Update: Tray 1

I am nearly at the end of Tray 1! Already I have had some IPR and my attachments fitted (See previous blog posts). Everything is going ok, there was a bit of pain for a few days when I first put my Trays in. When I got my attachments fitted I was scared that I was never going to eat again. I had brought a selection of food to eat as I know look forward to meal times and I tried to get my Invisalign off and I couldn't. I sat clawing at my mouth looking in a small mirror for nearly an hour. I was in a lot of pain irritating the gums that were now exposed as that morning I'd had IPR done.

I was contemplating on ringing the dentist but I felt a bit stupid as a couple of hours ago he'd asked me to take them out and with it taking alot of effort I still got them out. After getting quite upset and then I finally accepted that I wasn't going to be able to eat that day as I couldn't go through the pain of getting them off.

Later on I was sitting in my car looking in the mirror trying to get them off again, I started from the back and got my nail under one of the aligners and gave it a tug, one side had come off! One side!!!! I then tugged the rest of it working my way round, I had got the bottom tray off! I carried on the same with the top, I had managed to get them off! It wasn't painless but I'd got them off!
I went to the nearest shop, brought loads of food and ate it all (Abit dramatic I know but I was unsure if I was every going to be able to eat again).
Ok, since then it hasn't been so bad, I seem to have developed a technique which doesn't hurt as much. I think its just practice, I know I will be fine a few weeks, I hope! Also it still hurts quite a bit to eat hard food, I think its because my teeth haven't had a rest, I got my aligners, then attachments and then in a few days i'll be switching to tray 2 so hopefully mid way through tray 2 all will  be good again.

Is invisalign invisible? Yes it is, no one has noticed and to be honest I think I prefer them with my teeth in them now! :)

Cleaning your Invisalign

A lot of people said that Invisalign gave them bad breath. I think this because they are not cleaning their aligners properly. When I first got my aligners I simply cleaned them with a normal soft toothbrush and toothpaste, but I noticed they started to smell of well, saliva. Even after cleaning they didn't smell great. So I went off into boots and I purchased;

1) Denture toothbrush
2) Denture bath
3) Denture cleaning tablets (3 minute pro)

I have added a picture to the right, I don't know why its rotated but it has, hopefully you can still see it! I had brought the 3 minute pro tablets, make sure you check how long it takes to clean your aligners. The instructions tell you to use 50 degree water from a kettle, I just used normal cold water out of the tap because I was scared I would warp my aligners.

I properly clean my aligners at least twice a day, once in the morning and then at night, if I am at home when I am eating my lunch meal I will also clean them with the denture bath then also.

All of this cost me around £9, the denture bath will hopefully last me till the end of my treatment, I will replace the brush every 6 months and the tablets only last me around 10 days to about 14 days. I know it may feel like another expense but its definitely worth it. I would pick the denture brush over a normal soft toothbrush any day as it clean all of the aligners very well.

I mean I used to chew alot of chewing gum but now I have my aligners I can't now. The only reason I chewed gum was so my breath was fresh and now I don't need to as its fresh all day :) Also a quick tip, if you feel that you need a minty boost, swill your mouth out with mouthwash!

Social life with invisalign

I seen alot of people had posted on the Internet will it affect your social life? Well yes and no, depends if you let it.

First week I got invisalign I had booked off as holiday so I wasn't working, this meant meals were home cooked and straight after I could follow my oral care (For those who don't know with invisalign you have to clean your teeth each time you drink/eat something that isn't water). I found it fine, I was sticking to the 2 hour slot with ease.

Ok, I am a student as well and I work. This weekend I went on an over 18's weekend (I'm not an alcoholic chill out guys) and this really put everything to the test. In the day we ate out. Which wasn't a problem because I have become a master of getting my Invisalign out, no dribble or anything, yes you heard me NO DRIBBLE, it still isn't the most pleasant thing for people to watch me do but I do it so fast no many people notice.

I have a little travel toothbrush in my at all times with my invisalign case and some tiny toothpaste! I would eat everything I wanted to eat, and then go and brush them. What I also did, which I'm not entirely sure you are meant to do, but in between courses of meals I would slip my invisalign back in, because I was paranoid about keeping them out too long, saving those minutes up!

