The retainer was only for my top teeth (it looked like this), so by the time I got to 10th grade, my bottom teeth had shifted significantly. So I got braces on my bottom teeth, and those stayed on until a week before I graduated from high school. This time I wasn't even given a retainer.
So needless to say, my teeth shifted over the next decade. It was always something I was self-conscious about - I spent so many years trying to fix my teeth that I really noticed other people's teeth, so I guess I was probably hyperaware of how mine looked. Many people tell me that they didn't even notice my crooked lower teeth because I smile without them showing, but I noticed them in every single picture and every time I looked in the mirror. In addition to my crooked teeth, my sister pushed my down a water slide when I was younger which chipped my front tooth, so my left front tooth is half fake. It was always a different color than my other teeth, more opaque, and eventually a different shape.
I grew to smile with my mouth closed - I actually had a really hard time finding a picture with my teeth showing for the picture above! I wanted to fix my teeth, but I was mad that my parents had already paid for braces twice, and that I spent NINE YEARS going to the orthodontist and I still had crooked teeth.
At the beginning of my first year of medical school, I went in for a tooth cleaning at a new dentist's office, and my dentist asked when I was going to have my teeth fixed. I explained I didn't want to go through with braces again at 26 because, well, braces. He gave me some info about Invisalign, and told me to think about. I went home that day and started a new savings account with my bank to start saving with my earnings I made from blogging.
A year later, I made my appointment with my current orthodontist. Here's how the process works, my experiences, and most importantly: my before and after pictures!
