It was a real tortoise vs. hare situation right here at NYCSmile Design! While many patients are so enthused about their makeovers that they can’t wait to get to the finish line, we were relieved that Abha understood that patience is sometimes a virtue—that slower can definitely be better. Abha was born with missing teeth that never formed in her mouth as she grew. And when she was still young and treatment would have been easier, nothing was done to fix the problem. Which, of course, only made it worse. She had no lateral incisor (the tooth next to the front ones) and, as a result her canine tooth (the pointy one on the other side of the missing incisor) had drifted towards the center to fill in the gap. It may have been Mother Nature’s best idea, but It was definitely not an ideal aesthetic solution. More, Abha’s teeth had wide spacing to begin with—so all her teeth were joining the canine in a drift to the center of her mouth, creating an arch that was too narrow.  We knew what to do, and we knew it would take time to do it right. Abha was reassured that the final result would be worth it, and went along with our plan to correct her misaligned teeth with Invisalign. It took 18 months to coax the teeth back to their optimal position. And, when Inivisalign had done its job, we were able to prepare Abha’s teeth for the fine porcelain work that was the final touch for the smile she had always wanted (and never could have had if we’d rushed to the finish line.