Metal Mouth Message Board

Hi guys, I'm getting my first tray today and would like to know all your helpful hints and tricks that you found out on your own, such as cleaning, storage, what you can get away with eating or drinking, any gum thats safe to chew, any pain pills to take to help with pressure...basically anything! Thanks in advance!

Congratulations on your new journey! You might want to use the search feature on this site to check on the different topics. That way you can read a variety of perspectives and information. I am fairly new to Invisalign (just short of changing to my third set), and I found a lot of previous posts to be really helpful. Good luck!

i did a search on my past posts and found 1 from july 2006 wow so long ago, i saves me doing some typing

1, they are nearly invisible just make sure your aprox 1 foot away when talking to someone. (still nobody knows iv have them in 8 months)

2, they are generally only uncomfortable for 48 hours best to put them in on friday night before you go to bed then they are in for 8 hours without taken out and then when u go back to work u will not even feel them.

3, for first set tricky to put in and take out for first couple of days but after that u will have hang of it just takes practice like anything else.
and 1 thing iv had to do recently was go for a long walk with some mates and we stoped for something to eat i could of walked behind them and taken them off but i wanted to be sneaky so i pretended to cough to get them out without being seen thats how easy u can take them out unseen but i would not recomend doing that all the time though.

4, i was worried about speech but it was very minimal so if u put them in friday night by monday everything should be fine.

5, if u have crap hygiene now in a few weeks u will not for brushing 5 or times a day there will be no gum disease.

6, get used to drinking water it become normal after a while but when the trays are out u can drink cordial or a beer only have the trays out for 10 mins for a snack which most people including me can`t be bothered and so just eat more food in main meal allow 30 mins for main meals.

7, my only concern so far has been some of my molars have tipped this could be due to having 4 extractions don`t know if your having any but just mention this to your ortho.

iv most likely forgot something but im sure thats enough for u to digest for now

If you do a search for my thread, "Notes From a Year In" (I've just bumped it for you, actually), you'll find much of what you're looking for. I'm about to switch to tray 31 of 42U/47L and am quite happy and not having any problems (unlike diehard, I have only had good results so far from my extractions - but that's another story).

In short: don't worry, you'll figure it all out. The only thing to really know in advance is to stock up on Efferdent and change to your new trays at night.

just an update on my tipping molar problem because i had finished my trays my ortho got a mini retainer made which does not cover the molars and like she said they are moving back toward each other as the can not bare to be apart

My speech was only bad for the first week, at most.

I found it took me about 3 sets of aligners to figure out the best way to take them off quickly. Everyone's teeth are different, so I guess each person has to learn what works for them. For example, in my case, on the top I use the hook on the outer left side to click the aligner off an attachment, then I use the hook on the inside to help it off the canine attachment, then I pull it off the front and other side. It takes some experimenting to find the best way.

Like others said, with a new set, the best thing to do is put them on in the evening and sleep with them before taking them off. Once they're on for 12 hours they are easier to get off then say after only 4-6 hours.

My teeth mostly just hurt when taking off the aligners the first few days of a new set. They haven't been painful when I eat. I haven't needed an pain killers.

I have a stop watch and time how long I have the aligners out, then put it in a spreadsheet. I just wanted to get a sense of how long I have them out. In the beginning I only had them out an average of 2 hours a day, but that has crept up to 3-3.5 hours a day now. (I'm on 13 of 28.) I'm getting lazy about eating quickly and putting them back in.