Ok, here were it wasn't so great. As I was out socially drinking (Yes abit of binging went on), it was fine, I kept to clear drinks such as lemonade and vodka as I didn't want the solution to get stuck in my aligners. (Vodka doesn't damage your teeth, but lemonade does obviously, if you have option go for sugar free/diet!). I didn't manage to stick to clear drinks all night as when people went up to the bar in their intoxicated state forgot what I ordered. Often came back with a mixer of coke (dreaded coke, every dentist worst enemy), as far as I know it didn't show up in my aligners when I was drinking it. A massive downer though when I started doing cheeky shots (Cheeky I know but I hardly ever go away, thought I would let my hair down) it was awful, the foul taste seemed to stay in mouth. Which made the expereince worse for me.

What everyone should know is the reason why your not aloud to eat and drink with your aligners in.
1) Damages them, if your chomping on juicy steak your going to damage the plastic and break it. You'll have one angry dentist sending you a huge bill. Also you can't actually eat food, you can't break it up. I tried eating a grape with them in, massive fail.

2) You know how Invisalign is meant to be invisible, it won't be invisible when you've got massive bit of brococalli magically staying stationary in the middle of your tooth. It will draw attention to your mouth and I can imagine being quite embarassing. And believe me, the food will get in there, some how my lipstick gets in there, I don't know how but it does.

3) Drinking coloured drinks like tea or coffee you are going to stain your aligners they will become a grey/yellow colour, or if your eating curry maybe the colour will be even fruitier!

4) Finally the biggest one, you obviously care alot about your teeth and what they look like, you have just forked out thousands of pounds for your treatment, yes? Well do you want straight teeth with discolouration, holes, fillings, teeth missing etc? Rather pointless. If your drinking coke with them in, or even drink coke then put your aligners back in without proper oral care the sugar is sitting on your teeth without your natural salaiva to clean them.

Slobbering/ Annoying my boyfriend

Ok, I remember my dentist saying some people have noticed they have gathered a lot of saliva in their mouth when wearing the aligners, well yes I did it wasn’t a problem at all but I didn’t really know how much I was until I took those picture of my teeth and you can see the slobber running down my mouth there was that much storing itself in my mouth!  It is not a problem though day to day, I do not walk around drooling all day, honest.

Another thing I thought of, you know when you chew chewing gum when you have not had anything to eat. You get severe bellyache because more saliva is being produced and it is sending the message to your stomach your about to eat so its start boiling up the acid giving you belly ache? Well that’s something I get, not sure if everyone else has ever suffered from it but I experienced exactly the same thing this morning, severe belly ache it may be coincidence and I may have stomach ulcer and not know about it but just thought I’d mention it as I was fine as soon as I had eaten something.

A habit I have developed in the past couple of days is sucking my aligners much to my boyfriend’s disgust. We were lying in bed in silence trying to get to sleep and he turned over and said, “All I can hear is you sucking your aligners and swallowing!” I simply said, “I can’t help it sorry!” I believe the sucking and swallowing has replaced something much worse. Normally my boyfriend will wake me up in the middle of the night with a gentle shove following by “Shona, stop grinding your teeth”, I seem to do this quite viciously as my whole jaw will ache in the morning, now with the aligners in its quite hard to get my teeth together, so I’ll take slobbing and sucking over grinding teeth anyway, they can have break for the next year and half.

Meal time / Snacking

One thing I have noticed is that I have never looked forward to meal times, now I can’t wait! I find myself planning what I am going to eat. I think its psychological because I normally don’t have set meal times, I just help myself when I am hungry. Now hours before I find myself planning what I want to eat, cramming all my snacks in that I want to consume throughout the day. When I went to the dentist to get my first invisalign tray, I seen what I believe is the hygienist. When she went over invisalign, again she said about snacking that she does recommend fruits instead of crisps etc as it makes a hard job of cleaning your teeth and just causes major inconvenience especially if you are out and about.

