Tray 2 - The Big Squeeze!

Today I got my second tray and LOTS of IPR! I got the front teeth all 'shaved' a little so there are gaps and it looks terrible! My ortho told me that I'm going to hate him for a little while but in about 8 months I'm going to love him so hopefully all those gaps will close! He's right...right now I hate him. For the first two weeks, I was fine since hardly anyone noticed and when I had them off, I felt back to normal even if only to eat. Now, even with them off, I feel like TOOTHZILLA!

My second trays are in and they feel like a really snug pair of jeans. The last few days of my first trays were like wearing an old pair of socks....fairly loose, comfortable, easy to get on and off. I feel like there is a band around my teeth. It's not painful....yet. My ortho said that things are really going to start moving now.

He gave me trays 3 and 4 and I won't have to see him for 6 weeks. Hopefully by then I will see some change. I looked at the trays and I don't see much so I'm not really encouraged yet other than by the pictures I see from other people's blogs!

One added bonus though....I've lost 4 pounds! Straight teeth and weight loss....in 8 months....now that will be quite the change!!!

That's it for now. I'll post in a few days to let you know how I'm doing with tray #2.

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.