that my smile was set for life. Fast forward a decade and I suddenly saw my bottom teeth overlapping again. It was a hard pill to swallow to find I needed to find an Orthodontist in Mountain View in my thirties.Many adults share this experience. As we age, our jawbones naturally change and shift, so our teeth are always on the move. Even if you had a perfect graduation bite, it’s the everyday chewing and nighttime grinding that slowly pushes things out of alignment over time.

At first, I tried to ignore the crowding and simply stopped showing my bottom teeth when I laughed and just stopped showing my bottom teeth when I laughed. But the real wake-up call wasn’t about how things looked in selfies; it was about how my mouth actually felt. Flossing was a daily battle, food always getting stuck in between, leaving my gums inflamed.When teeth are so crowded that they overlap too much, cleaning them properly at home can be difficult no matter how hard you try, there is no way that you can clean them properly at home no matter how hard you try.

Even my dental hygienist started lecturing me about plaque build-up during my regular cleanings. That constant irritation is how cavities develop in areas you can't even reach with a toothbrush.Eventually, I decided to stop ignoring the problem and booked a consultation to see what my options were and booked a consultation to see what my options were.

At first I felt a little ridiculous walking into a clinic full of teenagers. But there were a lot of grownups sitting in the waiting room doing the same thing I was.Fortunately, it was a huge relief to discover how much the industry has changed since we were kids since we were kids. When I met with an Orthodontist in Mountain View, I was told no one was going to make me go back to heavy metal brackets. Today the focus is entirely on invisible, highly efficient systems for working professionals only.

Today, clear aligners have become a leading option for adult patients, and it’s easy to see why of care for adult patients and it’s easy to see why. They’re these super thin, clear trays that snap right over your teeth and do all the heavy lifting, quietly. You can literally sit in a face-to-face meeting, and the person across the table will not even know.One major benefit is that you can take them out whenever you want to eat something whenever you want to eat something.

I still have the traumatic memories of pulling pizza crusts out of my wires back in the day. Now you just peel off the plastic, eat your dinner worry-free, and then put them back in when you’re done.Modern technology for mapping out your mouth is honestly crazy to see in person is honestly crazy to see in person. No more gagging on that horrible, chalky impression putty that took forever to set. They just take a tiny digital camera and wave it around your mouth for two minutes, and they build a perfect 3D model on a screen.

During my consultation, the doctor even showed me this cool time lapse video of how exactly my teeth would shift week by week of how exactly my teeth would shift week by week. Knowing what the finish line was like made signing on the dotted line a no-brainer. But I certainly underestimated the discipline it took to do the whole process on my end.Wearing those clear trays for at least twenty-two hours a day means no mindless snacking for at least twenty-two hours a day, which means no mindless snacking.

Any good Orthodontist in Mountain View will tell you that if you keep them out for too long, you ruin all your progress. If you drink anything but plain water, you have to take them out and brush.Before long, I became that guy who keeps brushing his teeth in the office bathroom his teeth in the office bathroom. It sounds like a total drag, but it actually became a weirdly grounding part of my daily routine. Plus cutting out all that random afternoon snacking wasn’t honestly the worst thing for my overall health.

I’m not going to lie: the first few days of a new tray are definitely a bit of a struggle of a new tray are definitely a bit of a struggle. Your mouth is so tight that it hurts a little when you try to chew something solid. You'll find the transition so much easier to handle if you stick to soup, smoothies and muesli for a couple of days.Speech may also sound slightly different for the first week while your tongue adjusts to the plastic for the first week while your tongue adjusts to the plastic.

It looks super obvious to you, but I promise no one else actually notices it. Singing along with the radio in my car brought my speech back to normal in a few days.With each passing month, you get closer to your very last set of trays; you are finally on your very last set of trays. And that perfect, straight smile looking back at you in the mirror is just as awesome as day one. The difference is, as an adult, you really get the investment you just made.

This time I’m absolutely not going to throw away my retainer in some random drawer to collect dust. The easiest habit in the world is to wear it to bed every night, and it protects all the money and effort I just spent. And it is absolutely vital to my peace of mind to lock down those results permanently.

Conclusion:

Although fixing your smile a second time might seem a little scary, it can be well worth it, and it is so worth it. Having a healthy, pain-free bite and teeth that are actually easy to clean is genuinely life-changing! Today’s technology makes the process so easy and subtle that there is no reason to live with the frustration of a crooked smile.