Beginning of Invisalign Treatment - workup and molds

Today, Monday the 14th of November I began my Invisalign treatment at the Center for Cosmetic Dentistry in Middleton, WI. The center is in a beautiful and brand new office complex that has a lot of available parking. You walk into a room that feels more like a resort lounge area than a dentist office waiting room, with comfortable leather couches and seats. The front desk secretary offers to take your jacket and asks if you would like a drink. What service! Adding to the scenery is a fish tank and fountain in the corner, and comforting music.

I arrived early, at about 8:00am and was taken in right away and escorted into one of the centers state-of-the-art operatory rooms, with the most comfortable dentist chair I’ve ever layed on. Visit http://www.thesmileexperts.com/pages/moving.htm for pictures, also check out the clinic tour.

The first task of the day was to collect full mouth x-rays which involved placing a plastic piece behind some of the teeth and then taking digital x-rays. The x-rays are then brought up automatically on the in room computer where the dental assistant can check their clarity. This is done a number of times to cover all of the teeth, upper and lower.

Then she gave me these tools to show my smile for her to take before pictures. We also went into the photo room (yes, with the professional lights and everything) to take more pictures and she then showed me them on the computer.

Then the dental hygienist cleaned my teeth with a powder pressure cleaner, it is something that my dentist at home has never used. It did not have an aftertaste and was quick and painless. Then she used an instrument that detected decay in my teeth. When there is some decay it would make a noise and produce a number. My dentist at home doesn’t use this, and missed three areas of decay, I just had a cavity filled a couple of months ago. These areas of decay were noted for the doctor to evaluate physically to confirm the decay. She then proceeded to check my gums for any bleeding, which I passed (1,2,3 is a good score). Then I got to meet Dr. Kammer again who told me that I needed to get one cavity filled and use ozone therapy on the other areas of decay. Ozone therapy? Visit http://www.thesmileexperts.com/pages/services/healozone.htm to learn about it. I swear, I think my dentist at home is way behind in their technology. Within a couple minutes another dentist came in, Dr. Husseini, who fixed my cavity using resin and then used the ozone therapy on the other teeth. It was a painless procedure and was very quick! At home I would have had to book another appointment to fix the cavity, and the ozone therapy is great because small fairly new cavities can be treated without drilling or discomfort. This was a very pleasant experience, and I’m glad that all of my cavities are now taken care of, and the combined treatments were less expensive than my dentist at home charges.

The final task involves taking the molds of the teeth so that Invisalign can create the computer models of your teeth. This just involves putting some gel on your teeth and then biting down onto a rubbery gel filled mouth guard and then holding for 5 minutes. This is then repeated with the bottom teeth. It was a piece of cake, and over quickly. Finally they take a quick mold for the clinic using mint flavored gel.

And there you have it, the entire morning activities took about 2 hours, and combined about three visits in one. Now I just wait for 4-6 weeks for my Invisalign retainers to arrive at the center and then I’ll go in to be trained on how to use them properly and to answer any other questions I had.

I am very excited to get Invisalign. Dr. Kammer predicted that the entire treatment time would be about 9 months, which is so short for braced! I decided that the time is now to get my teeth straightened; it is about 9 months before I will begin medical school and then I’ll have the smile I always wanted. My teeth aren’t horrible, but I have issues when I look in the mirror. I have a mild tongue thrust and so I am worried about my teeth moving forward in front, I already have a small gap toward the gums in my front teeth. I trust Dr. Kammer, he is a premium member and they get about 6 new Invisalign patients per week that is a ton. So they are definitely experts in this, and they also are not only an orthodontic center they also perform all of the general dentistry tasks. I look forward to charting my Invisalign treatment and my experience at the Center for Cosmetic Dentistry.