My Invisalign Journey at i.Dentalsg (Invisalign Review)

It has been more than a week since I'd received my very first set of Invisalign aligners, and I feel great about them! I've wanted to go on this journey for quite some time now because I've always been envious of celebrities with perfectly straight teeth. For example, check out Miley Cyrus's teeth before and after she had some help straightening them. I want to feel just as confident as she is with her teeth, and I can't wait to finally get to that stage by early next year, if everything goes well. 

I've always acknowledge the importance of a great smile, I think that the quality of one's teeth reflects on their personality and habits. It always feels nice to look at someone with a perfect smile right? It shows that they put in extra time and effort to clean and polish their pearly whites.

"All other things being equal, job candidates with straight teeth are seen as 45 percent more likely to get hired than those with crooked teeth, according to Kelton Research." - http://www.marieclaire.com/beauty/a7895/the-get-ahead-grin/

I'd mentioned before that us Singaporeans, probably don't fancy frequent dental visits due to our poor experience in the past, while we were still kids in primary school. But we're all grown up now, and I feel it's time to embrace the fact that we do need to visit a dentist regularly to keep our teeth health in check. You might think that you're doing fine and that visiting a dentist is a waste of time, but you're wrong. Teeth problems manifest gradually, so you won't be able to feel any effect until it's too late. Measures taken to solve those issues later on might be very costly. So why not pay regular visits to prevent them from happening instead?:)

Alike most of my peers, I haven't gone for a dental check up since primary school. That's about 8 years ago! I gave my teeth that much amount of time to shift into an undesirable shape, and have been brushing my teeth the wrong way, so much so that I now have a receding gum line. All of those could have been prevented earlier if I had gone to a dentist. But it's never too late to kick away the bad habits and straighten my teeth before it gets worst. 

 Personally, I thought the main problem I faced was just the crooked lower set caused by overcrowding. This is a very common problem that occurs in most of our teeth. Why don't you check yours to see if you're suffering from it as well? Since it's a common issue that most people face, I didn't feel that bad about my teeth at all. Little did I know that I have even more problems that I wasn't aware of, which I will explain further later on.

I also have a problem with the upper right side of my teeth which causes an uneven smile. It's not that obvious in real life but ever since I ventured into acting, I can't hide it from the camera, and it has become quite an eye sore. Just look at how obvious it was in this Sunsilk commercial! It looked as though I had a missing tooth :( Ever since that commercial, I've become less confident of my smile, and I don't want it to affect future assignments too. I can't possibly hide that side of my teeth away from the camera since my line of work requires me to be versatile :(

I knew it had to fix my teeth! Hence, I decided to get Invisalign instead of traditional braces because it's obviously much more aesthetically pleasing to the eye, since it's invisible, which is great so that I can go about modelling and acting without it interfering! If you're interested to know more about Invisalign, continue reading, I'll talk more about its advantages later on.

Apart from overcrowding, here are some of the other problems patients may face. All of which, whether they're minor or complicated, can be corrected with Invisalign. The following image was taken at the i.Dental Invisalign talk, where I learnt about the purpose of Invisalign.

Invisalign is able to correct not just your teeth, but the shape of your jawline as well. This goes to show that not everything should be solved by plastic surgery, botox or fillers. If you think your jawline can be improved to look more aesthetically pleasing, maybe the problem lies in your teeth instead.

Do you recognise any of the following problems with your teeth? 

To be honest, I felt extremely nervous during first check up at i.Dental. I was expecting it to be as dreadful (and somewhat painful) as my check ups in primary school. I wrote about how rough the school nurse was in handling my teeth in this blog post here. But that wasn't the case at all at i.Dental. The Invisalign Dedicated Clinic had an optimistic atmosphere that immediately made me feel a lot calmer. The television depicted videos on how Invisalign can change your life for the better, and that made me even more excited to start my journey. I felt so encouraged that the fear just slipped by eventually.

Dr. Cheng, the founder of all i.Dental clinics, is an extremely experienced dentist who has helped improved smiles and shaped facial features for thousands of patients over 20 years. I posted a photo of him on my Instagram once and received a couple of comments saying things like "My childhood dentist." or "Same dentist as me!". My friend Ashleigh who has perfectly straight teeth also commented - "My dentist who did my braces!!!!". I knew immediately that I was in good hands.

Apart from his professionalism and expertise, Dr. Cheng is a very humorous dentist. Thanks to his easy going nature, I didn't feel stressed out or nervous at all. He filled the dental room with joy and laughter, it's no wonder the nurses and staffs at i.Dental always have bright smiles on their faces. It's an optimistic place to be in!:) 

Once the initial check with Dr. Cheng has been made, I was transferred to a different dental room. Here, study models and 2D photos of my teeth were taken. It was a fuss free process where I had to simply lie back and relax while the professionals took over.

And with that, the first consultation came to an end. On the second visit, which was less than a week later, I met up with Dr. Cheng who diagnosed my problems and came up with solutions to solve them. This was when I found out about problems I never knew I had before.

