Got my attachments on today and not a fan!!

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#1 Post by **invisibyte** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 10:34 pm

Well, today was the day. After 6 weeks (3 aligners) of being lulled into a false sense of security with no attachments, I had the dreaded things applied about 5 hours ago. And i have to say, thus far, I'm freaking out!

I have 2 on the top, and 5 on the bottom. After my ortho applied them, he told me to take a trip to the bathroom to make sure I could get them on and off. WELL. It took me about 5 minutes to wrestle them ON. So you can imagine what off was like. The nurse eventually came in to help me and offer advice. By that stage I had managed, but the "ripping teeth out" feeling was pretty bad.

I know it is bound to get easier... but what makes it worse I think is I got the slenderizing today aswell (IPR) on the top teeth. Now, back home, I managed to get the bottom tray off with a good amount of wrestling and an almighty "crack" that sounded like the tray was going to snap in half. But what I'm more worried about is the top tray. It hurt ALOT when I tried. I tried to get the tray off, and it seemed to come off easier than the bottom, but I didn't manage to pull it all the way off my teeth because of a shooting pain in my front right tooth (that is protruding and is what I wanted fixed most) so I quickly snapped it back on and held my fingers to my gums, terrified that I'd pulled the tooth out or something. It hurt for a good half hour after that until it settled back into a dull ache.

Is this normal? Is it in fact possible to accidentally pull teeth out or make them dangerously loose? I think I'm more sensitive too cos the slenderizing made my teeth look so odd and precarious - I got .5mm on about 5 teeth.

I got so hungry that I ate some soft noodles with the bottom tray out but the top one still in. I don't think I'm going to attempt to take the top one off till the morning, so I hope not too much residue is stuck beneath.

Words of encouragement please!!

#2 Post by **gdriftr** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 1:38 am

It gets easier..

Try different ways of leveraging them out. Start on one side and work your way round. Try leveraging from the inside. You'll develop your ideal technique pretty quickly.

The trays also get looser after a few days, so usually it's only the beginning of a tray that is so bad.

#3 Post by **Wobblydeb** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 2:02 am

The pain is actually at its worst when you are in the middle of taking one out. I think it is because your teeth are already tender, and then they get some force from an odd angle as you try and take the tray out.

Once it is out, it actually hurts a lot less - honest!

When you switch to your next tray, pop it in before you go to bed to give your teeth a good few hours before you have to take it out. Makes life a lot easier

#4 Post by **tizzy** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 9:23 am

I totally agree with Wobblydeb.

Once I put a new tray in I try to leave it on for as long as possible. One time I made the mistake of putting a new set of alingers in and then quickly removing them right away for whatever reason and popped an attachment off. I also suggest growing your thumb and index fingernails if you can ha. Those babies help me pop off my trays nice and easy.

#5 Post by **invisibyte** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 9:44 pm

Thanks for your replies.

Yes like some of you said, it's certainly more painful when the tray is half off! The problem is, in the beginning as I"m sure some of you remember, it's just too hard to yank the tray off quickly and the 'half hanging' bit in the middle is unavoidable. Yesterday, it just hurt too much for me to give it a full attempt (understandably, cos it was my first few hours with tray 4 and attachments on!).

This morning, I managed to take both trays off. But the tenderness is the worst I've had so far!! I think the teeth that are moving this tray are the top front-most ones, which are extra sensitive and extra hard to avoid when eating... also they are the problem areas for me in terms of crowding and twisted teeth. So I guess that explains the pain!

On another note, i just realised today when flossing, that my ortho stuck two of my bottom teeth together, the ones next to the midline. Haha. I suppose this means another appointment to unstick them? It is only noticeable because I can't floss between them.

#6 Post by **flesym12** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 11:46 pm

Removing my aligners with attachments was really hard for me the first week I had them. I highly recommend that you purchase an aligner removal tool:
http://www.dentakit.com/rereto.html

#7 Post by **PaulInc** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 5:53 pm

flesym12 wrote:Removing my aligners with attachments was really hard for me the first week I had them. I highly recommend that you purchase an aligner removal tool:
http://www.dentakit.com/rereto.html

Truth, get a tool, even if you get the "knack", tools ultimately easier and better than sticking your fingers in your mouth.

There are alternative sites in the UK that sell a similar tool if you're not in the US.

#8 Post by **tizzy** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 11:06 am

Meh, I didn't have two attachments placed back on for 6 weeks and another for 8 weeks and I was fine (mind you I have 14 attachments and 2 hooks for elastics in total so maybe that's a lot of back-up.) My teeth are moving along nicely even with the attachments not place on immediatly after falling off. If your ortho says you will be okay I'm sure it will be all good.

#9 Post by **tizzy** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 11:26 am

Ack, good grief, ignore that last post. Posted in the wrong placed (what a suprise considering I'm so tech savvy...yeah) anyway yeah a lot of people are fans of those tools but I just find them to be cumbersome. My fingers are a lot quicker. Guess I'm just a fan of sticking them in my mouth I suppose.

#10 Post by **Wireless** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 2:55 pm

My lower tray has two attachments on both sides. These are on my premolars and make the lower tray very difficult to remove. I've learned to use two thumb nails - one on the rear of the tray and one under the two attachments to get it out. At first it was difficult and I needed a mirror, but now I can get the tray out fairly quickly without having to see what I am doing. Its usually very easy now until I change to a new set of trays. I don't use tools since I travel a lot and would probably need to have two to get the tray out, adding to what I have to carry around.

I've had my attachments for over a month now and they are still uncomfortable when I take my aligners out. Most of them are rectangular without beveled edges. This definitely encourages me to comply with keeping them in. I'm definitely looking forward to when I can have these off!!

I can identify with the problem of getting the tray out during the first ortho visit with attachments. I made the mistake of going in for attachment placements on a school holiday. The waiting room was packed with 13 year olds. It took me 20 minutes to the the tray out the first time and this was in front of a mirror in a hallway that I realized after a few minutes could be seen from part the waiting area!

Sun Mar 22, 2009 4:35 pm

I agree, I'm not a fan of the attachments, but if they do the job. My aligners arer much harder to remove since I have had them, but only for the first week. I am on the last day of my current aligner and I can pop them in and out in about 5 seconds, so it does get easier. This is my fourth lot with the attachments, and it took about 4 weeks to get comfortable with them.