Week 8, Tray 4

I've been wearing my 4th trays now for a week and with the exception of the first day, they weren't tight at all. I've had a few dinner outings this week so, I've had them out for about 2 to 3 hours each time and they don't even feel tight when I put them back in. On the days that I know I'm going to be going out for dinner, I tend to have a quick breakfast and lunch and put them right back in so that I don't worry about how long they're out while I'm enjoying my dinner. I'm trying hard to stick to the 22 hours a day but find that sometimes I just need the extra break at dinner time. It's usually in the evenings when I feel like I just want to take the trays out and let my 'bare naked' teeth relax a little!

I think my work colleagues are beginning to notice. I was an avid coffee drinker and I've stopped that because of the hassle of having to take the trays out and brush my teeth. I now have a cupboard full of bottled water since I seem to be drinking lots of it! I have mentioned to several people if I notice that they are staring at my teeth (probably me thinking that they are staring at my teeth more than anything).


I've also been really attentive to all the blogs and forums on Invisalign and I've noticed something really funny. People post pictures on thier blogs as well as on other forums and I realize that I have begun to recgonize them just from their teeth! I've enjoyed the blogs though since I have found them really helpful.



I think it was while I was wearing tray #3 that I was getting worried about whether or not I had made the right decision. I'm starting to feel a little better about this now. I'm in my 8th week and since my treatment is supposed to last about 30 weeks (15U, 14L), I'm almost one third of the way through so I'm thinking it's not that bad. I haven't seen a lot of significant improvement just yet. Someone posted the question on one of the forums on when to expect to see improvement and it seems like lots of the 'experienced' invisaligners agreed that it takes a while. Most seem to comment that it took somewhere in the range of tray 7 to 10 to see significant improvement. I still have the ugly gaps in the front so, I'm not quite there yet. I see my ortho next week and I will be asking on when to expect the gaps to start closing.


I have a big week ahead. My daughter's high school graduation and prom is coming up. Just yesterday I remember walking her into her first day in kindergarten! That was 14 years ago!


That's it for now!