u/Complete-Cricket6718

Hi everyone,

I (22F) am wondering whether my four wisdom teeth actually need to be extracted.

For reference, I haven’t had any signs of them coming in other than some swelling on my upper right gums once, but I’m pretty sure that was from starting a new Invisalign tray.

I asked my current dentist, and he said that at the very least I’ll need to remove the bottom two before they mess with the nerve(s), but I’d need the opinion of an oral surgeon.

On the other hand, my old dentist (before I moved away for college) told me that as long as I can brush and floss them properly and they aren’t causing pain or other issues, there’s no reason they have to come out.

I’m honestly pretty hesitant about getting them extracted. My sister had all four removed and had a really rough recovery with significant swelling and a bad reaction during healing. My family also has a history of waking up during procedures under anesthesia, so the idea makes me pretty anxious.

My biggest concern is whether keeping them could eventually ruin my Invisalign results or cause my teeth to shift.

If they’re fully erupted, easy to clean, and not causing pain, is it common to leave them alone? Based on this X-ray, do mine look like they’re likely to cause problems in the future? When do I know to keep/ remove them since I haven’t seen or felt them thus far?

Thank you!

Let me preface this by saying these are not my shrimp!

My boyfriend has a 5-gallon tank with a few neocaridina shrimp and one old, super chill (and half-blind) betta. A few days ago he did about a 30% water change because of excess biofilm/algae and swapped part of the substrate over to Fluval Stratum.

While he was doing that, I noticed one of the shrimp (the one in this video) was berried, which was a nice surprise since it’s her first time! She’s a relatively young blue shrimp with reddish patches (not rust) and has been doing well up until today.

Half an hour ago I noticed she’s wedged herself into the grooves of the filter. She isn’t actually stuck - I gently moved the filter with a bamboo skewer (was putting in some blanched carrots for them lol) and she just backed up a little before settling right back in. I know she’s fanning her eggs in the video, but something about her just looks off to me.

As far as I know, the water parameters have been good since the changes, and the other shrimp are acting completely normal (one even molted today), which makes me wonder if this is just normal berried shrimp behavior.

Does she look okay? Are the eggs supposed to be that grayish-brown color? Is there any reason she’d choose to wedge herself in the filter like this, or is she just looking for a safe place to fan her eggs?

Thanks for your help guys!

Is palate/arch expansion in adulthood from Invisalign possible?

I’m trying to understand my options before my next refinement round, which I have an appointment for in a week.

Photos I’m attaching:

- Current palate + smile/teeth (post-first round, which took a year and a half) 1-3
- Before first round of Invisalign 4
- Childhood (after expander and braces) 5-6

For context, I had a palate expander and braces as a kid, but never wore my retainer + bad habits so I had crowding over time - which led me to do Invisalign as an adult. I’ve also never had any teeth pulled, and my wisdom teeth haven’t come in, if that matters.

I’m getting this second round mostly to straighten things a bit more, and my ortho wants to tweak my bite by pulling the back teeth down with bands (I guess I tend to rest more on my front teeth, but I haven’t had any pain or TMJ symptoms).

Lately, I’ve been learning about how palate width relates to crowding (which I’m scared of happening again post-treatment) and I’m trying to understand how it all applies to my own case.

Questions:

Does it look like my arch has actually expanded at all over time?

Would it even make sense to ask my orthodontist to also focus this refinement round on further arch widening? Is that even possible?

Just trying to learn what’s realistic before my appointment. Thanks guys!

Has anyone here seen actual palate/arch expansion in adulthood from Invisalign? Is it even possible?

I’m trying to understand my options before my next refinement round, which I have an appointment for in a week.

Photos I’m attaching:

- Current palate + smile/teeth (post-first round, which took a year and a half) 1-3
- Before first round of Invisalign (yikes) 4
- Childhood (after expander and braces) 5-6

For context, I had a palate expander (clearly didn’t do much) and braces as a kid, but never wore my retainer + bad myo habits so I had crowding over time - which led me to do Invisalign as an adult. I’ve never had any teeth pulled, and my wisdom teeth haven’t come in.

I’m getting this second round mostly to straighten things a bit more, and my ortho wants to tweak my bite by pulling the back teeth down with bands (I guess I tend to rest more on my front teeth, but I haven’t had any pain or TMJ symptoms).

Lately, I’ve been learning about palate width, arch development, and relapse patterns after orthodontic treatment, and I’m trying to understand how it all applies to my own case.

Questions:

Does it look like my arch has actually expanded at all over time?

Can Invisalign meaningfully expand the arch in adults?

Would it even make sense to ask my orthodontist to also focus this refinement round on further arch widening?

Just trying to learn what’s realistic before my appointment. Thanks guys!