Time to blossom - lilyflower's story

[lilyflower]

Day 24:

As I am currently stuck home (with really no way to get out with my sprained ankle) the daily updates will continue for a few more days.

Today, I can definitely say that I'm aware of how loose my top aligner feels, which makes sense as I'm scheduled to change to the next set on Monday. I never really feel the looseness in the bottom (although there's a lack of pressure, but it's always more obvious for me in the top.) I think this is partially because I have less holding the aligner in on top (7 attachments - on the canines and pre-molars for anchorage mostly - one for rotation), so I feel it more there than on the bottom where I normally have 14 attachments (except for where one popped off yesterday). I wouldn't say the bottom is loose but there's definitely not any real pressure anywhere.

My pain/annoyance is more from my sprained ankle at the moment than the aligners although I find I keep falling asleep with my leg elevated and waking up with dry mouth a few hours later. The upside to being injured and sleepy is that I'm not eating much so I'm easily meeting 22+ hours a day of wear time. So I think I've made up for any reduced wear times in this set so far.

The virtual bite ramps are less annoying now that I have three instead of four. I expect I'm going to have to deal with these beyond the next set because of my deep bite, and until things start to line up more in the back and touch. (Probably six months minimum is my estimate.) However as they're different on each set and can be different sizes and depths hopefully they won't be the annoyance I ran into on the first set again. Right now, I have three - two on the left, on one the right and they're not sharp or anything. If I do find a sharp one, I'm going to treat it like a sharp edge on an aligner and take a nail file to it to smooth it a little.

I really have not gotten used to the attachments on the bottom with my aligners out. It just constantly feels like I have something stuck to my teeth. Particularly in the front - so it makes me want to go brush, floss, waterpik and stick the aligners back in ASAP after eating. Good for compliance, I guess but even when I know they're not trapping food they still feel foreign. Of course, I also have a history of getting food stuck in my lower front teeth anyway (aka the mess) when eating so this might be why I feel like this because attachments there kind of mimic food being stuck there for me.

I will say that flossing has gotten a LOT easier and that there's not a place that I can't get floss into which with the lower crowding was NOT the case before I started.

After breaking off an attachment yesterday, I've been reworking my strategy on the bottom tray for removal. I don't know if that attachment came off from the way I was removing the trays or that it was already weakened from chewing biting since it was on a molar.

I've gotten pretty used to what is essentially a mouthful of plastic. My lisp is pretty much gone now and the whole process of eating has become second nature. A little annoying - yes, but second nature. Considering what I would be facing had I gone traditional braces (Ie, a bite plate/molar buildups/bite turbos at a minimum in addition to brackets and wires), I think I really got off easy.

For those with Essix retainers, I imagine this has to be somewhat similar - aside from the attachments and I know the invisalign aligners are thinner and there is a certain degree of flexibility to them to get them in and out. Yes, they can be broken but I've stopped worrying so much about cracking the aligners when putting them in and out since they seem to stand up to normal forces. Also, I'm pretty certain they get more pliable with wear. '

I had a friend pick me up ginger ale and diet sprite yesterday so I can try some clear ocean experiments (for science ) I''ll try out some combos over the next few days and let people know what is a good combo for when you meet someone for drinks and DON'T want to remove aligners (all white wines are fine to drink with aligners in as would be champagne, just brush after.)

As always happy to answer questions, I think I might've lost some more weight too but I'm not getting on a scale until I can use both legs

[metalliKa]

Sorry to hear! Hope you recover quickly from the ankle injury!

[nitro]

My lisp is pretty much gone now and the whole process of eating has become second nature

Thaths fantathtic!

[lilyflower]

My lisp is pretty much gone now and the whole process of eating has become second nature

Thaths fantathtic!

LOL! You should've heard me try to sing along to "Counting Stars" the first few days. It was pretty funny. I actually do a lot of public speaking so if I absolutely have to I can take these out to speak but I'd prefer not to as I feel I need to adjust - and I think I have pretty well so far.

[lilyflower]

Day 25 Update:

I am BORED - not because of my invisalign but rather my sprained ankle (which is slowly healing) but as I'm pretty much housebound for a few more days here's some updates.

My aligners are definitely looser which means that this set has pretty much accomplished what it was supposed to do. I move on to the next ones on Monday.

This has definitely gotten more "normal" for me. I would think it's got to be a little bit easier to be female and in any kind of ortho treatment than male just because the sheer convenience of a purse to put stuff in. Not sure you you guys carry around your supplies.

