I almost decided not to switch to these Invisalign trays on the basis that I have a seriously sore throat. But. But. But. The ever nagging little voice in my head that thinks that my teeth will end up going back 5 stages if I don’t complete this thing properly keeps telling me that I need to follow all the instructions exactly to the letter, so switch I did. I figured that the panadol would probably help my throat too, right?
I have read all over the invisalign braces forums that you should switch your aligners at night. The reasoning behind this is that by morning the pressure on your teeth will be reduced, and that they will be easier to remove.
For me, though, there are two reasons why this doesn’t work. Firstly, I actually like the pressure- somehow it makes it real that my teeth are moving and that this isn’t just some crazy torture device that I am inflicting on myself. Secondly, and yes, I know this is sad, I like having 2 days a fortnight where I can’t snack! As a confirmed snack addict Lord knows my body needs this regular reduction in calories, so I see it as a positive that getting my trays out is something of an ordeal for the first couple of days.
I had the usual excitement taking these aligners out of the packet. I’m not sure what it is that I am expecting when I unwrap them- that these will be the ones that will suddenly transform my teeth?- but I always get that tragic little flutter. I also got my set #1 braces out, and have taken some pictures to compare. Personally I’m not sure that there is any visible difference, maybe it is too soon, but if you can see any please let me know. I feel that there should be some simply because on 5/17 my top arch is almost a third of the way through treatment.
I have looked at my clincheck videos which definitely show some movement by this point, but on the aligners and on my teeth I just can’t spot it. Perhaps it is like watching your children grow. You don’t see it happening at the time, it is only later looking back at old pictures that you can see the difference.
Even if there is nothing to actually see I can definitely feel the movement happening. The majority of it is in my two front teeth and in the area where the stray tooth is growing over the bottom of my mouth. It is certainly pressure as opposed to pain though.
These are my comparison pictures. I have noticed that set #1 have started to discolour (and whiff!) in storage so from now on I am sterilising all my old aligners before putting them away.
The left aligner is number one, the right is number 5. Please let me know if you can see anything different about them!
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