Tip: Wanting to snack, try soft fruits such as grapes and bananas (I’m saying these fruits as I’ve heard, it may be a myth who knows! That you aren’t actually meant to brush your teeth for something like 30 minutes after you eat and apple or orange because of the acid levels? So I’m just going to find out more information because I don’t want my pre-straight whites corroding before I’ve even got them straight)

When I was reading blogs before I got my invisalign alot of people stated “It was the best diet I have tried”, and I can see why your snacking habits will drop drastically because after a couple of days (for me 8 hours), it got incredibly boring flossing, brushing, mouth washing after single biscuit or crisp I took a nibble on! Now I have my 3 set meals a day, and in-between I’m fantasying what I’m going to eat and snack on when I take my trays out, this may wear off as I’ve only had them in for a few days, who knows. I discussed this with the hygienist when I got the trays that loads of people on the internet said they lost weight because it cut out snacking, she said yes, this is very true, and then looked at me very firmly like a concerned mother and said, “But you don’t need to lose weight!”

So soon the media will be advertising Invisalign as a new diet, so watch out!

First day with Invisalign / Pictures with Invisalign in

Ok, even though I am the biggest girly girl ever, I cannot stand fake nails, fake eyelashes, not because I don’t like the look of them, I love them. But when they are on my hands or my eye lashes I’m clawing at them within minutes trying to get them off, I just hate the feel of them. Having these aligners in my mouth is exactly the same feeling! They were tight when I put them on, no pain but within an hour, my teeth were throbbing and I was in immense pain. I took many painkillers but I didn’t feel like they worked. They were very painful, I could not wait for mealtime to get them off, and well that was something else all together....

Only eat soft foods when you first start wearing your invisalign

I thought I would just have some soup and every single time my teeth gently touched, it felt like I was bashing them together. I heard this is the same sensation when people are wearing bracing and they get them tightened.

At the minute it feels like I have a plastic ruler taped to my mouth, I hope I get used to these because there awful. The top aligners aren’t really bothering me I have sort of forgot about them already, the bottom are really annoying me!

One thing that did make my day, as I went to meet my boyfriend from work I walked in and he said "Have you got your braces in?" (He just calls my invisalign, braces). I said "Yes, I've got them in". His friend then said "You have braces in? Let me see!", I then gave him a little smile, he then following with "I can't see them? Have you got them ones at the back of your teeth?" It did make my day that he couldn't see them!

Here are some pictures of what I look like with the invisalign in. The bumps are were my attachments will go, I am getting these next week. If you want to see the picture on a larger scale simply give it a click and it will enlarge itself.

Collecting my trays

Collecting my trays today, I have been waiting for this moment every since I read about invisalign on the internet. To tell you exactly how excited I was, the day previous I went sky diving, I was far more excited and nervous about picking my trays up then I was jumping out the plane! (How did the sky dive go? Very well thank you I raised a lot of money of charity, amazing feeling, do it if you ever have a chance, ok back to invisalign, sorry). I walked in the dentist very nervous and excited, walked up to reception and sat chatting to the lady at reception as they are all lovely who work at the dentist.

A few minutes later, who I believe to be my hygienist (apologise if I have understated you) called me in and asked me to sit down in the big dentist chair. Normally I really take great pride in appearance; make up has to be perfection, with my hair primed along with trying to keep up with the latest trends in fashion, although today I had to be up extremely early to travel to the dentist as I was stopping elsewhere the night before. This meant I had no makeup on, and quickly tied my hair up and minimal effort had been made with my clothes, as I was rather tired. To make me feel even better about myself my hygienist (who I am now going to call Sandra), asked me if I was feeling ok. I instantly knew she was referring to my washed out face as everybody tells me how tired I look and poorly when I do not wear “my face”. I assured her I felt fine.

She then went and fetched my tray and my goodie bag! (Yes, you heard me right! GOODIE bag, not sure, if everyone receives it that is on the invisalign programme or just at my dentist but I was extremely happy with the little gifts, made all the money I just paid for Invisalign worth it for those few seconds).  Sandra then said, if you are feeling sick (again, referring to my appalling appearance) you can try them now and wear them later when you are feeling better? I then nicely said thanks, but I just do not have make up on and I look very different, but honestly, I am feeling fine. I am not sure who was more embarrassed; to be honest I think it was I.

