Second trays, attatchments, rubber bands, and IPR!

Today was my most horrific orthodontist appointment to date.

I knew I was going to get my second set of trays and get attachments, which are these little blobs of cement they put on your teeth to help the Invisalign move your teeth better. I had prepped myself for this. I read blogs, watched youtube videos, and asked other invisaligners about there experience getting attachments, and I was feeling pretty okay about it. I wasn't excited or anything, but I had talked myself down from being frightened about it.

When I showed up I was escorted into the room and told I would be getting my attachments and rubber bands today. Rubber bands?! No one told me about this! But whatever, that doesn't sound that bad. So the assistant puts me in that torture device they call a cheek retractor and starts slathering this gunk on my teeth that tastes sour. I think that was the glue? Then she took my new trays and started filling in the little bumps with cement (or whatever the attachments are made out of) and plops the trays on my teeth. I was pumped that I didn't need any attachments on my giant two front teeth, and they are reasonably hidden on my canines and the teeth next to the canines (I'm no dentist, I don't know what they are called). She shines a purple light on each tooth for like 30 seconds, and has me take the trays out. So far, so good. They feel a little weird, I can feel them scraping against my cheeks when the trays aren't in.

Then she calls the doc in and says I am all ready for him. I am thinking, 'oh he's just going to come take a look at her work and make sure everything's where it should be. Wrong! He sits down next to me with some creepy tool in his hand that looks like a little electric pizza cutter with sandpaper on it and says he is going to shave between my teeth to make room for them to move. WHAT. I ask if it will hurt and he said, "It will be uncomfortable. It will feel like I am shaving your teeth." Right, I can totally relate to that feeling. Well, now I can and I can tell you that it does in fact hurt. So he wedges this tiny pizza cutter between two teeth and turns it on while moving it up and down. I can see my tooth dust flying around my face. He hits my gums a few times which made me squirm (and bleed!). It only took a few minutes and he only did maybe 4 or 5 teeth, but it was not fun at all. He said I will need to do it one more time later on in treatment on 1 more tooth. I can't wait. Actually I can. I don't want to do that again it sucked.

That lovely procedure is called Interproximal Reduction (IPR). Here is a video showing how it's done:



I then went to the bathroom and rinsed my bloody mouth out with listerine. Their listerine had a pump on it, which was cool. I need to get a listerine pump.

I came back and the assistant had me put the aligners in and handed me some tiny rubber bands and instructed me how to put them in. It was not easy. It seriously took me like 10 minutes to get one in. I was getting frustrated and proclaimed that once I get them in, I am never going to eat again because I can't go through this 3 times a day. Well, that's a lie. I got them in and went straight to the sub shop down the street and got some lunch. Putting them in the second time was not nearly as difficult. I think I will get the hang of it eventually.

The bands are so annoying though. I can feel them rubbing against my cheeks. I need to wear them whenever the aligners are in, so basically all day every day. Great.

They gave me my next 4 trays and I don't have to go back for 10 weeks! I also found out I only have 20 trays total so that is a relief! Over in 10 months, I hope it flies by!

First time wearing invisalign at work!

Saturday was my first time going into work with these bad boys on (I only work weekends). I was excited to show everyone my fancy new teeth coverings, but I waited a few hours to see if anyone called me out on it. No one noticed! I'm surprised no one said anything about my new speech impediment--maybe they were just being polite. I did notice some people asked me to repeat things on the phone, especially names and words with a lot of 'S's, so I was getting a little self conscious about that. 

Late in the morning I started announcing to people that I had got my invisalign put in and I got a lot of "Wow, you can't even tell, I didn't even notice!" One of my coworkers did remark that I was getting "lispier" as the day went on. haha. One of the doctors I work with has traditional braces, but started out with invisalign for a few months and we swapped oral hygiene tricks. He showed off his fancy collapsible travel toothbrush--I need one of those! He warned me that more people will notice them once I get the attachments, and they suck to get removed.

I skipped breakfast because I really didn't have time to take them out, and brush and floss. I usually just eat a quick yogurt or a granola bar while I do my paperwork, but it didn't seem worth it. By lunch I was starving and could not wait to get my teeth prisons off! I successfully ate my lunch, then went straight to the bathroom to brush, floss and mouthwash. I did not snack at all (which I usually do 2-3 times throughout my shift), so I only ate once in my 12 hour shift. Maybe this invisalign diet will help me drop a few pounds before bikini season. Hah.

I must confess I am a huge coffee drinker and I can't give it up, especially at work. I work 12 hours and I need my caffeine. I won't do hot coffee with them in because I don't want to melt them, but I did drink iced coffee with them in. I just swished some water in my mouth every once in a while, hoping they wouldn't get too stained and that the sugar and acid wouldn't decay my teeth too much. 

All in all, going to work with invisalign wasn't horrible. T-minus 8 days till I get my attachments and 2nd set of trays!

First Days With My First Trays!

I am currently on day 2 of my Invisalign journey. It hasn't been easy.

On Wednesday I showed up for my Invisalign delivery appointment, which I had to wait more than 4 weeks for after my trays had already been delivered to the office because my orthodontist was on vacation! Jerk. Anyway, I went, I put the trays in, the doc took a look and said they fit perfectly, and I scheduled my next appointment for 2 weeks out. Very anticlimactic.

