Smile Direct Club Review - 1/3 through the treatment

It's been awhile since I've updated my progress with my treatment with Smile Direct Club (aka Smile Care Club). I am currently on my 7th tray since I've started in late July.

First of all, the "Feeling" of the difference is actually bigger than what you see at this point. I constantly feel my teeth move, even after taking off the trays for an hour for meals. I feel more of the shift of my teeth especially when I change trays every 3 weeks. This constant shift did not give me much pain or discomfort honestly as I already got used to wearing the trays (in fact, I sometimes feel uncomfortable when I'm not wearing them).
As you've noticed, I have a big stick-out tooth on my upper teeth. I used to not be able to feel the back of that tooth before my treatment. The teeth next to that stick-out teeth are so crowded that it did not create any gap at the back. (You may see it better through my treatment plan in my earlier posts). But now, I am starting to feel the space between the teeth and I could actually feel the back of that stick-out tooth. It feels good to know that I could finally brush a little bit of that tooth. And flossing has been so much easier.
If you look closely, you may also see the tooth next to my stick-out tooth are straighter than before.
I also noticed that the bottom teeth are becoming less crowded as I can see bigger gaps between the front bottom teeth. Food tends to get trapped more easily in those wider gaps though.

I review the treatment plan that they gave me at the beginning of the treatment and it does seem my treatment is going on track without any delays.
So far, I encounter no trouble inserting or moving on to the next trays. The transition is always smooth.
There would be some discomfort at first. And some of the times, there would be minor issues, for example, one tiny part of the tray would be too sharp that hurts my gum a little bit. I usually get used to it after a 3-4 days and forget about it. I also find it helpful to smooth out the edges a little bit (but they usually don't help much).
However, compare to the constant pain and discomfort that traditional braces has given me, the discomfort I'm feeling through this treatment is minimal and very much bearable.

Here are a few things that I've learned so far and I hope this will help as you may consider going through this journey as well:

1) I always carry my toothbrush and toothpaste with me, but so far I had actually never used it due to my job nature. What I find useful is FLOSSING and MOUTHWASH! I floss every single time after I eat and I only brush my teeth in the morning and night. I've went to the dentist last month and we found not cavity and in fact, the health of my gums actually got improved. SO FLOSS regardless!
Side Note: I also drink sweet drinks on top of water while wearing the trays. Can't resist!

2) After wearing the first few trays, the dirt actually get piled up quite easily even brushing the trays with soap doesn't remove the stains. So after brushing gently with soap, I would soak these trays into Retainer Brite for 15 minutes during my shower. They make the trays looking like 90% brand new (There would still be some stains sometimes but it hardly noticeable). I've also tried it without brushing and soap but the stains are more visible. I normally use Retainer Brite every day or every other day. I purchased these on Amazon.

3) As you may see, my teeth are kind of yellow since I drink a lot of tea and coffee. And I mostly drink it with my trays on. So I purchased the Sonicare Flexcare Whitening Toothbrush on Black Friday at Costco, and I loved it! I've used Sonicare Toothbrush since 8 years ago and have been using the same one since (I'm surprised at how long it lasted for me too since my mom had changed 3-4 toothbrushes already during the same period of time). But it finally starting to die recently so I just wanted to try something new. The whitening function was out of my expectation which actually made my teeth whiter than before. I've used it for about 2 weeks so far. I will update how I feel about it again in the near future after a longer use.
I intend to use the whitening gels that came with the SDC treatment towards the end of my treatment.

4) One of the best thing about wearing these trays is that my husband no longer complains I'm grinding my teeth during my sleep. I know I grind my teeth real hard during my sleep because my jaw is always very tense. I even bite my teeth hard sometimes when I'm working. My husband said he did not hear my grind my teeth anymore since I've started my treatment. I guess I'll be wearing a mouth guard or retainer for the rest of my life. LOL

So here are my thoughts so far. I will update again maybe when I'm half way through my treatment.
Thanks for reading. Happy Holidays!


Disclaimer: I am not associated with any brands I've mentioned above. None of these companies paid me to write this review.

Smile Direct Club - First Tray Finally Received!

 

So after a very long wait (basically a month), I have finally received my first three trays. I honestly do not understand why the wait has to be this long. I was prompted that my second payment will be processed shortly the day I've received these trays. I almost forgot I was going to go through this treatment.

Oh well, for those who wondered if I was still wearing my starter trays until I've received my first one, the answer is NO. Not for the reason that they are uncomfortable, nor I was lazy. It was simply because it broke after wearing them for 10 days. There was a crack on the upper tray where my crowded tooth sticks out. I contacted SCC's customer representative online (through live chat), this was really interesting. The person told me that I did not have to wear the starter tray anymore if they broke because it was just to confirm fit and it would not move my teeth. But I've experienced a different bite after wearing them for 1 night. I've talked to another experienced representative expert through email before and he told me that it is completely normal that I will feel my teeth moved. 