She then got my trays out of a little plastic sealed back and I felt it was Christmas all over again when I received my orange CD player with my first CD (Anyone wondering it was Cher – Believe). She then got out some tissue and said I will explain everything all over again and we will practice taking them in and out.

She then went over the little book that invisalign sends with your trays giving you some tips, how to insert them, how to remove them, how to care for them and how to store them and some commonly asked questions. Sandra had invisalign before me and she has finished her treatment so she was able to answer the question on a rather personal level, which helped loads. Finally, I was putting them in! I put the bottom ones in first gently pushing them on to my teeth, they rather snapped on, they felt rather tight (again, I am glad they did makes you think their working) and then I put the top ones in, Walaaa! She gave me a mirror and told me to have a look, and yes, they were invisible, apart from the couple of bumps I had on my two canines, (these are called attachments). The attachments help keep it tight and get good strong hold on your teeth.)

I was so happy I finally had them.  She then said “Can you take them off for me?” and then carried on to say “We have had people that have got home and then have rang in crying and sobbing because they just can’t get them off!” Again, I have read this all over internet, people first get their aligners and have not developed their own personal technique yet within the first couple of days. Ok, honestly I’m not bragging and may be eating words in a week’s time when I get my attachments but I was a pro from the off. I got my short stubbing nails right into the back of my mouth (It was an attractive technique it got the job done though) and peeling them off back to front, and then did the same with the bottom ones. Sandra was very happy and said, “You’re a natural!”

She then went through my little goodie bag with me, I got my little invisalign start pack this included two cases, one to keep the current ones in my mouth in so I can keep them clean and store them safety, another one to keep my last aligners in (in case I lose my current ones, break them etc). I also got some Colgate mouthwash, some travel Oral B toothpaste, a travel toothbrush, 6 Interdental brushes (If honest, I’ve not a clue about these sure there something to do with flossing). I have posted a picture with everything I got, I didn’t get the paracetamol and ibuprofen I thought I’d just be funny and add it in, jokes aside you will need them, believe me.

One thing Sandra said to me before I left, remember they are plastic this means they are flexible and quite strong as they have the ability to move your teeth although remember they are just plastic and can break easily.

Ok so I am leaving the dentist with my aligners in my mouth and my little pack, they felt tight but ok. Invisalign has started! My next post will be how I got on my first day!

Note to self: Don’t leave the house without your face on, check how to interdental brushes (and the sizes)

Consultation

I arrived at the dentist, which I was so excited about; I was taken to the x-ray room for a quick x-ray (no pain or anything). My teeth were then examined a lot of dentist talk was going on numbers and the alphabet being thrown around. He then took two impressions of my top and then two impressions of my bottom, was very watery gel that he pressed firmly and it was over in seconds. The second lot of impression weren’t as pleasant, he had to hold them firmly in my mouth for a number of minutes, I need to swallow a lot I was able to as he was firmly pressing down on them so they didn’t move, although near the end when he took them out it did make me gag. No pain or anything just uncomfortable and unpleasant.

Afterwards my  x-ray was put on the screen, and all of the dentist gasped in the room and starting discussing how large my teeth were (I think they were referring to my roots) another dentist added they hadn’t seen teeth that big. Not sure if this is or good bad, but I have found out I have big roots, I also seen my wisdom teeth that haven’t come through was very strange seeing them hidden at the top!

This video demonstrates how the impressions are taken!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrUIcoKgReE&feature=player_embedded

Next appointment is the clincheck appointment!

First Consultation (Free)

My dentist is the most straight talking person I have ever been to. When I visited him, I was kind of expecting him to go “Of course it will work your teeth with look fabulous, like a movie star”, but no, he was extremely straight with me. He explained to me, that the tooth that is causing me so much problem has a massive root and he can see this and its massive job even for braces. He said that it (Invisalign) would visually do the same job as braces although braces would change the root direction and does this bother me? I said but I can’t see the root though, why does it matter? He then said, “It matters to me, and to be it wouldn’t be perfect, it’s what you want, I don’t want you to be disappointed with the end result”.  He then explained what he believed the end result would be and I was still very happy with the end results and as part of my treatment and no extra cost he would shape my teeth and he said personally it would make the biggest difference as some of my teeth are so pointy. I had picked a winner, I was very glad with his honesty.