For me it works as following:
1) Main travel bag (in the purse) - small cosmetic bag with folding toothbrush, travel toothpaste, aligner case, flosser picks, and a small thing of floss. (The picks are generally easier on the go for me.) I also have colgate wisps in my purse, biotene dry mouth spray and sugar free mints.

2) One of my work bags - a cheap back up case and some Colgate wisps

3) Desk at work - a slightly larger bag with toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, and a case. (This is for the, I'm at work and forgot my purse at home scenario)

So my advice generally is such, make a main kit to go with you and then put some backup kits in places that you might need them. At the very least these should include extra cases (you can get a couple of retainer cases really cheap on Amazon) to avoid lost aligners.

My rule is this - if it's not in my mouth, it's in a case. I enforce this even at home as I keep a case in my bathroom and also use the ultrasonic cleaner with retainer brite if I know I'm going to have a longer period with them out or really want to get them clean. I use retrainer brite with the ultrasonic cleaner (which btw was like $6 from Amazon) once a day at home. I've yet to notice any kind of odor from my aligners like others have noticed and while I do think I've had SOME discoloration it's nothing noticeable or gross and I'm pretty sure I can attribute it to my "iced coffee through a straw" addiction.

For anyone getting Invisalign, go buy yourself a SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM Ultrasonic toothbrush if you don't already have one - you don't need the fancy models, I have the base model and it works just fine - it has more oomph than the normal battery ones (Which I've used for years) and also a 2 minute shut off feature to make sure you're brushing long enough. You don't need to use one on the go (I don't) but for home use this is is a huge help.

Also, a waterpik while not essential is a huge help. My first week I kept feeling like I was getting stuff STUCK whenever I ate and this takes care of all of that - and anything that I miss flossing (like way in the back). I use mine morning and night - or more often if I'm home and really feel like something I ate got stuck somewhere. Just start at the low setting and remember to lean over the sink unless you plan to also spray the bathroom

I personally also use the ACT Braces Care Fluoride rinse twice a day - I switched to this one because I had a bit of a mouth irritation on my first set of trays and found the aloe in it helped soothe it.

Oh - buy Biotene in bulk. The regular mouthwash is clear and fine to use with aligners in and it doesn't burn. Also helps with dry mouth (I personally have a real problem with how badly Listerine burns.)

Water is your friend - but in terms of beverages anything clear, sparkling without sugar should be absolutely fine. Ie carbonated sugar free flavored waters, diet Sprite. At some point I'm going to work out some clear/nearly clear ocean recipes that involve diet sprite and/or ginger ale. I think the secret will be vodka or clear rum but I have to figure out a taste test to see what would work well with these mixers since this is not what I typically mix alcohol with. (Also, I'm thinking any darker liquors are OUT because of the staining factor)

Oh regarding eating. Yes, you do have to plan your meals a little - ie, it gets very annoying to eat small meals every 3 hours. What I find is that I allow myself generally one meal a day where I linger a little over my food (usually while my aligners are soaking) and then two quicker ones and I still hit 22 hours wear time or more. According to my ortho anything over 20 hours is fine but I'm obviously trying to aim for 22 just to make sure I get the full benefit of this (and that I don't have to spend longer in sets than 2 weeks.) I really don't want to increase my treatment time for not wearing my aligners enough.

In terms of visibility - no one has yet noticed except for those I've TOLD and people who've seen me take them in and out. This is with 21 attachments so I really don't consider it a big deal. The attachments blend in pretty well and they're definitely smaller than brackets - just of course, it's an annoyance if they come off. I'm still not sure if that one that came off the other day is due to biting or how I was removing my aligner. I guess we'll see when I get it rebonded at my next appointment. All the others have stayed put so far *knock on wood*

What else... hmm, well, I'm currently single so I can't answer any kissing/bedroom questions. I don't think this would be a major issue but as I think it's a trial and error thing (and remember worse comes to worse, it IS removable.) The thing that I think would bother someone else MIGHT be my virtual bite ramps (although they don't bother MY tongue) and maybe the aligner edges. So YMMV.

Also, generally, I've been greeted with a a lot of almost envy when people find out which I find funny. I don't entirely get it but okay then.

[lilyflower]

Day 29:

So I haven't had much to report beyond my painful ankle, which is thankfully not as bad today.

However, today is also aligner change day. I just put in set 3

Both top and bottom fit snugly but I definitely had to do some work with a chewie to get the top to fully seat and I still don't think it has 100%. There's definitely a change when putting in a new tray versus the tail end of an old one. Going to leave these in for at least 6 hours before TRYING to remove because they're a lot tighter than the last set.

Pictures to come later tonight as I have to get to the doctor for my ankle.

[lilyflower]

Picture time!