After telling the representative that, her response was "Interesting". I mean, she just literally replied "Interesting". I was so surprised the way she didn't know what she was doing.  So I asked her if the first trays that I will be made by the same materials and if they would break so easily like the starter ones. She said the material are basically the same. So I was concerned whether I need to keep wearing this broken one and when would they send me the first tray. She said I did not need to wear them until the first tray. But my treatment plan says that I need to wear the starter trays for 3 weeks?

Being so confused, I just told her that she and her other fellow coworkers must get more training on how to reply their customers. Obviously, I feel like they have a lack of coherent answers and I do not know who to trust. Then she said "okay" and logged off on me, in other words, she closed my chat without even saying any goodbye. This is just very polite as a customer service. :(

Anyways, I've read other comments saying that it is not necessary to keep wearing the starter trays. If you continue to wear them, you can keep your teeth in the same position without moving and get yourself ready for the real trays. 

I was excited to see my first tray and I was happy to see that they are made with a harder and thicker material than the starter tray. They are also much tighter which mean my teeth are going to shift. Knowing that this will be a long battle (14 months long), I need to get myself ready for it. So I'd like to share my gear that I bring with me each day to work.

Bought a pouch from Daiso. 1 travel size bottle of Scope. 1 travel size toothpaste (which I don't think I would actually use). 1 travel toothbrush (you can fold it and make it shorter and handy). Several pieces of flossing toothpick. The travel size case that they give you. And one small bowl.

Due to work, I am always on the road and won't be able to find a bathroom very often. I figured I won't be able to brush my teeth between meals all the time. So I floss my teeth and rinse my mouth with scope instead. It actually does pretty well. And I brush my teeth the first thing I go home and make sure I rinse my trays with mild soap. I figured brushing them might be too harsh for it because I did that with my starter tray and it broke.

Another tip is to be very gentle when you put them on and off. Make sure you are not using brutal force to take them out and you're not biting down when trying to fit it in.
The small bowl I carry with me is to put them in and rinse them with water when I'm on the road so I can put them back on after my meal in the car.

When they mailed me these 3 sets of trays, they also gave me another pack of teeth whitening gel (5 tubes in total) and 2 new chewies and a new outie. I hope they will keep sending these as they send me new trays.
I'm also using the colgate whitening pen every 2 nights before I sleep to try to whiten my teeth. I am saving those whitening gels towards the end of my treatment.

Will keep updating after I'm done with my first tray. Thank you for reading.

Smile Direct Club - Treatment Plan Received

After wearing the starter trays for a week, I finally received my treatment plan.
I received a pdf file which you can "play" like a video. It starts with the starter tray and continues to move through each tray until the final result.
At first, I was looking at it through my phone so I didn't doodle around the file. I immediately "live chat" one of the representatives expressing my concerns with my top teeth.
As you may tell from the front view, the "stick out" tooth on the top did get straightened but it seems it's still sticking out a little. My concern is I won't be able to brush the back part of my tooth, then I  will completely lost all the purpose of going through this treatment.
After talking to 2 representatives, requesting for a "side view" of the treatment plan, I was informed that I cannot view the treatment side ways. If I need further assistance I will have to call their customer care specialist.

So I called them and immediately was informed that I can doodle the pdf file to look at the side-view of the treatment, and so as the top and bottom view. I was more relieved afterwards that the stick-out tooth doesn't really stick that much and it does align better with my other tooth. But it would still be tilted sideways.
The helpful customer representative said he could consult the doctors there to see if there is anything they are do to fix that, but unfortunately, they couldn't do anything with it. It would require traditional treatment and I'll be looking at $5000 cost for the treatment (which I would not prefer to pay and this was the reason for trying SCC).

This customer representative was actually very helpful and answered all my questions and my concerns. I told him I was having trouble with the views since I was looking at the treatment plan through my phone, he even recorded a video of all the views through his computer and send it to my email immediately.

After thinking this through for the night, I decide to give it a try even though that tooth would still be tilted. The bottom one looks great though. And I hope the stick-out tooth would not be so visible anymore and that I would be able to brush the back of it because right now I am not able to brush the back of that at all.

My other concern would be the bite though. After wearing my starter tray and my teeth have been moved, my bite is very different now that I can't grind anything with my molars. It definitely feels different but I would see how the treatment goes and express my concern maybe in the middle of the treatment if it is still not corrected.

The treatment will include 20 sets of trays and it would last 14 months in total, changing each set of trays for every 3 weeks.
The total treatment cost is $1500 included $100 discount that they automatically included for me so it comes out with $1400. 

I will keep updating. Wish me luck! :)

Smile Direct Club Process & Review

I know it's been a very very long time since I've updated my blog. But I've decided to update again with my process and review with Smile Direct Club.

Like many of you, I am very skeptical about this whole fix-your-teeth-without-an-orthodontist thing (and I am still very skeptical). I've been doing a lot of research before diving into this process. There are a lot of good and bad feedbacks. To summarize what I've read so far, the good goes to the result of the treatment, and the bad goes to the customer service. I'll be updating and keep you guys posted and hope this will also help you with your decision in doing this treatment or not.

