2nd set of Invisalign aligners

It’s not that I’m a masochist, don’t get me wrong, but I am almost disappointed by the lack of pressure or pain these second aligners have caused me.
I had psyched myself up, if not for pain exactly, then at least a level of discomfort comparable with my first set, but- nothing. Well, perhaps not nothing exactly, but the discomfort has really been minimal, more a too tight pair of trousers than early childbirth. I think the disappointment stems from a fear that if I can’t feel pain then my teeth aren’t moving any closer to their shiny, new, improved postitions, which I’m sure the orthodontist would tell me is simply not the truth.
So, something of an anti-climax. On Tuesday morning I excitedly snipped the seal on the Invisalign plastic bag that contained my new set of aligners, and placed them side by side with set 1, scrutinising them,  hoping to be able to spot some difference, however small. But, nothing. Nada. To my eyes they look identical in every respect. Every respect except one that is. The section that covers the wayward tooth that grows across the bottom of my mouth (see the pictures of the tooth here, or the clincheck here) is much larger than it was for the first set where it simply slotted over the top part of the tooth. In the second set, it encloses the whole tooth, and horror of horror, on removing it from the pack I could see that the aligner had a small crack up the side of that tooth.
This caused me a minor panic as there was no way I wanted to wait the 4-6 weeks for a new set. I called my orthodontist planning to beg for an immediate solution, but, thankfully no begging required.  He was no keener than I on any delays and decided that as the aligner isn’t moving that tooth and won’t interfere with my treatment, as long as it isn’t causing me discomfort, I can just wear it. Yay.


(set 1 are at the top and set 2 are at the bottom in each picture)
Another thing that I noticed about the new set was that they weren’t as clear as set #1, which is a little odd considering I have been wearing set #1 for 2 weeks. I have been absolutely scrupulous about hygiene, so they were looking pretty spotless, but the new set looking so cloudy, even before I had worn them, bothered me. As a precaution I gave them a quick scrub with a soft toothbrush and a rinse and they came up just as clear as the first set. I’m not sure what it was that was making them look cloudy, but I’m glad it went down the plughole rather than in my mouth. I will be cleaning them all in future before inserting them for the first time.
Once clean I put them in with almost no trouble. The stray bottom tooth makes it a little complicated in that I have to insert the lower set and then separately pop that section onto the side tooth. It seems to work ok though despite the split. I am removing them slightly more gingerly than the last set, just in case they are more fragile.
For the first couple of minutes there was some pressure, but nothing when compared to the first set. To what extent it was simply me getting used to the sensation of having a foreign plastic object in my mouth the first time around, however, is hard to say. They were a little difficult to remove for the first day, but again, nothing like at the beginning of the first set, which I’m sure is almost certainly down to improved technique. For the first 12 hours I had very slight root sensitivity on my front teeth, but certainly no pain.
So, all in all a successful beginning to set 2. Would it be tempting fate to hope that the rest of the sets go as smoothly?