He had quoted my treatment would take around 15-18 months and it would cost me £3,000. It knew it would take this long with any kind of treatment and would cost just as much as a previous dentist had told me this she was very good as well but she did not do invisalign hence why I never went with her.

He told me that if I wanted to go through with a proper consultation it would cost me £275, although if I decided after the proper consultation if wanted to go through with it the £275 I paid would go off the whole treatment. In the consultation, I would have x-rays and they would take moulds of my teeth, send them all the way over to America and then when I next visit I would see my ClinCheck, this is a digital image/video that shows you step by step what your teeth will look like till the end of your treatment and seeing a possible happy end result.

I was hooked and booked my next appointment as soon as I got out of the dentist chair. As I left the dentist assistant walked with me and she said the ClinCheck is amazing! This made me very happy leaving the dentist waiting for my next appointment.

My Teeth (Pictures)

Many people cannot understand why I am getting Invisalign, and I cannot understand why they think that personally. My canines are foul especially one of them sticking right out and the point on it would put a vampires to shame.  They have always bothered me, but vanity as a kid I refused to get braces I would have had to pay from the off as It would of only been cosmetic. My parents would of happily of paid for them but again I refused. A thing about my parents I got the raw end of the deal, my mother has movie star teeth, straight and white, many people asking if she veneers or has ever had braces and my brother inherited her teeth. As my father’s teeth are the same as mine, literally and I know, he has exactly the same insecurities as I do. When we both smile, we keep our lips tight together and will rarely smile in photos.  Although at my father’s wedding the photographer seemed to have quite fascination of taking photos of me as when the photos came through there was a couple of my brother and so many photos of me, it was ridiculous! Even though most of them were ok, the evil photographer had caught me off guard with one photo. My mouth open and I was smiling, revealing all of my teeth and he had captured the side that revealed ‘my fang’. I was mortified, even more so when my mother actually brought the photo and framed it, celebrating I was smiling with mouth open.

From that point, I was on mission to change my teeth, I knew they looked bad, but seriously that bad? At this point, I had not even heard of invisalign, I was just considering getting clear braces (the ceramic ones). I have taken some pictures of my teeth, by the way the medieval device I have used to keep my mouth open I have got because months ago I got my teeth whitened and that is what she used  to keep my mouth open and she said I could have it as I brought the home kit as well. Just felt I had to explain that, I am not some weirdo with a teeth fetish!

Note to self: When I get hold of the photo that made me get braces/Invisalign (which I have stored in a place that no one can see it), I will scan it and show you the picture and my fellow insecure people will feel my pain.

Hello, I'm Shona.

My blog
As many have done before I have started my Invisalign journey and again like many others I have decided to start blogging it. I will generally blog about my experience with Invisalign post regularly pictures of my progress, how I'm feeling about it etc. How I am going to make my blog different from everyone else's is featuring the information that I wanted to know before I started the treatment that nobody else spoke about.

About me and my lifestyle
Hello! My name is Shona, I'm a woman and 19 years of age. I am currently a student at university studying Business and IT. I also have a part time job at fast food restaurant as well, I have a busy lifestyle every single day is accounting for. I am total adrenaline junkie and love keeping fit with taking long walks with black lab, Lucy! Although my diet isn't as strict as I would like it to be! I used to eat alot of chocolate but this has recently came to an end as it has started making me very poorly so I stopped eating it. Often go out for meals and always socializing with friends, my lifestyle is very active. I do not smoke nor drink any coffee, I say I have a couple cups of tea a week and thats about it! I don't drink much fizzy pop as in my house we do not buy it and only ever have it when i'm out the house. I do not drink that much alcohol although when I do go out say clubbing, I do tend to binge which I know is wrong!

Other things?Another thing that I will be posting on here is reviews of products. These include mouthwashes, toothpaste and floss (The odd toothbrush was also). At the end of my journey I want the teeth that I have always dreamed off with the help of invisalign and high street products.

Any questions? Please comment, I will get back to straight away. A big heads up also I am currently situated in the United Kingdom!