Current Events > So I joined Smile Direct Club

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My mom took me to the dentist exactly 2 times as a child. As a result, I've had crowding in my bottom front teeth for as long as I can remember. My grandma died at the dentist office, likely due to having issues with her heart and her being so nervous or scared or something. Mom has always hated dentists because of that. When I told her I was having all of my wisdom teeth removed almost 2 years ago, she FREAKED OUT. I told her not to come to the dentist office. I don't mind doctors or needles or anything. My mom gets super nervous if she's in the room and that makes me get nervous.

They sent me a kit to make 4 molds of my teeth (2 for the top and 2 for the bottom) a while back. I sent that back to them and sent them pictures of the front, top, and bottom.

They sent me another kit with 22 sets of aligners. I'm supposed to wear each set for 1 week, ideally for 22 hours per day if possible. I'm on the 2nd set now.

AMA

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boxers or briefs (or other)?

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jmikla posted...

boxers or briefs (or other)?

I used to be 100% boxers, but I've been trying out boxer briefs recently.

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Im surprised you dont have more issues if you only went twice as a child. nice work keeping up on your teeth

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Aren't these and invisalign worse than regular braces?

I just heard that I don't know if it's actually true >_>

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Weezy_Tha_Don posted...

Im surprised you dont have more issues if you only went twice as a child. nice work keeping up on your teeth

Yeah, same... I went to the dentist for the first time myself a couple years ago when I was having pain because one of my wisdom teeth was impacted... They said my teeth were in pretty good shape and I only had 2 cavities. Got those filled, all 4 wisdom teeth removed, and a crown on the tooth that was damaged.

No more issues since then and that was around August - October of 2018.

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Damn_Underscore posted...

Aren't these and invisalign worse than regular braces?

I just heard that I don't know if it's actually true >_>

I don't know. I ordered retainers as well so that my teeth will stay in place after I'm done with the process. There are reports of teeth shifting around after being done with the ~5 - 6 month process if you don't use a retainer.

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My wife is a dental hygienist and the near consensus in the dental community is that things like smile direct do not work well

you should work with a dentist/orthodontist

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I just joined smile direct last week, my retainers are on their way. I hope they work

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TheGoldenEel posted...

My wife is a dental hygienist and the near consensus in the dental community is that things like smile direct do not work well

you should work with a dentist/orthodontist

I've talked to someone who had really good results from it, so I'm trying it out. I'll just have to see what happens for me.

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CableZL posted...

I've talked to someone who had really good results from it, so I'm trying it out. I'll just have to see what happens for me.

Essentially what it comes down to, is some people have mouths that are good candidates for what smile direct club does, so it works for them

but many people do not. In real orthodontics you would be being monitored regularly by a doctor who can make sure everything is working well and adjust as necessary

what smile direct does is put the onus on YOU to know what amount of pain is the right amount of pain for orthodontics, and to make sure your bite/jaw isnt getting fucked up

Im pretty sure if you look over your agreement with them you have to agree that youve been to the dentist in the past few months. Ideally you should be visiting the dentist in conjunction with this treatment

so I guess just know that there are risks to this. If it sounds too good to be true, well...

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My friend used Invisalign and they worked VERY well. Is smile direct similar?

Happy for ya, man. I was super self conscious of my awful teeth all the way through high school. Finally agreed to get braces and fix my teeth, and confidence instantly jumped up because of it.

A nice smile leaves great first impressions, lets be real. Yes, its shallow. But thats the world we live in.

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Do braces fix your teeth faster than invisalign? I have some crowding going on in my bottom teeth that I'm a little worried might cause problems down the line.

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TheGoldenEel posted...

Essentially what it comes down to, is some people have mouths that are good candidates for what smile direct club does, so it works for them

but many people do not. In real orthodontics you would be being monitored regularly by a doctor who can make sure everything is working well and adjust as necessary

what smile direct does is put the onus on YOU to know what amount of pain is the right amount of pain for orthodontics, and to make sure your bite/jaw isnt getting fucked up

Im pretty sure if you look over your agreement with them you have to agree that youve been to the dentist in the past few months. Ideally you should be visiting the dentist in conjunction with this treatment

so I guess just know that there are risks to this. If it sounds too good to be true, well...

I see. The only time I've felt any pain at all with this is the first few days of putting the bottom aligners in and it was mostly just discomfort and a slight amount of pain that goes away after a few minutes. The last 3 days of using the 1st set of aligners didn't hurt at all, so I'm assuming that means my teeth are adjusting properly.

We'll see. Thanks for the info, though.

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