April 9, 2009 - The Journey Begins

I'm 47 years old and all my life I have regretted not ever getting braces when I was a teenager. Why didn't I get them? I don't think my parents could have afforded them and it wasn't as big a deal as it is now. The older I got, the thought of having braces to straighten my teeth was enough to make me think that I could live with my crooked teeth despite my unhappiness. Then, about 10 years ago, I discovered Invisalign. I went for a consult and at that time, not only were they horribly expensive ($8,000 Cdn.), but the orthodontist told me I wasn't a suitable candidate.

About 3 months ago, I discovered a colleague of mine had been wearing Invisalign and was on her last tray!! I had not noticed that she had them on for the past 8 months! She only had bottom trays so that may be why they were so invisible. In any case, I went to her ortho for a consult and here I am finally able to write about my Invisalign experience.

I finally got my Invisalign braces put in! I was so excited and couldn't wait for this day. I went just before lunch. For my first visit, I had 7 aligners put on my top teeth and 4 on my bottom teeth. I also had one of my teeth shaved a little. In total, I'm supposed to have 15 trays for the top and 14 trays for the bottom. I've tried to take photo's but I haven't been successful so I will try again soon and post them. In any case, if all goes well, my braces will be off on my birthday.

They feel a little snug but not uncomfortable. I went back to work and no one noticed. I had some trouble getting them off later that day but that's about it and once I did it a few times, it was ok. I did notice that with the aligners on my teeth, I felt like my teeth were dirty so, I did feel like brushing and flossing immediately after eating and putting my trays back in right away.

That's it for now.