Metal Mouth Message Board

My treatment has gone without any hitches so far so Im really pleased.

I put my 8th trays in last night after dinner (after about an hour since i took my 7th trays out), they were very tight and Im sensing that the tray isnt fitting 100% right around a few of my teeth. Im wondering if:

a) Having no trays in for an hour before putting in my 8th ones meant my teeth replased a teeny bit
b) This is perfectly normal and will take a few days for my teeth to adjust (and Ive had a pretty easy ride by not experiencing this so far in my treatment)

My Ortho did say that trays 7-9 would make some real visible differences to my teeth so Im keeping this in mind too, but can anyone help please?! Thanks

Oh and I forgot to mention, certain teeth are really painful (how could I forget that?!!)

I guess this tray is asking for more movement than your previous trays. If it fitted perfectly at the start of the fortnight, then your teeth wouldn't move at all Make sure you keep them in for as many hours as possible, and hopefully at the end it will fit snug!

Thanks Wobblydeb. I think youre right, Im aiming for about 23 hours wear a day for the first 3/4 days. That way I hope to get my teeth adapting to the tray as quick as poss

Cheers again

I have also experienced a few trays that were very tight and my teeth would be sore for a few days. I also notice some tightness when I have my aligners out for more than an hour, particularly the first few days with a new tray. Im on 13 of 14 U / 21 L and the last few trays have been more difficult than the earlier ones.

Good luck - looks like you are getting close to the finish line!!

Hi there,
My lastest tray (12) feels much tighter than all my previous ones. It also feels like it isn't a great fit, in fact at the beginning I wondered whether the plastic was thicker than normal. However, I don't think it is I just think there was more movement happening this set.

I would give it a week, if it still isn't fitting correctly then give your ortho a call. Good luck.

Hi everyone, thanks for your replies. I'm on day 3 now and already theyre a much better fit and the pain is 90% gone.

I appreciate your replies, thank you. Fingers crossed, all will be ok at my next check-up in 3 weeks

I noticed the same thing about having the previous aligners out for an hour just before switching to the new aligners. Now I try to put the old ones back in for an hour after eating & brushing before switching to the new ones. The old ones feel a little tight for a few minutes after they've been out for an hour, so I figure the new aligners will be that much tighter if I went directly to them.

Another possibility is that you need a little IPR where they shave the teeth down slightly to make room for the teeth to move.

Also, my 3rd or 4th set of aligners actually had a slight defect. The point of a lower canine was rounded off on the plastic so it didn't fit completely over that tooth, so the aligner didn't fit well on that tooth and the teeth near it. I've haven't heard anyone else have this problem, so I guess it's pretty rare.