When I first put them in, I was expecting pain. They didn't really hurt at all, just a slight pressure. They were super easy to put in. For the first hour or so I was feeling fine. I decided to go eat lunch right after getting them, mostly because I was hungry and hadn't eaten lunch yet, but also to practice my whole new oral hygiene routine I had been preparing for. I went to my boyfriend's family sub shop and got myself a nice sandwich and some soup. I stored my aligners in the handy retainer case the orthodontist gave me and when I finished I realized I forgot to bring my Invisalign kit I had painstakingly assembled and perfected over the last few weeks. Ugh. So I just swished water in my mouth and popped them back in. Awesome start, this is going to go flawlessly!

No biggie though, the shop is just down the street from my house so I went home, brushed, flossed, mouth washed and popped them back in. Before I go on, I'll tell you about my home made invisalign kit, and other accessories!

First, I made a little travel toiletry bag on artscow and filled it with the following:

-2 Colgate 360 toothbrushes (randomly just picked some cheap regular toothbrushes for travel). One is for my teeth and one is for my aligners since I was told not to brush them with a toothbrush that has had toothpaste on it because it may scratch them and make them look gross.

-Reach Access flosser and extra floss heads.

-Mini bottle of listerine total care

-Travel size Crest 3D white toothpaste

-Retainer case

At home I use an oral B prohealth precision clean toothbrush, a reach access flosser or some generic floss picks, a big bottle of Listerine total care, as well as Retainer Brite tablets and an Ultrasonic cleanser. I soak my aligners in the ultrasonic machine with a tablet of Retainer Brite while I am eating dinner. Who knows if it makes a difference, but my aligners don't stink yet and they are still totally clear. Full disclosure, I smoke cigarettes (I know, I'm an idiot, I need to quit) with the aligners in and was expecting some yellowing, but nothing yet!

Moving on. That pain I was expecting, it started happening a few hours in. Some slight soreness. But worse than the pain was the anxious feeling I had about something being on my teeth. I felt claustrophobic, I told my boyfriend I felt like I had little teeth prisons in my mouth. Also, the edges on the back molars were scratching the bottom of my tongue, so my tongue was getting quite sore. I took some ibuprophen and counted down the hours til dinner, knowing I could finally free my teeth from their little prisons. Dinner came and it felt so great to get those things off! However, my teeth felt really sensitive and naked. The first few bites of food were weird, then I got used to it. I finished up and did the whole brush, floss, rinse routine, and I also brushed the aligners after taking them out of the ultrasonic cleanser. I popped a few more ibuprophen before bed, after brushing again (skipped the flossing as I didn't eat anything since dinner), and went to sleep.

I woke up and my mouth and jaw were pretty sore. I was excited to take them out again and eat a banana for breakfast and have my morning coffee. I normally like to sip my morning coffee over an hour or more while I peruse facebook, but I was trying to make it quick so they wouldn't be out very long. I think it was 45 minutes or so, I guess that's ok. Took some more ibuprophen and brushed, flossed, rinsed and popped those bad boys back in.

It's now day 2 and the soreness has become minimal. I don't think they are scratching my tongue as much, or I have stopped noticing it. My mouth was a little sore this morning, but right now they are feeling pretty okay. I still have moments where it bothers me that there is something in my mouth and I want to take them out, but I just keep visualizing my hollywood smile (and my $5000), and keep going until the next meal. These next 18-24 months better go by fast!

Here are some pics of my teeth with the aligners in, I don't think they are noticeable unless you look really close. They make my teeth look shiny. I think I have a slight lisp, the boyfriend says I don't but I think he is just being nice.

In the car after putting them in for the first time in the office.

I kind of feel they highlight how crooked my teeth are. I didn't realize my teeth were THAT bad.

Batman snuggie, don't judge.

The Beginning.

Welcome to another Invisalign Blog! I kind of just want to document my progress all in one place, but if someone stumbles upon this and reads it, that is cool too.

So I have always wanted to straighten out my crazy teeth, and up until recently I was under the impression that I would need jaw surgery and a head brace to do it (this was told to me when I was about 10 by my dentist, so I believed him!), so I pretty much forgot about it for a while. Fast forward to a year ago when I got a new dentist who asked if I had considered braces, to which I replied "Of course, but I was told I would need jaw surgery and a head brace and it doesn't seem worth it to me." He scoffed and said that in no way do I need any of those things and I could probably get away with a year and a half of braces and handed me a card for an orthodontist. I went in for a consultation and he confirmed what the dentist said. He even said I was a perfect case for Invisalign, which made me happy. I get confused for a 15 year old enough as it is, I wasn't too keen on the idea of adorning myself with brackets and rubber bands.

So a few weeks later I went in for my X-Rays and scan. I have read a lot of Invisalign blogs in preparation, and I haven't found any who got the iTero scan. Instead, most people, including people I know in real life, got impressions.

I have never experienced getting impressions, but something tells me I lucked out in not having to get a bunch of nasty purple gunk slathered inside my mouth. From what I read, it seems rather unpleasant. The scan was slightly uncomfortable, but nothing too crazy. They stick this little scanner in your mouth and take pictures of every tooth from different angles. It took about 20 minutes total, and the best part is I got to see my clincheck video immediately instead of waiting until my next appointment! My orthodontist also told me the scan is a lot more accurate, as it gets in the little crevices better and captures more detail for a better fit.




After all that was done, I went and figured out payment. The total cost was around $5000. Pretty steep, but seems to be about average and it was only $200 more than regular braces, so to me it was worth it. Then I went home and waited, and waited, and waited for my trays to come in!

For your viewing pleasure, here are some shots of my teeth before treatment. Not the best quality, taken with my cellphone!

Here you can see my glorious overbite!

My bottom arch, don't mind the fillings!