Invisalign Treatment Before and After!

December 1, 2021

Sharing my experience getting Invisalign treatment with Dr. Tyler Hales in Southern California!

Have you ever had a pain or discomfort that you just ignored and dealt with? Has this pain ever reached a breaking point where you could not go another day with it? Just like many of you, I answered yes to both these questions, and I have been dealing with both my entire life. This pain resides in my jaw and is called TMJ (“temporomandibular joint”) disorder. I’ve had an issue with my jaw where it pops all day and sometimes the pain would get so bad, that I would get terrible headaches causing me to have mood swings, just ask my husband.

I finally had enough with this TMJ issue and decided to get help. I had a few consultations from different doctors that recommended I get jaw surgery. Although I wanted relief from this pain, I could not muster up the courage to have an invasive surgery that would require our lives to be altered and what’s worse, have my jaw wired shut. So, I went on with the pain for a couple more years until I finally found Dr. Hales at Hales Parker Dentistry in Ladera Ranch. Not only does Hales Parker Dentistry specialize in Invisalign, but they are the leading OC dentists in veneers, dental implants and sleep dentistry.

The Dr. Hales Experience

When I first opened the doors into HPD, I thought I had walked into the wrong office suite. The lobby was decorated very posh and didn’t feel like any dentist office that I had ever been to. I was warmly greeted by the people up front and escorted by Alyssa, Dr. Hales’s Patient Concierge, for my initial appointment. I thought I was going to get my standard cleaning, but it turned out to be something different. Something that I was pleasantly surprised about.

The meeting was a 1-on-1 smile consultation with Alyssa where she went over my concerns with my jaw along with my smile as my teeth slanted forward. From there, they did a detailed scan of not only my teeth/jaw, but my entire head. By scanning my entire head, Dr. Hales and Alyssa were able analyze the structure of my jaw along with my airways. Once I finished the smile consultation, Dr. Hales went through Alyssa’s notes and the scans of my head and created a custom video walking me through his analysis and suggestion for treatment. Dr. Hales recommended that I try Invisalign to help with my TMJ smile and to straighten my teeth, which I excitedly agreed to. Alex also did Invisalign with Dr. Hales!

The Invisalign Process

I had traditional braces growing up, but the Invisalign process was so much easier. After Dr. Hales did the initial scans and I was given my trays, I was ready to start my Invisalign journey! The trays are worn 24/7, except when eating or brushing my teeth and they are switched out to newer trays every week or so. I was surprised how used to them I got, and after 1-2 days I forgot I had them in! After about 6 months, I was finished, which was amazing, and my slanted teeth were now straight and my TMJ pain had been significantly reduced! I know there are other, less expensive clear tray experiences out there, but honestly the amount of care I received during my treatment was nothing like you could get with an online company. I loved that I could DM Dr. Hales with questions or concerns, and he would get back to me almost instantly. That customer service goes along way with me and I appreciate the level of care he and his entire staff gave me.

Giveaway

If you’ve ever wanted to try Invisalign, now is your chance! Click below to enter a giveaway where I’m partnering with Dr. Hales and Hales Parker Dentistry to give one lucky follower and Invisalign treatment!

Click HERE to ENTER!

I am so glad that I found HPD and Dr. Hales. Not only because my TMJ pain has subsided and I love my smile, but I found a local dentist that I trust and an office that I enjoy going to. For questions about Invisalign, veneers, dental implants, or sleep dentistry, click HERE or call (949) 429-0049.

The giveaway will run until 12/5 and the winner will be announced on the Hales Parker Dentistry stories on 12/7. This giveaway is in no way sponsored by Instagram. Good Luck!

Alex’s Experience

At an early age I knew my teeth were far from perfect. I had a very narrow top pallet which required a “jaw widener” before I started the process with braces. I started the process with braces at an orthodontist at the age of 13 and literally dreaded every date of it. The jaw widener made my pallet so wide that it caused me to have a gap between my 2 front teeth. The gap was so wide that I could fit a straw through it. From there, I got braces and hated those even worse. I literally had sores on the inside of my lips for the entire time. So after over a year of hell, I got my braces off and was told I needed to wear a retainer every single night. Being 14 years old, I successfully wore my retainer for 3 months and lost it.

Over time, my top pallet started to narrow out. Not completely back to the way it was but not perfectly straight. Although you would not notice anything wrong with my teeth in person, but the reality is that my bite was out of whack. Given that I had a permanent retainer on my bottom set of teeth, those stayed in place. So, with my top teeth having moved, my front tooth was making contact with my bottom teeth causing my back molars to not settle in place. For example, when I bit down, I was not able to have both sides of my molars to be touching at the same time. So given the contact of my front teeth, I literally had to choose which side I wanted to use for chewing food, etc. Over time, this caused overuse of some of my back molars which would eventually result in me replacing them. Also, not being able to rest my teeth comfortably on each side, I would get bad jaw pain.

Luckily, Katelyn and I connected with Dr. Hales at Hales Parker Dentistry at the perfect time. With his top-of-the-line equipment, he was able to recognize the damage that my misaligned bite was causing and recommended that I tried Invisalign. Being in my 30’s, I was hesitant to get braces and was reluctant to start a process that was going to take 6 months to a year.  But after starting the Invisalign process, I realized how easy and convenient it was. Given that Invisalign is simply a clear retainer, no one could even recognize it. Also, I did not suffer through the pain of constant sores on the inside of my lips as I did with braces. The entire Invisalign process took roughly 1 year which did not seem that long at all. I didn’t mind wearing the retainers and would not have cared to wear them for another 6 months if I had to.

Be sure to head to my Instagram to enter to win your own Invisalign treatment with Dr. Tyler Hales!