Three weeks after my visit they finally called to tell me that my new aligners were in. However, the doctor was out of town that week so I couldn't get in until a full month after we had ordered them. It was longer than expected, but still quicker than the old way. But here's the thing with wearing the same trays for 4 weeks: it's gross. They turned yellow. I soaked them in peroxide. I soaked them in Efferdent. I soaked them in peroxide and Efferdent together, which made a nice bubbly mess, but left them still disgusting. I do not ever want to have to wear them for that long that again.
The big question I've been wondering while waiting was how far out this whole episode with the tooth that wasn't tracking would set my treatment plan back. I was on tray 16 of 44, so 28 to go. My new set has 21 total. So even though I lost a month waiting, I'm still going to finish 3 weeks ahead of schedule. Can anyone explain that to me? How exactly did having to adjust for an uncooperative tooth shorten my overall treatment? Makes no sense to me, but I'm not complaining.
At the visit, they had to adjust some attachments for the new aligners. The two on my front upper teeth came off (though they told me that they would be going back on later) using basically a dremel tool. They added two to my lower teeth towards the back one side. I can't quite figure that out, either. You would think since the bottom were doing fine that the same course of treatment would apply.
The assistant that was working on me clearly did not want to do any more messing with the attachments than necessary. I specifically asked her if the attachment on my trouble tooth needed to be changed, and she said no. After she was done, the doctor came around to examine me and pointed out that all the attachments on my bottom front teeth were a different shape and size and needed to be changed. So back in she went, ground them off and re-applied them with the new mold. Another inspection from the doctor, and I was done.
Except I wasn't.
After I got home, the first time I took the tray out and looked in a mirror I realized that the attachment on the tooth that had been giving me problems did not line up with the notch in the tray. At all. It was in a different spot, and was a different shape and size. I was very frustrated. If it was any other tooth, I would not have been so worried. But since it was the tooth that caused us to have to completely redo my whole treatment plan, I thought that we had better get it right.
I called and asked to speak to the orthodontist himself. I explained what I saw and he agreed that it should be redone. He said to come on over and they would get me in right away, which they did. When I walked in, the assistant that worked on me the day before gave me a funny look and said, "What are YOU doing here?" It was kind of awkward, but she fixed me up and now I don't have to worry about it.
Two days later, an attachment fell off a bottom tooth. I'm going to just keep an eye on it and have them fix it at my next regular appointment.
OH! One more thing... Since they removed the attachments on my front two upper teeth, I got to see if the whitening I've done permeated the attachment. It did! There is not a darker color where the attachment was, they are evenly white. NICE!
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