I thought it might be interesting to keep a diary for a single day of my braces; how often I remove them, number of times I floss, brush etc. Of course, having written it I can see that it really isn’t that interesting at all- yes, my life really is this boring! However, it might be useful for people considering braces to see how often you have to remove them and it has also been useful to me, in showing me that I am really not achieving the twenty two hours a day. I would love to tell you that ordinarily I am much more compliant but the sad truth is I think this is probably fairly indicative of the amount of hours that I manage to wear these things. Must do better…..

• 6am Alarm, get up and shower. Braces stay in.
• 6.30 Go downstairs. Remove Invisalign and toss them on the kitchen bench on paper towel-yick! Have breakfast then spend 40 minutes chivvying children and brushing hair.
• 7.30 Children leave for school and husband and I grab a quick coffee on our back deck.
• 7.50 Brush teeth, floss and give braces quick clean before putting them back in. Yikes. 1 hr 20 minutes out. I think I would have convinced myself it was about 30 minutes if I hadn’t checked.
• 8.10 Check emails and do some work on my computer.
• 9.15 Get peckish and remember box of Cadbury’s Favourites in the pantry. Braces out and on the kitchen bench (new paper towel!)
• 10.15 Box of chocolates almost finished and braces still out. Realise and panic. Dash upstairs to brush/floss and put braces back in. Another hour. Whoops. Total time out so far 2hrs 20 minutes
• 10.40 Glass of water- Aligners can stay in.Yay!
• 12.20 Lunchtime. Sandwich, crackers and a banana. Eat it on my deck in front of my laptop. Brush, but don’t floss.
• 12.37 Aligners back in. Total time out so far 2 hrs 37 minutes
• 4.00 Arrive home from kids after school activities. Remove aligners and throw them on the kitchen bench. Grab a snack.
• 4.24 Realise aligners still out, swear loudly, do rudimentary brush and throw them back in. Total time out of mouth 3 hrs 1 minute. Gulp
• 5.54 Husband arrives home and serve dinner. Take aligners out- you guessed it, paper towel on the kitchen bench. Eat dinner fast as have to go out.
• 6.27 Brush and put aligners back in. Total time out. 3 hrs 35 minutes
• 9.00 Out watching Midsummer Nights Dream. Grab a glass of champagne in the interval. Hide in a corner of the room and remove my aligners. Put them in case in my handbag.
• 9.15 Queue for the toilets too long so can’t brush or would miss second act. Put aligners back in. Total time out of mouth 3 hrs 50 minutes.
• 10.45 At home. Take aligners out and put them in Steradent solution whilst I brush and floss.
• 10.52 Aligners back in. Go to Bed. Total time out of mouth during whole day. 3 hours 57 minutes.

As a quick summary what I can see is that I brushed 6 times during the day but only flossed 3 times. Whoops. That my aligners were in my mouth for 20 hours and 10 minutes. Just. Also that I really, really need to wear my aligners more. But you knew that already.