Tray 4

Tray 4 wasn’t (isn’t) nearly as aggressive as tray 3 was. This one has very little aching associated with it at all. It had consistent tight pressure the first week, but no soreness to speak of. I am the 3^rd day into week 2 and they feel quite loose and at times I have air whistling through them when I speak. It’s a tad irritating because it’s hard to speak when it does that and I have to stop to take a sip of water. The issue I had after getting my attachments placed (upper tooth hitting attachment on lower tooth making it difficult to chew properly) has corrected itself. By way of my teeth moving, or possibly getting filed down a little over time as I ate or maybe I just got used to it, but nevertheless I no longer think about it or have issues chewing. I have noticed a slight yellowing of on the upper aligner on the molars. Strange that it is only the uppers. I have a theory that it is the Scope mouthwash spray I use here or there (I was a big mint person prior to treatment and miss that minty flavor at times.) I do not eat or drink anything with the aligners in and I have been a diligent flosser/brusher since the beginning. BUT I have used the spray with my aligners in. I am going to test the theory when I switch to tray 5 and not use any of the mouthwash spray and see what happens.

I am still having issues being self-conscious smiling wide or when talking to someone new and I see them looking at my mouth. I would like to think that eventually I will get over it and move on. At home, with family and close friends, I do not have an issue. Just at work it seems. BUT some good news! I have met 2 people at work (at an off site location that I work at one day a week) that either currently have Invisalign or have already finished treatment. I have to say I was really ecstatic to meet someone in person!  The one who is still in process has been wearing them for a year already and just started a refinement of 37 trays! WOW! Teeth looked absolutely perfect to me but say they are working on the bite...that there were issues with the trays fitting properly the first round. Only one attachment off to the side and I couldn’t tell they were wearing braces (jealous!!)…I just happened to come along with they were putting them back in after lunch break.  I have one guy at my office around my age that just got ceramic braces last week…he wasn’t a candidate for invisalign due to the complexity of his case. He came to talk to me after he found out I have braces. So at least I have someone in the office I can talk to about braces, even if they are different kind of braces!

I have to admit this weekend my braces were off longer than normal during the afternoon and evenings. They were on an average of 18-19 hours both days and I never had any issues getting them back on, feeling overly tight or anything like that, so I gues it is ok. Sometimes I just want to graze or not feel super rushed to get them back in the minute I am done eating.

I am still trying to get my Clincheck from the Dentist. Apparently they don’t know how to get them into a format they can email. I’m pretty handy with a pc…maybe I can sit with the planner at my appointment on Friday and see if we can’t collectively figure it out.

I’ll leave off with comparison pictures. I’m not seeing a lot of change at this point, but I expected that.

Pre-Invisalign

 Tray 4

Tray 3

I switched to tray 3 on April 5, 2013. My teeth were quite sore the first 3 days, both while wearing them as well as when they were off. The first day in particular eating crunchy items (I eat a lot of raw veges) wasn't on the menu. I had to find alternatives because OUCH! :) They aren't very sore any more aside from when I am installing the lower tray after eating. I expect in a week I won't even have that soreness (the 2nd set of trays had gotten pretty loose by the end of the 2 weeks and I was ready to change.)

There is only one other lady in our office and she saw my aligner soaking cup in the  bathroom Thursday at lunch and that gave her an opportunity to ask me about the braces. She said she had noticed them the day before. So I got a chance to talk about my braces!  That made me happy. :) I didn't want metal in my mouth but I am not actually trying to HIDE the fact that I have braces...and I KNOW people can see the attachments...they are very noticeable to me. That kind of opened up the ability to mention them to other people in the office, so now I am not as self conscious wondering if people have noticed or wonder what is on my teeth. I am getting more and more used to them, so talking to new people doesn't really bother me. Going to the grocery store, or having new vendors in the office, or guests etc. I don't think about it, just go about my business. It's not until after the fact that I will feel a level of embarrassement, which is moot at that point anyway! HELLO self - get over it already!!

Tray 2 and attachments

(I started a review on realself.com and the following post has been taken from my review with a few small corrections and additions.)

OK, so I got my attachments on March 22nd. I got 6 on the upper and 7 on the lower. I have 2 of them on my left central incisor. Yippee! He didn't quite match my tooth color on all of them....they seem to be MUCH whiter than my apparently yellow tinted teeth. So they kind of stand out A LOT. And they are rough when I am not wearing my aligner. Which I really don't want to take out in public so everyone can see my 'not only' snaggle toothed grin but my now snaggle toothed with sparkling white boney growths grin. :/

I had quite the experience getting them put on. One of the dental assistants had called in that day, and so the doc and the 1 assistant that was there were going back and forth between patients and things were running a little slow. Not a problem. Having the attachments put on was ok. The procedure didn't hurt at all and didn't take that long (aside from the waiting around for my turn bit.) Doc came in after assistant was done with her blue light special to clean me up and remove excess cement...then he sent her to do xrays on another patient. So the doc starts sanding down the attachements with one of those doodad deals that also sprays water while it is sanding down. Yea...so he has one of those sucker wands hanging out of a corner of my mouth all the while the water is literally pouring out the opposite side at the same time spraying up my nose. Yay, an early shower! Of water, spit and cement dust. High five! Weee! LOL, sorta. :) Ahh, stuff happens, so I didn't make a big deal out of it. I knew he was doing his best (and probably a bit lost without the assistant... :))

