Ezzaroo's Invisalign Journey: 3 - Picking up my first set of trays

I set off for my appointment at the clinic hugely excited! It seemed like so long ago that I'd finally made the decision to go ahead with Invisalign and been in for my impressions - of course, the fact that my trays got held up by customs didn't help things!

I was so excited to get the trays and see how they fitted - I just wanted to get on with the treatment. And, if I'm honest, I think I was secretly hoping for some kind of miracle fix and that I'd be able to see a noticeable difference the next day! Of course, that's not going to happen! It sounds strange, but I almost think that my teeth look a little bit better with the trays in! You can't really tell in the pictures I'll add at the end of this post because they are all close up, but when I'm looking in the mirror they somehow don't look so bad! I'm not sure if it is psychological now that I finally know they are on their way to being straight, or if it is the fact that the trays make it harder to see the edges of your teeth so the imperfections are less defined.

Anyway - I arrived at the clinic early and got to go up pretty much straight away (the patient before me had been delayed). My ortho showed me my trays, explained how to clean them and store them while eating, explained what I should and shouldn't drink while wearing them (I don't drink hot drinks anyway so it isn't a huge change for me), explained how to fit them and take them out and I did this a few times in there to make sure that I was OK with it. I felt like I was putting so much force on them to get them off but I think that was just because I was scared of snapping them! They pop on really easily though. I'm not going to lie - when I first put them in it felt so weird! I can't bite down properly with them in as the plastic gets in the way so, even though my lips are closed, it feels as if my mouth is always slightly open. Also, I'm not sure if it is partly psychological but I feel like having the plastic there is pushing my lips out and making them huge!

I'd really expected to have a lisp but when I was talking to my ortho I realised that I sounded normal! Hurrah!!

He explained to me that I would be having 11 trays on my bottom teeth (this should take me to 23rd April) and 18 trays on my top teeth which should take me to the end of July. I'm fully expecting to need some refinement after that's done but I'm pretty pleased as I expected to have the initial trays in until next October.

My ortho explained that I'll need some attachments (I was hoping to get away without those!) to help rotate some of my teeth and these are going to be fitted when I go back in 2 weeks to pick up my next trays. I'll need 5 in total (2 on my upper teeth and 3 on the lower) but luckily they are all at the side so not hugely visible. You can just see the 2 on the top when I smile but I'm not too worried about it.

So, I'm off back in 2 weeks time to pick up my next set of trays (hoping to get enough to see me through Christmas and New Year!) and have my attachments fitted. In the meantime, here are a few pics of my trays and me wearing them...

Upper and Lower Trays