Invisalign

Here's a post about my experience with braces and Invisalign. I couldn't wait to get braces when I was in middle school (I had them in 7th and 8th grade). Although I was young, I felt self-conscious about having crooked teeth, and I always made a conscious effort to to smile without showing my teeth. After getting my braces off, I wore my retainer for several years, but then I got lazy and I quit wearing it... BIG mistake! You would think that I would've been more diligent with wearing my retainer after I finally had the straight teeth I'd wanted for so many years, but I was ignorant to the fact that teeth will move. My teeth did just that, and my retainer stopped fitting. That's being a dumb kid for you. ;-)

Fast-forward a decade. When I was in my mid-20's, I really wanted to get my teeth fixed, because they weren't as straight as I wanted them to be, and as I knew they could be. However, as much as I wanted perfectly straight teeth again, did I really want to go through hassle and expense of getting braces again? I wasn't sure I wanted to get traditional braces again, but I did like the idea of Invisalign, which are a series of clear aligners/retainers that you wear all the time (except when eating and brushing). I wouldn't go to just any orthodontist, either. Being very disabled and in a wheelchair, I knew that would make things trickier. Not impossible, but I just envisioned things being awkward, so I only felt comfortable going to someone I already knew.

Around 2005, I met Rich McDermott at church after he and his family moved to the area. He was a brand-new orthodontist and had just gotten his first job after finishing his schooling/training. Rich was always so kind to me whenever he would see me, even if it had been a few years since our last encounter. Around 2015, Rich opened his own practice about 10-12 minutes from where I live. I thought, "Okay, I'm comfortable with Rich, his office is nice and close, so if I can get Mom on board, I'm going to do this!" (I already have so many doctors that I have to see on a routine basis, and I didn't know how my mom would feel about adding more appointments to our life, but she fully supported me in pursuing this.) I went to a consultation at Rich's office in April 2016 and I did all of the preliminary paperwork, pictures, etc, including getting digital impressions of my teeth. I was told that the whole process would take about 18–24 months.

I started wearing my aligners on June 1, 2016. I went in to the office for an appointment every 6 to 8 weeks, and Rich would check my progress, and I would receive the next three or four sets of aligners. I was very compliant with wearing my aligners, and I wore them religiously. Because of this, I was able to expedite the process by switching to the next set of aligners after only 10 days (and then seven days), instead wearing each set for 14 days. I went through 52 pairs of aligners, each one straightening my teeth a little more. I finished with my last pair in January 2018. Then I got my retainer, which I had to wear day and night for six months. Now I just wear it at night, and you better believe I'm going to keep wearing it this time around... FOR LIFE!! For anyone out there with braces (or who have children in braces), make sure you/they don't slack on your retainer wearing!

I'm really happy with my results, and I'm so glad I did it. Dr. McDermott's office was close, bright and cheery, and his staff was extremely friendly. I never had to wait more than a couple minutes for my appointment, either, which I really appreciated.

Here are my official before and after photos of my teeth: 

As I said, my teeth before Invisalign weren't all that bad, especially compared to some people's, but my teeth had definitely moved over the years.

Here are two pictures from before Invisalign, and two pictures after: 

Rich and me:

Summer Visits 2018

July was a whirlwind of a month. Three of my four older sisters came to visit with their families. We had company staying with us from July 3 to July 27 straight! It was great to see so much of my family.

My sister Miriam and her family were the first ones to visit. My oldest niece (Kim) turned 18 in July, and she will be leaving for college in just over a week. It's crazy how fast the years have flown by. One of the things we did with Miriam's family was go bowling, and I think everyone enjoyed it.

We took some pictures to document our time together:

Miriam's visit overlapped with Sharon's visit for a few days, so it was fun that their families got to spend a little time together. My older sisters families are together so seldomly that it's always a "must" to document with more pictures:

Above is a picture of my mom with Miriam's, Sharon's and Chandra's kids (half of Mom's grandchildren). We would've loved having the other 13 kids here to spend time with us!

Victoria and Christian got along so well last year, and this year was no different. It was hard to get pictures of both of them smiling and looking at the camera. Christian didn't want to look, so Victoria tried to help him out:

Miriam's family

Sharon was only able to stay for one full day, because she and her three oldest girls had to get back for some church activities. She came and dropped off her three youngest kids, who stayed with us for two full weeks since the rest of the family had a church conference and a camp that they were involved with. My mom tried hard to keep the kids from getting bored. One day we went to a local firehouse and took a tour.

My sister Annette was last to visit. Sharon's kids were still with us at the time, so they were able to see more of their cousins. Here is Sharon youngest, Emi and me, and then we were joined by Annette's daughter, Rebecah.

We took another picture of my mom with her grandchildren that were here. This summer she was able to see 18 of her her 26 grandchildren. Not bad, but it would've been perfect if we could've seen everyone.

Kimball loved carrying Ruby around, and so did Rebecah. Everyone loves Christian and Ruby, and I can't say I blame them. :)

Here are a couple pictures of my mom, Annette, Chandra and me:

And a couple pictures of me with Annette's family:

Edie and Christian:

Hanging out after church:

Edie giving my wheelchair a try, and a picture of Annette's son, Lincoln, with Sharon's daughter Rachel:

We went bowling again with Annette's family, and I think it was one of the highlights of their trip. All of the kids had a lot of fun:

There was a ramp (with a very steep incline) to get down to the bowling lanes, and the little kids had a lot of fun running up and down the ramp while they waited for their next turn to bowl:

Enjoying some pizza between turns:

Our summer company has come and gone for another year. I was pretty bummed for the first few days after left. It stinks that we are so spread out, but I'm grateful for the time when we are together.