I didn't think anything else of the attachments. I was able to wrangle the second set of trays on and off before leaving the office and I headed back to work after wringing my shirt out. No time to go change. No one noticed. It was Friday...they would have gotten over it anyway. :)

That night at dinner, however, I discovered a small, teeny, tiny problem. The attachment that is on my left lateral incisor (and yes, I have obtained a chart with the names of teeth so I will appear informed when I am truly...not!) sits in such as way that my left central incisor hits it and prevents me from closing my mouth all the way. Quite interesting to attempt to work around to say the least. If I eat on the opposite side of my mouth AND tilt my head to the right at the same time, I can almost chew everything the way I am supposed to. The rest of it gets swallowed with a prayer that it doesn't block my windpipe. So far the prayer seems to be working.

I noticed a vendor who has never met me checking out my spit riddled, snaggled toothed, boney growth, shiny with aligners grin and I felt self conscious for a nano second. No one that has been working with me for the last almost 4 years have either 1) noticed or 2) are too afraid of me to ask what the hell is on my teeth. Both have equal possibilities. (LOL Just kidding, I am a doll to everyone! Unless you are an a$$...but I jest. Sometimes.) None of my family have noticed, asked, or gives a damn. :)

Since getting the attachments I have stopped taking the aligners out as much. The first 2 "get used to them" weeks I stayed on my same food/snack schedule. I am one of those who eat every 2-1/2 to 4 hours. What a hassle now that it takes SOOOOOOO long to get these things out! Forget it! I am now on the infamous Invisalign Diet! I need to lose about 20 lbs anyway.

I am embarrassed (to a small degree) with my attachments, but am keeping my eye on the prize. I wanted this, so I am gonna suck it up and love it! OK, maybe not LOVE, that's kind of strong, maybe ALMOST LIKE them is better. :) As time goes by I am not as self conscious about them unless I notice someone actually staring at my mouth. I haven't yet blurted out that I have Invisalign braces, but have come close. I am trying to hold out to see if anyone asks me about them and if so, how long it takes them to do so! :)

Aligners In:

 

Aligners Out:

 

In the beginning....

I started my Invisalign treatment on my 41st birthday, March 8th! I had been waiting to get my trays in for weeks and they finally called and got me in and it just so happened to be my birthday. Happy happy birthday to me! :)

I have needed braces since I was a kid, but my parents couldn't afford to take us to get our teeth cleaned much less braces... and that's OK. It is what it is! I actually hit my front teeth on a barbell when I was about 9 (have an uncle 6 years my senior and he had a weight set on the carport) and chipped a third of my right front tooth off completely and damaged the tooth next to it. I lived with that broken tooth until I hit about 15 when a different uncle paid to have it bonded for me. I had a lot of trouble with those 2 teeth over the years. When I was about 24, I was finally able to have some dental work done. A LOT of dental work. So much so,  the thought of straightening them wasn't even on the radar at that point. I had a root canal and crown put on that front tooth as part of that dental work.

Fast forward 17 years, and after 3 kids (2 of which had braces. Somehow my son lucked out with straight teeth... both the girls got my teeth. Yikes) have moved out, I am ready to spend the money on myself!

I hadn't really been thinking about getting braces, I actually went to a cosmetic dentist to see about getting a veneer or maybe a crown on the tooth right next to the crowned broken tooth. This tooth has been slowly dying all of these years and over the last few years has begun to turn grey. It's very strange, but I wanted to have it fixed as it is getting quite noticeable.

The dentist asked if I had ever thought about getting braces and he spoke to me about Invisalign. They took a few pictures of my teeth and they have this cool program that can show you what your teeth "could" look like if they were straightened. Truth be told, I wasn't a hard sell. In the past I thought I was too old for braces and had gotten a "oh well" attitude over the years. I figured I have lived with them this long, what's it matter now? Braces are for young people, right?? Well, after showing me multiple videos on hygiene, bite, and the Invisalign process, I wanted it!

I guess I caught them on a good day...I got my teeth cleaned on the spot (was due at my regular dentist in 2 days anyway) they took a ton of x-rays, all kinds of pictures of my teeth, profile and straight forward pictures of my face (shape?) and took impressions of my teeth. These people were thorough, professional and very knowledgeable. I felt comfortable from the get go. Financing was easy... interest free if paid in 2 years, no money down. I will have them paid off by November this year. It wasn't cheap by any means - and certainly not what I had in mind when I first walked in the office, but it is manageable within my budget. There are other things that can be cut out while I am paying for my braces. and it is worth it to me, so budget trimming here I come (President and Congress - you should be doing this also!! ha!)

Then I went home and set out to research this product and find out everything I could before my trays came in. By the time I went back to get my trays, I felt pretty well versed in all things Invisalign. I've read so many reviews, blogs, articles, and watched a lot (!) videos my husband was getting sick of it. All I was doing in my free time was invisalign research (and am still obsessed with it really.)

On the first visit back, they only gave me my first tray. It's the "get used to it tray." I have 19 upper aligners and 28 lower aligners. I will get my attachments and the next 3 trays on my next visit March 22nd.

"Before" Photos: