Yesterday morning I began my year and a half long adventure with Invisalign. I am so excited. I have wanted braces since I was in middle school. Both of my sibling received them (although their teeth were far worse off than mine) and I have always been a little angry about that. So after some saving and a blessing from my husband, I got Invisalign.
I will wear each tray for 3 weeks and then put in a new one. Each new tray will use pressure to slowly push my teeth into place. Kind of like when you get your traditional braces tightened. I have 10 trays on top and 27 on bottom. I did not realize how much worse my bottom teeth were than my top, but I also have a couple teeth that are turned and they said it takes more time with those. By my calculations I should be finished with the top trays on August 11, 2010 and finished with the bottom trays on August 3, 2011. My son will be 2 years old. Having a 2 year old seems so far away....but only wearing these clear retainers that long doesn't.
They hurt way more than I expected. When I first put them in they were tight but not painful. By they end of the night I didn't want to remove them to eat and by 2am I was wide awake with pain in my teeth and gums and I swear I could feel my pulse through my teeth. I popped some Tylenol and though it didn't help completely I was able to fall back asleep. These does help with the whole eating less plan. I really want to avoid taking them out to eat except for my three meals a day. They are so sore, at least right now. I also have to brush my teeth and the trays before putting them back in. It is a lot of work to eat right now! This isn't a bad thing though. I makes me decided if my hunger is true or just our of boredom. I think this might stay with me even after I am done with treatment.
(When Colin doesn't sleep well because he is cutting teeth I might understand his pain a little better and not be so frustrated!)
I did a lot of research before deciding on these...I have been reading about them for years...probably since high school. When I Googled Invisalign hoping to get pages about personal stories and picture of finished smiles I didn't come up with much. So I am going to periodically write about my progress and hopefully post pictures of the trays so that if someone is doing the same research I am they might come across my blog and get some useful info.
On my way to straighter teeth in 2010!
