My Invisalign Journey

WHO CAN BELIEVE THAT?

Even better than being halfway through the treatment is the fact that as of last month Invisalign halved the treatment time, allowing many patients to change their aligners every week instead of fortnightly – that is just amazing, and actually is working great for me.

A reminder of what is happening…

So how different to my teeth look now?

My husband says they are virtually straight already, my daughter, sadly for her is a great benchmark to how different my bottom teeth are, as at the start of my treatment our lower teeth were identical! Sorry Steph!

My smile is broader and my bite is great. All the problems of food getting stuck between wonky teeth are evaporating quickly.

• Before treatment began
• Aligner 15 (today)
• How my teeth will look

Has there been any negatives?

Yes, but in context they are small. The aligners are nearly invisible, or they would be had I not needed so many attachments to turn my twisted teeth around! Interestingly, as they have done their job, they are less obvious as they are not sticking out to the side anymore. My teeth are flatter now.

I still lisp a bit, but I know that is because I had so much crowding that my teeth have been pushed forward to align them. The brilliant thing is that I can tell from my clincheck that this is temporary, after the next aligner they begin to move in again so that should help, and anyway, I only have another 12 weeks to go!

My lips get a bit dry. Lip balm is my new best friend and an easy solution. I do find I need to drink more water as I produce more saliva at the moment, I don’t know why that is.

I don’t get ulcers anymore when I change aligners now, just a very welcome ache on the first couple of days which tells me the new aligner is doing it’s job.

In the early days I experienced a little neuralgia in my jaw around day 5 – that lasted for 3 trays and disappeared when my body clearly got accustomed to the changes. Neither have my teeth felt particularly loose. On occasion I have had a few minutes of mental adjustment on my first chew after a new aligner has moved a tooth obviously, but that goes quickly.

A plus I didn’t see coming was my fuller smile has actually decreased some of my fine wrinkles around my mouth – long may that live. And the funniest sensation is when you take your aligners out to eat – your teeth feel ridiculously sharp.

I can categorically confirm that red wine will stain your aligners, having tested that well and truly at a friend’s birthday bash recently. The upside was a good soaking in Effervesse removed it. Pink teeth is not a good look though!

Giving the aligners a good scrub is vital; you can see how they could build up nasties very quickly. A handy tip I was given by practice nurse Lisa, is to use liquid soap – does the trick perfectly with no scratching to the surface.

I have only had one aligner that I had difficulty seating but I solved that by getting it ¾ on and then biting down – it popped straight on and by the time I removed it at lunchtime my teeth had already shifted enough to make it easy again.

Finally, the last plus I will wax lyrically about today, is the fact that I can’t easily snack between meals – it’s a nuisance, so I don’t do it. This has meant that I have managed to keep the weight off that I had lost and I have now got out of the habit. Result!

Next blog will be a few months time – my treatment will be nearly concluded, but already Helen is telling me they may need some refinement at the end – she wants them PERFECT!

Pam – a woman of a certain age (and proud of it!)

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