5 - Onto Tray 2, IPR and Attachments

OK, so I'm a bit late updating this blog... this is the first chance I've had to upload the new pictures and sort myself out!

I got my new trays (2 of 11 on my lower and 18 on my upper teeth) on Thursday and so far - no problems at all!

I had some IPR (shaving between my teeth) on the upper right hand side, to create room for the tooth that is currently behind to move into and I have to say, since having that done I hate my teeth without the trays in! I know the gap is only small but without the trays it looks MASSIVE! The trays really help to hide it which is great! There were no problems having the IPR (Interproximal Reduction) done, in fact, I've had it done before when I had my retainer at about 14 - that's right, the one that I didn't wear, which is why I'm having Invisalign now!

I also had an attachment put on. I have space for 5 but I've only had one so far and, according to my Ortho, I may not need any of the others. They're just there as a precaution in case my teeth don't move as they are expecting them to. Having the attachment fitted was pain free and surprisingly quick! Although the paste they use does taste disgusting! Putting the trays in with the attachment on is fine - no different to normal, but I'm still really scared that I'm eaither going to snap my tray or pull the attachment off when I take them out! It's getting easier but the first time I took them out I was convinced I was going to pull my tooth out along with the tray!

The second trays definitely felt tighter when I put them in but I haven't had any pain at all. My teeth do feel a bit tender when I take the trays out and I'm not sure I would want to bite into an apple with my front teeth but, in a perverse way, I actually really like the feeling! It's how I know that something is working!

I've had no problems at all with the Invisalign process so far and am really used to the trays already - in fact, it feels strange now when I take them out!

The best thing about my last visit is that my Ortho has given me up to trays 7 to take away with me! I was going to ask for enough to last me over Christmas but I wasn't expecting that many! That takes me up to 26th Feb and means that, when I go back for my next visit, I will only be 4 trays away from finishing on my bottom teeth - I'm ridiculously excited!! Of course, I'll have to go back if I have any problems before then but, if things carry on as they have been I'm hoping I'll be fine! I've sneaked a look at trays 7 (just through the clear packet - I haven't opened them!) and the difference is fantastic! There is obviously more still to do on the top than the bottom as I'll still be 11 trays away from the end on my top teeth at that point but if that is an indication of what they are going to be like I think I'm going to be a very happy girl at the end of things!

I'm going to post some pictures below - after trays 1 without the Invisalign in and wearing my second set!

I'll be back again in another couple of weeks to update you on trays 3!

After Tray 1

Wearing Tray 2

4 - Two days in and how I'm feeling!

Well, I am now just one hour off having my Invisaligns for 48 hours! I know it's only been 2 days but so far I'm doing really well on how long I'm keeping them in for! I'm not going to take them out again now until I have dinner tonight so out of the first 48 hours I've been wearing my Invisaligns for 46 of them! Go me! I'm convinced that the longer I keep them in the more effective they will be so I'm going to be really disciplined with them.

After I first put them in on Thursday afternoon they did feel really weird - it was just so alien having this lump of plastic in my mouth. And even though I knew I didn't have a lisp I was still a bit conscious of it and wondered if people would be able to tell I was wearing them when I spoke. However, my Mum called to see how things had gone and reassured me that I sounded completely normal (well, as normal as I ever do!) I called home later that night to speak to my Dad and get his opinion. I knew if I had even the slightest lisp my Dad would take great pleasure in making fun of me and I think he was actually a little disappointed to find out that I was lisp free!

I took the trays out for 30 mins that night for dinner and had no problem getting them in and out. What I will say is that, judging from my new teeth cleaning routine my teeth will probably be cleaner than they've ever been!

I went to bed that night fully expecting the trays to bother me and keep me awake but the didn't affect my sleep at all and my teeth didn't even feel tender when I took the trays out to clean them the next morning - I'd had it easy so far!

