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Invisalign Trays no 19!

24 Saturday Oct 2015

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Invisalign Trays no 19/52. I have a review with my dentist this week so have raised a few concerns about where things are heading in advance of our appointment. This seems to be the right time to consider do we need to have a refinement or not. I hope not as I want to get through this vacummed packed plastic process as fast as I can but at the same time things look as if they are going a bit awry. My top and bottom front teeth are no longer parallel to each other other, with the bottom teeth seemingly now pushed down on one side. I have had two days this week where I confess I had them out most of the day, the result of a mid morning pastry then meetings.

I did find a photo of my smile pre Invisalign and well I can now see an improvement to the width of my smile. Before I had a very narrow front arch – a bit like Prince William if you know what I mean. Its a bit hard to know if its partly the attachments as they of course visually widen your teeth.

My dentist has still not responded on my enquiry for Acceleredent – I think that is the correct name. He had not ever heard of it, and I think believes in the go slow approach so I doubt he will be recommending it. We would be very interested to hear of anyone using this and what they feel?

I will report in after next appointment.

Invisalign – Do you really have to wear them for the recommended 22 hours?

13 Tuesday Oct 2015

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Invisalign – Do you really have to wear them for the recommended 22 hours?

In short – No you don’t. 18 hours a day should do the trick. Which is good because how Invisalign ever thought that 22 hours would be possible for anyone , I really don’t know. Unless of course you are one of those people who can just eat one meal a day. A man basically! Clearly Invisalign was invented by men. Any woman would have known that 22 hours a day was a non starter and would have gone straight back to the drawing board.

The eating regime of the average women goes a bit like this: Breakfast, another cup of tea/coffee, mid morning snack, more tea coffee, lunch, tea/coffee, further snack, early evening drinks and nibbles, dinner, chocolate. That would leave about 2 hours a day when your aligners are actually in. That won’t quite work either. So a bit thought and discipline needs to go into it but you don’t need to hit 22 hours.

You will have heard of the Invisalign diet. It’s not imaginary, it’s real. I lost about 5 lbs in the first 5 days through starving myself because I couldn’t get enough food down me quickly enough to get the aligners back in so I could stick to the recommended 22 hours. Clearly I wasn’t going to last the full course if I carried on like that. So I needed a plan.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner was an absolute minimum. So the routine goes like this: Coffee first thing in the morning. Then teeth are cleaned and the aligners go back in. Breakfast is as soon as I get into the office and they are out for a maximum of 30 minutes. Finding time to go and rinse the aligners before putting them back in is the difficult part but that just has to be done.

I could not get through a working day without lunch and I allow myself up to one hour without the aligners in middle of the day. And then they are back in until I get home in the evening. Evenings are my grazing time when the aligners are out for about 3 to 4 hours and I get to stuff myself with the junk food I have denied myself all day.

The main problem with this routine is that the 21st century office seems to be characterised by a never ending conveyer belt of junk food; cakes, biscuits, muffins, doughnuts. Any birthday, celebration, key date seems to involve treats etc. Rarely doe s a day go by when there isn’t something to celebrate and cakes aren’t being handed round. You will soon learn that you won’t be having any (unless you save your cake for lunch time). Grazing is simply not an option on the Invisalign diet. You will learn the art of self denial.

If you are a 10 cups of tea or coffee a day sort of person you will also have to have a rethink as it is not recommended to drink anything hot with the aligners in and of course both tea and coffee stain and would seep into them and it would be revolting.

In fact, Invisalign say the only thing you can drink apart from water is white wine so why not try substituting the tea or coffee in your day for white wine. J

Invisalign Trays 18!

