Category: wellness

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invisalign

I recently completed the invisalign process and wanted to give a shout out to my dentist, Dr. Rebecca Paglia.

I went to Align Dental in Back Bay, which had excellent service. This from me is high praise. I am that person who does not hesitate to call customer service and complain. I was a particular and demanding patient, and they handled that well. If you are looking into invisalign in Boston I recommend them.

There was nothing especially wrong with my teeth before, some slight spacing and crookedness, but there was a generous groupon for Align Dental and I needed to do something about the fact that I grind my teeth in my sleep. This was more expensive than a professional mouth guard but have you seen those things? I predicted a future of never wearing a mouth guard but with the retainer I am diligent. It was also in line with my general goal of improving the self, bit by bit.

Let’s see…a photo of my teeth before…

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Eh. It’s hard to see…it’s challenging to find pictures I like of myself smiling with teeth. So often it goes awry and is some horrible half-smile. The slightest laziness or hesitance on my part and the smile is doomed.

[tangent: Then, too, I rebel against the American ordinance to smile for photos, and to smile in general, which I find oppressive in its ubiquity. I smile when I please. The smile does not suit all occasions, nor would I want it to. We all have an image of the perpetual smile, and that is the image of the madman.]

That’s Marianne. Isn’t she cute?

It’s not so obvious for people who don’t know me well, a lot of people never noticed that I was doing invisalign at all (I found this so hard to believe but it is true), but for me, knowing my own face so well, the change was dramatic. Not only how the teeth looked but how the shape of my mouth looked as the teeth closed ranks. A face is not a very large sort of thing…small changes have an impact.

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I don’t expect you to see the difference really but, well. I tried.

I am so pleased with the results and so glad to have made the investment. Teeth, such important indicators of health, are well worth investing in. I completed the treatment in about 12 months and, while it required a fair amount of effort, attentiveness, sacrifice (difficult to eat in public, sometimes, no snacking), and discomfort (if not, on occasion, pain), it was so worthwhile. The level of preoccupation* results in great oral hygiene and establishes good habits. The teeth are healthier and do, I think, look nicer.

*Isn’t it strange that teeth will, in the absence of the retainer, migrate back to their original positions? Even many years later? I am baffled by this. Why should this be?

I’m still getting used to the new look myself.

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smell this: Estée Lauder Bronze Goddess body oil spray

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Estée Lauder’s Bronze Goddess fragrance has been coming up in a lot of lists of best summer fragrances*, and I am in complete agreement, particularly wrt the body oil spray (which I find richer and longer lasting than the eau fraîche skinscent). This is summer in a bottle. Imagine a nostalgic suntan lotion smell–an old school Coppertone kind of smell–then remove all of the harsh-smelling chemical elements, amp up the coconut, and add a summer flower bouquet. What you get is a creamy base of coconut and vanilla (kept from being too sweet with some subtle vetiver and sandalwood) layered with a variety of citruses, lavender, and delicate white florals: jasmine, magnolia, orange blossom**.

*This one being the best I’ve seen. I am so often in agreement with Guardian beauty columnist Sali Hughes. Her videos are great, too, extremely knowledgeable and well researched. And sensible. I like sensible people.

**You can see all the notes and more on basenotes, which is a great resource if you’re not already familiar.

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They re-release it every summer with the Bronze Goddess collection so the packaging and formula may vary slightly from one year to another. I have smelled it the last four years running, though, and it always smells great (and essentially the same) to me.

There is nothing heavy-handed about this. It is light, effortless, sunny and fantastic. The notes that really stand out on me are coconut, vanilla/amber, and jasmine, all with the lightness that indicates citrus, too, without feeling explicitly like citrus at any given moment. Be warned that it does smell rather like suntan lotion, only really luxurious suntan lotion. I like the smell of suntan lotion anyway. It may smell different on you (some report a cheap vanilla ice cream effect, try everything on your skin first), and for some it’s not interesting enough…but who cares about smelling interesting if you already smell great? I like a complex scent as much as the next perfume maven but there is something to be said for smelling, simply, good.