MY TEETH BACKGROUND

I had done the tradition metal braces when I was 11. After the 2 years of painful treatment (while entering puberty), I decide to not wear my retainers because I hate how it bothers my sleep. I also hate how gross it is to have to take it out everytime before lunch and put it back on afterwards (I considered it NOT COOL and time-consuming at that time).
So as you may guess, my teeth moved around, and the worst thing is, it moved DRASTICALLY.

I had a complicated issue with my teeth because one of my tooth was hiding above my two front teeth and wouldn't come out. My orthodontist had to do a surgery and pull that tooth back to its place. That tooth that is not supposed to be there had gotten out of placement since I didn't wear my retainer. As you can see the picture below, my upper teeth has a huge crowding issue with that tooth step out of its zone.
Moreover, the wisdom teeth growing made crowding worse and that's why my bottom teeth starts shifting too (my bottom wisdom teeth was huge and lying flat but I got them removed last year).

SMILE DIRECT CLUB OR NOT?

I came across SDC through Groupon and since then keep seeing the ads on my facebook and google.

After some research, and looking at the prices of invisalign done at an orthodontist, I decided to order a kit and give it a try. 

The impression kit was $49 at Groupon at the time. 

I received it and immediately took the impressions. I've read the instructions on youtube and the booklet few times before I've done it. I was pretty sure I did a pretty good impression. The process was very uncomfortable though. I hated the texture of that putty and wanted to throw up during the process. I recommend you NOT to eat anything prior taking your impression kit.

I asked my husband to send the kit back the next day.

(Small incident here: Fedex would not allow me to send the package because obviously I've taken out all the base and catalyst and including that holder cup inside the box. My impression was moving around inside the box. BAD IDEA! The person asked my husband to purchase a bubble wrap and put it in before shipping).

I received an email saying that my impression kit was received and that the results will be available in the next few days.

Then it says my IMPRESSIONS WERE BAD. 

I emailed the customer service asking them to explain to me which part of the impressions were bad and if they could take pictures so I may understand what's going wrong.

They refuse to do so and just told me that the impression didn't capture my gumline. (But I was pretty sure I did bit all the way down).

After sending the email back and forth for about a month (I was also traveling), they suggested me to use the larger trays to take the impression for another $49 and promised that if this impression goes well, this $49 will go towards my treatment cost. I decide to give it another try.

And while I was waiting for my second impression kit, I received an email saying that my $49 can be refunded because they wanted me to consider SDC again. So I asked them for a refund. :)

Larger Trays

OMG! Doing the larger trays is SO MUCH MORE painful than the regular one. My mouth is actually very small while my teeth is kind of big. I can't even fit the tray inside my mouth with the putty in it.

With the time limit (they require you to mix the putty and put it into your mouth within 60 sec), I was having so much hard time. 

I was tearing the whole time when I was doing the impression, and wanted to throw up more times.

After doing this, the corner of my lips was bleeding for 2 weeks!

But this time I managed to take some pictures of the impression before sending them so I can let them know what I did if they say my impression was bad again.

After about 3 weeks, I got an email saying that my impression has been accepted and that my starter tray will be sent to me soon.

Starter Trays

When I received my starter trays, I was very excited to try them on. But I was also very confused because it did not come with any instructions. This is what it came with:

1. Starter Trays (1 for upper teeth, 1 for lower teeth)

2. 1x Outie tool

3. 2x Chewies

4. Whitening gel

5. 1x Case

I googled and found a pdf file of instructions regarding starter trays. So I read through it and followed this instructions instead. Meanwhile, I emailed SDC customer service and asked them how to use these things. The next morning I also called them to "confirm" that my starter tray fits. But it seems like they no longer require customers to call them anymore because that person did not even bother to take my name or phont number when I said I want to confrim.

https://smiledirectclub.com/static/lib/downloads/pdf/sdc-starter-tray-guide.pdf

First Day Wearing My Starter Tray. Very Excited

After Wearing the starter tray for a day. This is how bad my teeth looks. Let's hope to see a huge difference after the treatment

Thoughts so far:

I'm wearing my starter trays for a day now. Here are some of my thoughts:

- It fits perfectly. I didn't have trouble putting them in. They did not wiggle. 

They do have like 0.1mm space between my teeth and the aligner but the 
customer service representative assured that this was normal.

- I actually had a hard time taking my upper trays off my teeth. 
I can't do it without my outie tool. I think it was because of the shape of my bumped out tooth

- After wearing them several hours, I can already feel my teeth moved. 
My bite is different and they are not aligned.

- Talking with these trays are tiring and difficult. I am not pronouncing words right.

The worse thing is I had to teach so I tend to speak a lot. 
Moving my jaw was very tiring because I am so conscious about these trays being in my teeth 
and I need to project words clearly.

I had to massage my jaws after the day.

- I am still trying to figure out how am I going to take these trays out of my home 
and brush my teeth after meals.

I commute to work and I work at multiple locations. I usually have lunch in my car while I'm driving. 
I can't imaging brushing my teeth in my car at this moment.

I may have to find a bathroom everytime before I go to my next appointment, 
but this is going to be very hectic. 

I will be updating once an awhile with my progress in this treatment. 
As of today, I still did not receive my treatment plan.
Please feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you think about 
SDC and let's help each other out here! Feel free to ask me any questions as well.
:)