10 Saturday Oct 2015

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Invisalign Trays 18.  So now 18/52 of the original mega plan and I am due to see my dentist half way through Trays 19, so I will be intrigued to know if he thinks that all teeth are moving to plan. I can still feel very little pressure on the top trays and they come out so easily, and the more I read about the difficulties for Invisalign to widen a narrow arch the more I question if anything is actually happening, as this would explain maybe why I feel so little movement. Apparently any widening can be very unstable long term. Has anyone had this arch widening done successfully? Most of the remaining upper trays are to move the teeth out sideways to widen the arch, and a little IPR to help final straighten the “Nanny Mcphee” front tooth. I think Invisalign should crack that particular toothy nut.

The bottom tray continues to move the crowded front 4 teeth outwards ready for the IPR in a few months time. The problem with this has been the creation of my Mutley canine – which has now gone outside the upper teeth. I have never had this problem with my teeth before so it is a bit of an annoyance to have to suffer this indignity.

On a positive note – new trays always mean lovely white sparkling looking teeth so big smile – “ting”…….

Invisalign Trays 17 and a 1/3 of the way through!

26 Saturday Sep 2015

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Invisalign Trays 17.

A double celebration this week – a birthday (luckily not  milestone one) and a whole THIRD of the way through this process. Hurrah….a 1/3….unbelievable! Well correction – a third of the planned 51 trays that the clincheck model shows. I am beginning to understand that this process can go off piste at any stage and refinements can take many months. It seems a long old process, and so the next milestone is now the half way mark.

The latest top tray is relatively loose as usual and so I still have concerns that the widening of the arch is actually working. I still cannot see any real movement at the sides at all.

The bottom tray is tight as usual and ouch when I took it out today after a few hours to eat breakfast. A few teeth including the Mutley canine are still pushing out and are beginning to look quite prominent but IPR to three of these teeth is planned for around February when hopefully they will begin to get pushed back in again.

No more ulcers, and no sharp edges on this set. My tennis buddy with Lingual braces is having all sorts of complications, with wax dropping off, power chains breaking, and now the latest it that she may have to have invisalign type retainers for 3 months at the end of treatment. So far I am still pleased with the flexibility of invisalign – the question still remains will they actual do what has been planned in the timeframe stated?

Keep the faith, and eat the cake.

birthday-cake-candles

Invisalign Trays 16

12 Saturday Sep 2015

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Invisalign Trays 16. I am trying to post this on holiday and it keeps crashing but here goes again. The top tray is finally tight on the top RHS molar that is the most pushed into the roof of my mouth so finally movement I hope. Nothing to report on the two front teeth and Nanny McFee although Nanny McFee is already much improved I think. Bottom set more pressure – but on the RHS molars not on the left as expected, and glad to say nothing on the front teeth.

Does anyone else name their problem teeth or is it just me?

Soaking in bottled water not tap – just in case of bugs. So far so good.

Nearly at no 17 and the major 1/3 of the way through milestone…..nearly nearly.

Invisalign Trays 15! and ulcers

30 Sunday Aug 2015

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Invsialign Trays 15. These went in yesterday morning, again the top one surprisingly loose so still amazed that it is supposed to be doing anything at all. The bottom one still pushing out the canine so look Mutley is well on track – delightful. I can see movement but it does seem SUCH a SLOW process.

Yesterday afteroon however following a special Teeth and Tennis birthday tea – the pain on brushing was agony – the top LHS molar – agony, so absess? cracked tooth? cavity? All worrying as about to go on holiday – great timing. Warm salt washes and scrubbing galore gave no relief and this morning same problem – ugh. Off to tennis where luckily another friend is a dentist – hurrah and kindly gave me a 5mins consult – verdict likely ulcers – delightful. So on getting home I discovered a long thin ulcer at the top of the gum line likely caused by a sharp edge of the invisalign tray. So Bonjela on, salt washes, grimacing but at least a way forward.

Is it that Invisalign trays can cause ulcers in this way – off to do some research on this matter as this is very painful. I have had the odd ulcer at the front of my mouth before normally if I have bitten myself by accident or stress chewing but nothing like this.

Oh the joys of vanity.