Friday at work would be the real test - I couldn't wait to see people's reactions! Everyone was amazed by how invisible the trays really are. In normal conversation you can't even tell I'm wearing them and people had to look really closely to see them when I explained I had them in! What amazed me though was how dry my mouth was on Friday! I normally drink alot of water during the day anyway but I got through double what I normally drink! It is the strangest feeling because I feel like I'm producing massive amounts of saliva (sorry to be so gross but if anyone is reading this because they are thinking about getting Invisalign - you want to know the facts, right?!) but at the same time my mouth is so dry! I was probably swallowing more than normal because I was conscious of the extra saliva. Generally though, although having the Invisalign in was mildly annoying because I was getting used to them they did not hurt or make my teeth feel tender at all.

And now, on Saturday afternoon, the dry mouth seems to have gone and I'm really getting used to having the trays in. I'm no longer conscious of where my tongue is and they are feeling less and less obvious! I'm expecting it to get harder along the way though - it can't be this easy can it?!

I'm off out with a friend tonight to see another friend's band play so I'll see how I get on... I'll be on the sparkling water because I want to keep my trays in as much as possible!!

I'll probably not post again now until I pick up my second set of trays - unless something major happens!

3 - Picking up my first set of trays - 20th November 2008

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

Normal Smile wearing Invisalign

(you can just see the empty bubbles for my attachments at the sides on my upper teeth)

Upper and Lower Teeth wearing Invisalign

Upper View wearing Invisalign

Lower View wearing Invisalign

2 - Why I wanted Invisalign

OK, I thought I would put up a few pictures of my teeth before so that you can all see why I chose to have Invisalign. (All the pictures in this blog will be taken by me so apologies in advance for the varying quality!)

To be honest, I've always known my teeth were crowded (the fact that my Wisdom teeth grew at an angle pushing the others forward didn't help!), but it wasn't until I took these pictures of the Upper and Lower views of my teeth that I realised quite how bad they are! Seeing these I definitely know that I've made the right choice!

So here they are:

Normal Smile without Invisalign

Upper View without Invisalign

Lower View without Invisalign

ClinCheck Before and After

I'm a little bit worried that the 'After' on my ClinChecl pics looks like I might have a few small gaps on my lower teeth once the process is finished - so definitely a question for my Ortho on my next visit!

I'm going to try and split these posts up into different sections, so I'll be back in a bit with details of picking up my first set of trays and some pics of me wearing them...

Intro - 1st Blog!!

Hey everyone!

I basically decided to start this blog to accompany my Invisalign journey! I got my trays yesterday and ever since I've been trawling the internet reading about others who are going through the same thing! It is such a huge help to get some first hand, honest feedback of what people have experienced while using Invisalign so I thought I would try my hand at putting something together and hope that others find it useful. I'm also planning to use it as a journal so that I can track my progress!

I took some 'Before' pictures yesterday so I'll post those over the weekend and write a little bit about my first set of trays and my experience so far.

In the meantime, I should probably tell you a little bit about me... I'm 31 years old, female, living and working in London. I've wanted to do something about my teeth for as long as I can remember but hated the idea of train tracks! I did have a retainer for a while when I was in my teens but, of course, didn't wear it for as long as I should have done and as a result my teeth didn't really shift at all.

I found out about Invisalign earlier this year and was amazed by how hard the trays are to spot unless you are looking for them. I was at an exhibition in London called 'The Vitality Show' and was talking to the girl on the stand for about 10 minutes before she told me she was wearing them! I never would have know otherwise!

I decided to take the plunge after speaking to my dentist about them (we'd talked about braces behind my teeth before and he said this could cost anything up to £8,000!) and doing a bit more research online. I found a great clinic in Harley Street and the fact tat they were doing a half price offer clinched it - I was ready to take the plunge!

I went for my impressions at the end of August and was told the trays would take about 8 - 10 weeks to arrive. In the end they took over 11 as the clinic ordered for about 50 clients at once and the shipment was held up by customs... Don't these guys realise how important that package was?!

Anyway, I'll write more and post some photos in episode 2!