Getting close to done

Hello All! It has been awhile since I posted. BUSY BUSY BUSY. I am on my last set of aligners and things have gone very well. I have one tooth on the bottom that still needs to be rotated a bit more so we will be doing a refinement. Which means that I will be getting a few more aligners to finish. This is not unusual in INVISALIGN treatment with teeth that have quite a bit of rotation. Next week I will be posting pics of where I am now and the process of doing a refinement.

DR MIKE

My First Aligner Appointment

Sorry for my delay on posting to the blog. My first Aligner appointment went off with out a hitch 6 weeks ago. I needed 7 attachments placed on my teeth. That was an easy process. My teeth were cleaned, dryed and prepared as if I were to have an orthodontic bracket placed. The attachments were placed (see below). My first aligners went in tight as they should be. I had this itchy feeling in my teeth all day. It reminded me of when I got contacts ( bad story with no application here) When I woke up the next morning that feeling was gone and now it was just the teeth were a tad sore and felt wierd eating, but not bad at all really. The upside is that every time you want to eat you have to take aligners out. Well snacking is definitely less common.. I might evern lose a couple of pounds!  Cleaning is fine. I continue to use a product called Smart Mouth. A great dental rinse.

The attachments that are placed on the teeth are made of white filling material and are removed at the end of treatment much like a regular orthodontic bracket.

A form matching the first aligner is used to mold and bond the attachments onto the teeth

VERY EASY!

NEXT TIME: Living with INVISALIGN.

Going over my Clincheck

INVISALIGN  has taken a few days processing our request for my treatment. What they send back is an animated movie called a CLINCHECK. This shows the movement of my teeth from start to finish with how well they move with each aligner. Dr Vandnais and I sat down and went over my treatment. I needed 14 Aligners that will each take about 2 weeks of wear to make the movements of teeth. I will also need some attachments placed on my teeth. These areas are indicated in red and are much like white filling material that helps to move the teeth in certain directions. These will be removed when treatment in done. I will also need some slight adjustment to the width of some teeth to move them into correct position. This is very common in INVISALIGN.  After reviewing the plan my teeth looked great and and the CLINCHECK was accepted. INVISALIGN will now make the series of aligners to straighten my teeth.

NEXT TIME Dr Mike gets his aligners.

My First Visit

Some may not know just exactly what INVISALIGN orthodontic therapy is. It is a series of computer generated clear plastic aligners that move teeth into the desired position. The first thing that needs to be done is to take a impressions of the teeth, pictures, and record how the upper and lower teeth fit together (bite registration)

My first appointment our treatment coodinator Jessie fits impression trays and checks for ther right size. Sometimes patients are a bit apprehensive about any dental treatment. Invisalign impressions are easy.

They also said that I shouldn't be drinking Mountain Dew.

I also got a couple of tokens for our prize machine for being such a good patient.

Next time we will look at what INVISALIGN sends back to us something called a CLINCHECK

Dr Leonard gets his teeth straightened with INVISALIGN!

Good Morning! My name is Dr Michael J Leonard. I am a dentist practicing in Chanhassen, Minnesota for 26 years. Our Practice is Chanhassen Family Dentistry. My associate is Dr Valerie Vadnais. We provide a full range of dental care for our patients including orthodontic therapy. We were recently completed a continuing education course for Invisalign. I was in an advanced course and Dr Vadnais was at her first training course. In the course, I was seeing  patients being treated with Invisalign that had been previously told that their condition could only be fixed with conventional braces. I immediately said, "Hey that is my mouth!"  At a break I went up tho the instructor and said, " So I should obviously be a candidate for Invisalign?". "Absolutely!", was his answer. I thought that documenting my treatment would be a great way for my patients to see  the capabilities of Invisalign and have a bit of fun in the process. What you will see in this Blog will be the process of Invisalign treatment. I hope this will be fun and informational for all who follow.

Dr Mike