First off, the new set of aligners:




Still three bite ramps which of course, make my bite look like this:


'



The mess:

[nitro]

The mess is starting to look less messy! I notice quite a bit of change with your bite already. Thinks are starting to look good!

[lilyflower]

The mess is starting to look less messy! I notice quite a bit of change with your bite already. Thinks are starting to look good!

Yup, it's been much much easier to floss there for a few weeks now. Somewhere around set 9 (I'm on 3 now) the lower crowding should mostly be resolved and then it'll be just straightening and bite correction.

I can tell this set is tighter than the ones I took off this morning but I'm not particularly feeling any pressure anywhere. This also could be because I'm on prescription anti-inflammatories for my ankle. (Which is at least now in an aircast and I am allowed to walk on )

I think I've moved into the "arch expansion" part on the bottom. It's not possible to do a ton of expansion obviously, but I'm not going to need a lot to make things fit and I still have a tiny bit more room for molars to go back. I did notice that the bottom aligner seemed wider slightly than the one before it.

Next appointment is in 2 weeks so we'll see how things are coming along and I'll end up getting that one attachment I lost rebonded.

[lilyflower]

Day 30:

Wow, I can't believe it's Day 30 already. Almost a month has gone by and I do have to say I've adjusted to this whole process pretty well. I'm on the second day of the new set of aligners and while they're tight in places it's definitely not painful. What IS painful is my damn sprained ankle and my neck from laying down all last week to elevate said ankle.

So now that I'm somewhat in, let's do some before and afters, shall we?

Before/Day 1:

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Day 30:

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[lilyflower]

Over one month in update:

It's now over one month:

I am still home with my lovely technicolor ankle so here's an update.

1) Alcoholic beverages that don't stain aligners
- White wine
- Ginger ale and vodka (I recommend whipped creme vodka - it's a very nice combo)
- Sprite with any type of vodka or a CLEAR flavored rum (think Bacardi)

Basically if your ocean is clear to mostly clear you should be fine. As always brush afterwards! But you can safely get away with these if you have Invisalign and find yourself at happy hour. Don't go with anything with more color than white wine or ginger ale though - because I'm pretty certain that would stain.

2) Removing aligners on the go - actually pretty easy to do without a mirror in the car. Pretty easy to do once you get the hang of it. I found myself having no trouble yanking mine out in the car to have a coffee and bagel while I drove to a doctor's appointment.

3) Depending on what's moving it might actually be more painful to remove aligners/have them out than have them in. This is a new trend with this set - I'm in arch widening I believe so I find that I have a lot of sensitivity in my lower front incisors when I take the aligners out. It's that little wiggle back thing when the force is removed I guess.

4) The first thing I notice every morning upon waking is my bite ramps. I don't know why but my tongue goes there when I wake up and it's like a "Wtf is this?" Otherwise I don't really notice the aligners at all. I know there'll be a point when I won't have them at all but that's likely not for quite a few more sets as stuff moves.

5) Space can literally change from day to DAY during a week of wearing an aligner - Maybe this is just me but I've noticed this a lot when flossing that one day it seems there's room in front of my molars, next day it's in front of the pre-molars. The difference isn't noticeable to the eye (or I'd take pics) but it totally is when flossing. I'm really surprised how fast this is working sometimes.

6) Snacking is still a giant pain in the ass - so I still avoid it.

[lilyflower]

Week 5 update:

Today officially marks 5 weeks of Invisalign. Definite changes so far, I was going to say that absolutely nothing had changed on my top arch but I noticed that my right central and lateral incisors are perfectly straight to each other now. They didn't start off that far apart but that's a cool thing. My left central (which is a little more out of alignment likely won't move much until I can ditch the bite ramp that's on the backside of the aligner there.

Also, the lower crowding continues to improve, which is the main reason I did this in the first place so yay

Day 1:

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Week 5:

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[lilyflower]

A few more week 5 pics:

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[nitro]

It seems as though you are making fantastic progress. Things are starting to look quite well aligned in the front. Have you reached the point of only checking progress occasionally? I'm just barely past my first week and notice changes every day, but I seem to remember rapid changes happening less and less as time goes by.

[lilyflower]

It seems as though you are making fantastic progress. Things are starting to look quite well aligned in the front. Have you reached the point of only checking progress occasionally? I'm just barely past my first week and notice changes every day, but I seem to remember rapid changes happening less and less as time goes by.

I haven't really checked much since I started this last set - I get my next sets at my appointment on Monday so we'll see from there where things go and how things are going. My somewhat silly concern is that things might be slowing down/not working because of my ankle injury but I think that's pretty unlikely