Oh and Oh

Invisalign Trays 14

15 Saturday Aug 2015

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I visisted my dentist today to see how things are progressing, and I was given a virtual A+, apparently trays are fitting well and things are moving according to the Clincheck model. So I skipped home with trays 14-19 in my bag.

Apparently not only are my teeth being moved but my upper arch jaw bone is being widened by invisalign – first time I realised that – but all sounds good to me.  Big Bertha the bottom molar with the titantic tilt has not really moved but I as assured this will  happen slowly, we did also discuss the bottom few front teeth as one needs a rotation but does not have any attachments, so my dentist did aknowledge that and said that now my package includes refinements as needed during the process so we will need to keep a close eye on it to see if it is being moved without the attachment.

One of my upper front teeth has not moved down yet oh and apparently i had a chip to my upper canine I never noticed before – a side effect of Invisalign treatment is the obsession with the detail.

Tray 14 again shows no pressure to the upper tray but ouch the bottom front few teeth are sore – as still being pushed forwards before they get IPR next year.

Patience patience patience…….

Invisalign Trays no 13

01 Saturday Aug 2015

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Invisalign Trays no 13. Hmmm well same old story….and not much more to report. The top trays feel loose again on the first day of wear and almost drop out so I am a bit concerned as to whether they are actually doing anything meaningful? In the last 2 weeks I confess to 2 days when I had them out ALL day – bad bad bad. One day I just forgot as was so absorbed in my work. Big bertha the bottom molar still is not budging and it has to be pulled up form its titanic tilt but the Mutley canine is about to get worse – so not really happy about that other than I would like some comfort from my dentist that that is intended and it is not just going off piste. I would love to say that now I am 25%!!  through the process I can see some noticeable progress but I cannot, so a bit disappointed about that.  6 months through a 2 year process, and it’s too late to turn back….I might regret this and hope it doesn’t put anyone off their food but photo attached….Big Bertha bottom RHS

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Invisalign Trays 12

18 Saturday Jul 2015

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Liz. Invisalign Trays 12/52.  Well they are in, and not much more to say other than the top set are loose, not tight as normal and I am wondering if this is a result of very erratic wearing over the last 2 weeks, hmmm. Does anyone know? The bottom set have immediately put pressure on the front four teeth as normal.

Big Bertha the lower left molar has still not budged, so I still think I might need some elastics on that at some point – I need to talk to my orthodontist about it. So no 12….nearly at no 13 which is a magic 25% milestone – whey hey…..keep on counting.

It is no hard to see any progress but something must be happening surely?!

Invisalign Trays 11!

05 Sunday Jul 2015

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Liz. Invisalign Trays no 11. Well nothing much to report on these other than I actually wish there was a bit more pain as I would know that something was moving under pressure?!  have read numerous blogs, watched You Tube videos and hard how other fellow brace wearers are suffering with pain killers for the first few days, well I have none of that. The odd sensitivity here and there but nothing as much as I expected. I have 52 trays to get through – ugh, and that is without any refinement that I understand might well be needed from reading others experiences. My guilty secret is drinking Diet Coke through a straw, and this does worry be as I think in a years time will be teeth have turned to mush, so I KNOW it is wrong, very very bad indeed, and I have no one but to blame but myself. So this is a bigger challenge for me, trying to avoid drinking any other than water when these things are in my mouth, well ok that and the odd glass of white wine.

The bottom four front teeth are still all being pushed outwards so that they will splay (delightful), then get the IPR before being pulled back in again. I have a great big bottom molar – I call big bertha, that is like a big iceburg, it is titled over a bit like the titanic, but I have no elastics so do wonder how on earth this tooth is going to be pulled back up to vertical – we will see…as yet I don’t think it has shifted at all. It leaves a gap between by bottom and top teeth,  which when I was young might just about have been cute at best, but now….not so cute. Also the trays have moved my bottom canine out far that clash of the canines means that none of the molars now meet each other, so I have to suck on bread rather than chew it – super fun.  It seems that I have now reached a possible point of no return in the process – so no going back – gulp….