I found out that not only do I have an overcrowding lower set of teeth, I had a slight overbite on the upper set as well. In case you're wondering, overbite, in layman's term is called buck teeth! The problem might not be very visible at the moment, but if I don't do anything now to fix it, my condition will get worst over time. I don't want to grow old with an even more pronounced buck teeth, that will also change my facial features along the way! Hopefully, Invisalign will be able to push my front upper teeth back into its rightful position :)

Apart from those issues, I also have a protruding tooth (premolar) on the upper right of my gum-line, causing an uneven smile. This is the reason why I only take photos from my left profile, but now that I've ventured into acting, I can no longer hide that flaw on camera. Hopefully, I'll be able to take pictures from any angle by the end of my Invisalign journey.

Other problems I'm facing includes a receding gum line, as mentioned earlier. This is due to wrong brushing techniques. Apparently, I've been brushing my teeth too hard, causing my gums to recede, thus exposing the roots! No wonder I've been experiencing sensitivity in recent years. I can no longer bite into an ice cream without feeling discomfort :( This issue can be quite a dangerous one if I don't change my brushing techniques. With the roots exposed, I may lose my teeth earlier than I should in future. Everyone, please brush your teeth gently with a soft bristle toothbrush.

I always kinda knew that my wisdom teeth were growing, since one of which is constantly giving me problems. But I never had my condition diagnose until my visit with i.Dental. The X-ray scans I've undergone to further access the structure of my jaw showed a clear image of all my wisdom teeth. It was the first time I actually got to chance to take a good look at them. 

I guess they're all looking fine except for one little guy at the bottom right of my jaw. To my horror, it is growing in a horizontal direction towards the rest of my teeth. This is what we call an imparted wisdom tooth, also known as the worst case scenario :( Why must this happen to me?!

Once the problems have been identified and analysed, it was time for cleaning! Final moulds that would shape my Invisalign aligners were then taken.

About a month later, the big day arrived!!! I finally received my very first set of Invisalign aligners on 6th April 2015. I've been waiting anxiously for this day to come because I'm so excited to straighten my teeth. 

Watching one last animation showing how my teeth will look like at every stage of the the treatment, and how they would move into their desirable position over time.

You can watch the video here too!

The procedure felt like a celebration when the aligners fitted well into my mouth. It felt a little weird to have something foreign stuck onto my teeth for the first time. That was when reality sunk in and from that moment on, I knew I had an extra responsibility to take care of an extra part of me - my aligners. 

Wearing the aligners are super easy! You just have to place them at the right spot and push them in like how you would wear a hat or shoe. Taking them off for the first time was quite a challenge since aligners naturally feel tighter at the start of the treatment, but Dr. Cheng was very patient in guiding me on how to do it in a safe and gentle way. About two weeks into the treatment now, and I am a pro at wearing them and taking them off. I can even do it with my eyes closed! hehehe.

Apart from teaching me how to wear the aligners, Dr. Cheng briefed me on how to take care of them and gave me some tips on how I can attain an even more enjoyable Invisalign experience. I was so eager to head home, brush my teeth and put them on!

Finally, I was directed to my Invisalign Relationship Manager, Ms. Angie who gave me a thorough run through on what I have to know about my new set of aligners. The instructions seemed a little complicated at first when I heard them but it only took me 3 days to get use to it. 

Some of the things I have to do includes taking off the aligners before I eat, and bringing my toothbrush and tooth paste along with me wherever I go, because I am required to brush my teeth every time before I put the aligners back on after eating. It may seem like a chore but once you get used to it, these steps become second nature.

Thank you so much Dr. Cheng and Ms. Angie for your help! <3

I've been wearing my aligners ever so diligently over the past 2 weeks! I didn't think I would get use to them at first since my speech was a little affected, I couldn't enunciate certain letters well, and I couldn't portray certain expressions as natural as how I used to be able to. But as time went by, I've learnt how to work around my aligners and everything is almost back to normal again! In fact, I actually feel naked without them now. hahaha.

I carry my Confidence Starter Kit everyday with me now! It contains all the essential tools I need to use on a daily basis. Some of such tools include a case to store my aligners while I eat, toothbrush and toothpaste for cleaning and a nail file to smoothen out any rough edges of the aligners. Thank you i.Dental for going the extra mile to help all Invisalign patients like myself enjoy our journey a little more. With all my necessities kept in one pouch, I don’t have to worry about losing anything!

Photos from my recent advertorial shoot, I bet you can't tell that I have my Invisalign aligners on!:) It's great fun being able to do what I do best, while secretly straightening my teeth at the same time, without anyone knowing at all! I almost don't feel the aligners at all, some times to the extend of forgetting that I'm even wearing them. In fact, wearing them gives me some sort of comfort, knowing that I'm on my way to achieving my dream smile soon.

And that's it! If you wish to consult a dentist and have your teeth evaluated, I highly recommend trying i.Dental out. There are only a few clinics out there that provides Invisalign treatment. All Invisalign Providers must attend and complete specialised training in order to treat patients with Invisalign. There is no better place to get it done than at i.Dental, an Invisalign Dedicated Clinic.

There are several i.Dental clinics in Singapore but the one specialising in Invisalign is located at 

168 Robinson Road

Capital Tower #09-13

Singapore 068912

To make an appointment, call 6323 2813

For more information, head over to their website at 

http://www.idental.com.sg/

Nearest MRT Station: Tanjong Pagar (EW15)

Thank you all for reading! Cheers to perfect teeth ahead!:))