It's definitely something to smile about

I woke up this morning feeling a bit anxious. I had a dentist appointment, my first one in nearly five years, scheduled right after work. Since I became a full-time employee in January that means I got all sorts of wonderful benefits, like insurance. All sorts of insurance: health, dental, life, disability. I was super excited to start using them, most specifically my dental insurance because I had pretty much convinced myself that I was bound to have a cavity, or two, or twelve. None of my teeth hurt, but I was certain that half a decade spent away from the dentist was most definitely going to result in some type of unpleasantness. I don't love going to the dentist (like my littler brother does--she's weird), but I definitely used my being dropped from my parents' insurance at 22 as an excuse to not go because seeing the dentist can be costly and I was a poor college student taking 7 years in college to get a teaching credential :P

I called last Monday and was able to schedule an appointment for today with a dentist literally less than 5 minutes away from my work, one I found after much Yelp-ing. I don't think all the details leading up to and during my appointment are all that interesting so I'll just give you the gist of things.

There was good news and bad news. 

The bad news was my years in between cleanings coupled with my inability to/lack of flossing has led to a bit of gingivitis :( At first I was horribly ashamed and felt super embarrassed until I reminded myself that at least I was trying to get a healthier mouth by going to the dentist :) It's also completely reversible and I'm now well on the way to healthy gums! :) :)

The good news, which most definitely outweighs the bad news, comes in two parts.

1. I am cavity free!! Yay!!

2. And, even MORE exciting than being cavity free, I am most likely a candidate for Invisalign! To me, this is huge. Like, whoa!

I have always hated my crooked smile, even though some people have told me that my teeth are endearing and give me character and make me unique. But when you hail from the land of perfect people like I do, any smile that is less than perfect seems to be unacceptable. I don't think that my smile has ever impeded me as I advance my way through life, but it's something that I've always been self conscious about. And I've always assumed they were awful teeth that could never be straightened by something as amazing as Invisalign. 

I'm happy to report that I am most likely wrong! I keep saying most likely because until my consultation on April 5th has been completed and my data sent to Invisalign, I can't say for certain that Invisalign will be able to correct my smile, but my dentist (who was absolutely amazing) said that he was pretty confident that I'll be able to do the procedure since, apparently and unbeknownst to me, my molars are nicely aligned. This means that the only correction needs to happen in my front teeth, which according to him, is much easier to do with Invisalign than correction of the molars. I'm trying to not get my hopes up too much since there's still a lot that has to be figured out before it's determined whether I'll be getting Invisalign or not, but it's definitely something to smile about :D 

There wasn't really a theme to this post, just an update. And that's ok with me :)