Invisalign Week One - U 1/14 & L 1/9

I'm 4 days into my Invisalign treatment and have to say the teething problems (no pun intended!) seem to be slowly improving. They are a lot more invisible than I expected too (see below - excuse my dry lips - another side effect of the treatment!). Unless someone was sitting right next to me, I doubt anyone would notice they were in.

Day 1

I went to my dentist first thing to have my 4 buttons put on and get my first set of aligners. Initially the dentist  put them in for me and they did not feel how I expected at all. The tightness wasn't as bad as I thought but my gums really hurt, especially at the back of my bottom trays where I have some loose gum next to my wisdom teeth. I then practised taking them in and out myself which seemed fairly easy - I'm lucky I hardly have any buttons as they definitely make removing them harder.

I felt pretty miserable for the rest of the day and did cry when I first took them out at home. I really wondered what I'd let myself in for! My general feelings were:

• I'm going to be sick - I kept feeling like I was going to gag and needed to drink constantly
• My mouth was full of saliva.
• Speech was really difficult and I had an obvious lisp.
• My gums and tongue were really painful.

I ended up going to bed at 8.30pm because I just felt so miserable!

Day 2 -4

As the days have passed things have got slowly better. Speech is still difficult, especially towards the end of the day, but my lisp is slowly going. I can get them in and out very quickly - I even took them out in public earlier which I didn't think I'd want to do. I'm getting used to drinking a lot of water and not snacking during the day which should be good for my waistline as well as my teeth! My gum pain has pretty much gone. The bottom of my tongue scratches my bottom trays when I speak but even that seems a little better today.

The big test will be at the weekend when I work at my part-time job for the first time. The job involves speaking to people all day and my co-workers don't know I'm getting Invisalign so I will be feeling rather apprehensive about going in.

Initial Consultation and Clin Check

After making the decision to do something about my teeth, I contacted some local dental practices that did Invisalign. I chose the practice I did because they were up front about the price and have several years experience of doing the treatment.

After the dentist checked my teeth were suitable for Invisalign, I went for a record taking appointment which involved them taking several impressions of my teeth as well as taking some photos. This information was sent to Invisalign in America and two weeks later I returned to see my 3D Clin Check. I was really happy with the result I could achieve with Invisalign and the length of my treatment - only 28 weeks + any refinement needed.

Before Invisalign treatment

After years of hating my wonky teeth, I decided get Invisalign so that I can hopefully smile with confidence. This photo blog will map my progress over the next 32 weeks.

So let's begin with my teeth now. After years of sucking my thumb, some of my top teeth overlap whilst some of my bottom are pushed inwards. The overlapping causes shadows and there is a noticeable gap where my thumb once went. It actually didn't bother me throughout my teens but in my early twenties I saw a photo of me at an angle that really highlighted my bad teeth and since then I've disliked showing my teeth. At 27 I decided now was the time to get them sorted.