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!