Liz. Invisalign Attempt 2…Day 8. Finally after a course of antibiotics and no signs left of the cough it seemed time to try the new trays (Set 2) provided by Invisalign, treated in a “different way”. That is all the information I have. Day 3 I was getting a nasty bitter taste with the trays in but drank plenty of water and it seemed to pass, and I am  now rinsing the trays every 2 days in a mixture of water and Listerine to keep them fresh. I am not going to go anywhere near the Retainer Brite product again that contains persulphates. Drinking what seems enormous amounts of water throughout the day seems to prevent the trays feeling big and stratchy, and second time around I am having the odd sip of tea followed by a slosh of water as cannot go completely tea less….impossible.  I dread the thought of 2 years of these things but do take comfort in my friend’s fantastic results, and have to remind myself of the end goal. I look forward to “Tray Change Day”, I will have 50 more of these!

Liz. Invisalign. Day – lost count right now…..Back to the dentists yesterday and pleased to say I have been given 3 sets of replacement trays treated in a different product, or in a “different way”…. I am not told more than that so don’t really understand exactly what Invisalign have done but I am keen to try. The lack of information from them is frustrating. My cough has nearly gone but I am left with acute pain on coughing or sneezing so back and forth to the doctors where yesterday I was given a course of antibiotics and sent off for a chest x ray. I won’t try the new trays until the course of antibiotics is finished and the x ray comes back all clear.  I just want to get on with the process now. I did ask my dentist if I cannot tolerate the new trays what my options are, and was surprised how he really pressed the invisalign as being the best treatment for me…..I had always understood that I was in some way compromising an optimal treatment plan because of my desire to want to have an invisable system, and the freedom to take them out of my mouth when I wanted. He stated that the ability of the Invisalign to expand the jaw (is that right?) was why Invisalign had an advantage over traditional railway tracks. He agreed I would probably struggle with lingual but needs might lead me to a hybrid solution. So for now I will wait another week then back to Tray Set No 2 treated in the new product (ugh going backwards) but NO Retainer Brite this time around either. In the meantime I am enjoying my cups of tea, diet coke and snacking galore whilst I can before the Invisalign diet is upon me once again.

Liz. Invisalign Day 22. Not much to report today…..aligners definitely NOT in my mouth until I hear back from the Dentist and Invisalign. I have felt nauseas  on and off today and feel that there is a bitter taste in my mouth and my throat is red but not painful. The hacking dry cough has pretty much stopped now they are out but I still feel the urge to retch occasionally – sorry but this is how it is. The smell of painting my nails this morning really set me off. I logged the issue with the duty Doctor at my local practice and they said to come in if things had not improved by Monday. Tomorrow I should hear back from Invisalign. Consoling myself with chocolate and cake whilst I can.

Liz. Invisalign Day 21. I woke up to more dry coughing and then hideous dry retching so out they came…..enough is enough, this cannot be right! I couldn’t face a train journey to work coughing and heaving. After the first two weeks of getting used to them this is SO frustrating.  I contacted my dentist again who is being really good and taking my concern seriously and he arranged to speak with a representative from Invisalign today. We agreed that I would not put them back in my mouth to see how my symptoms develop – from my perspective would they go? At the end of today I am still coughing and my throat is very red, and chest a little tight but the coughing has lessoned after 12 hrs with no aligners in. I googled “systemic allergy Invisalign” and was shocked to see a long list of problems people have experienced with allergies to Invisalign……….it does suggest my symptoms could well be allergic. It feels like a reaction to something very toxic.  Why on earth don’t they recommend some kind of initial allergy test!?!! My dentist spoke to someone at Invisalign at midday and passed on details of my reaction to the aligners and they are forwarding a report to their product safety advisor who will get back to him in a couple of days. They have advised my dentist that there is an option of having trays “processed differently”  – what does that mean exactly???? and why don’t they offer the option in the first place? If I can get them in the next few weeks that would be helpful. If I still react then I will have to terminate treatment with the aligners.  I am sitting here with mixed feelings, glad to have them out of my mouth but disappointed I am not moving forward on my teeth journey and worried about what I do if this is not a viable option for me. With no aligners in I assume my teeth could move again. Right now I just want to feel back to my healthy self.

Liz. Invisalign Day 20. Today was a tough day, I coughed a dry stratchy cough from dawn until dusk, and as my voice began to fail me, I decided to email my dentist with my worries. I am sure it is a reaction to either the trays or the Retainer Brite. During the afternoon it was so bad, I took out the bottom tray which gave me almost instant relief. Right now I feel disappointed and worried about the implications are. My dentist was quick to respond to my concerns and told me to stop immediately wearing the trays that had been soaked in the Retainer Brite, and rule that out straight away, and then go on to try the next set of trays. I could not get home fast enough and spend some time washing in plain water the third set before putting them in. An hour later……same problem, horrendous dry cough, and my body wants the bottom one OUT. The next 24hrs will be really important to me if I can stomach these. My dentist is going to ask about the option of Hypoallergenic trays……it appears from other blogs this may be an option. We will see. Right now I am really fed up. This is not a problem I saw coming.

Teeth Trays no 2

Liz. Invisalign Day 19. I thought that it might be helpful to show what my trays no 2 actually look like….sparkling and clean after their now daily soak “ting” The upper tray has more work to do as my arch is very narrow especially at the back and will take months to widen out, some teeth have become compressed inwards and I tend to play with one tooth with my tongue all the time. I took a nail file to the bottom tray this morning as it was horribly stratchy and wow what a difference, smoothing off the plastic meant that I no longer feel so horribly aware of the tray in my mouth, so I might go and buy a range of files of different smoothness to really take the edges off. For the price I would have hoped that the trays would not be sent out with such sharp edges. I wonder if this could be a regular requirement? I am also beginning to realise how important it is to wash hands thoroughly as taking the trays in and out could be a great way of picking up bugs, so many things to think about….