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 what it’s like to wear Invisalign – how often you have to remove them etc.  It has also been useful to me, in showing me that I am really not achieving the twenty two hours a day wear that I should. 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…..

What It’s Like To Wear Invisalign – A Day In the Life

• 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 I 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

• 

  What It’s Like To Wear Invisalign – A Quick Stop For Champagne

• 9.00 Out watching Midsummer Night’s 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.