Invisalign - My Journey tray by tray.
The Consult.
It all started with a dental appointment. I went to four different dental surgery's before I decided who would be my orthodontist for the next 12 months.
I choose Dr.Steven Scott a mature and very informative orthodontist. His skills and experience won me over for sure. His surgery is based in Ipswich and Brisbane CBD in Queensland.
Dr.Scott sat me down and tock some photos of my mouth, he then uploaded them into the computer and spoke about my bite, my crocked teeth and what I was expecting out of invisalign. Dr.Scott spoke to me about the traditional braces and invisalign and what the differences were. Ultimately I decided to go with Invisalign and put down my first $1500 deposit. It would take up to 8 weeks before my invislaign arrived where I would then have to put down another $1520 before I was able to begin my experience.
Fortnight One - Tray One.
After a painstaking 7 week wait i walked into Dr.Scott's office on 17th of January 2014. I was there to pick up my trays. After paying a further $1520 and arranging a payment plan of $250 a month I was able to finally pick up my trays. Dr.Scott placed what they call attachments or buttons onto my teeth. This procedure tock about an hour and I walked out with 16 attachments.
Dr.Scott then showed me through my Clini-check. This is a program that showed me week to week progress of my teeth moving in animation pretty cool huh. Then came the painful process of placing the trays onto my teeth. Dr.Scott told me that it would be a 10 month process with a total of 17 trays. After this there is a possibility of refinement trays and a 12 month nightly wear of a retainer like tray to keep my new smile in place. Dr.Scott also gave me strict flossing and washing instructions after each meal and a wear time of 22 hours per day.
Dr.Scott gave me four more invisalign treatment trays and told me to change them out to the new tray every 14 days. He told me to change them out at night and pop a painkiller so that the discomfort would wear of overnight. Holly molly did tray one ache. That night i went on a 'ghost tour' with my family the whole time i stand there holding my mouth and gritting my teeth in pain.
It tock about 3 days before the aching wore of and my teeth were settling into the new aligners.
At the end of week two and tray one my teeth felt different but looked the same.
Fortnight Two - Tray Two.
I was so excited to switch out to tray two this fortnight. You kind of grow attached to the first trays and feel like your giving them up. I washed my first trays in polident solution and water and slipped them into the red invisalign case. I should mention in this post that you are given two invisalign cases a red case and a blue case. The red case is used to store the previous aligners and the blue case is the case that lives with you in your handbag where ever you go so you can store them when not in use.
I put in the new set of aligners, popped an advil and went to sleep. Ta-Da easy as that. I woke up the next morning and felt a little tightness but no discomfort at all. I was definitely expecting pain after the first set haunted me for the first three days. I wore these for the full 14 days with no pain and little movement. I have noticed that my bottom teeth have straightened out and and not so overlappy *See photo.*
Fortnight Three - Tray Three.
Not much to update but a photo of my movement in my teeth. I have to say this whole process of changing trays is literally pain free and I am starting to wonder if they are even shifting my teeth. They must be doing something right. I havnt forked out over $7000 for nothing. ;-)
I have been religiously wearing these trays for the full 22 hours every day with the brushing and flossing after each meal. Snacking has dramatically decreased and I have even lost two kilos. The saying the Invisalign diet must be true. Who wants to ruin their fresh breath and have the hassle of brushing their teeth just for one small chocolate coated biscuit. Not me right :)
Fortnight Four - Tray Four.
Can't believe that I have been wearing Invisalign for 22hours for the past two months, how crazy is that. It has become such a normally part of my daily routine, brushing and flossing three times a day and no more snacking. I have lost another 1.5kilograms this week. So impressed. YAY for the Invisalign Diet ;-)
I have my next Invisalign appointment with Dr.Scott next week. In this appointment i will be receiving another four trays. The past two months have been relatively easy. Swapping out trays every Saturday. This tray I will wear for another 3 days as my appointment is on the tuesday.
It is now day 14 of tray four as I type this. I look forward to my next appointment and keeping the ball rolling with my Invisalign journey. Not much more to update for now. *See below for my Tray Four update photo*
Arrrgh - Major Vent.
So i planned to take this morning of to see my orthodontist to receive my new set of invisalign trays and the administration lady had stuffed up and not booked in the appointment that she had given me at the previous appointment.
So in order to retifie this issue the administration lady has now sent out my further four trays and I should expect them in the mail sometime this week. Not only has this put my treatment back a further week but it also means that I'm stuck in tray four for longer.
Will check back in next week for an update on Tray Five when it arrives.
Fortnight Five - Tray Five.
Woohoo Tray five has finally arrived and is in my mouth as I type. My new swap out day has changed to Wednesday. I have my breast augmentation next week and am worried about leaving my trays out for a few hours during the operation. I might just have to add a day to the fortnight and make my new swap out date Thursday. So happy so far with all the process of the trays no faults, hardly any pain or discomfort. Finally I don't realise that the trays are in my mouth anymore. YAY.
However as for changes in my teeth still not a lot happening and hardly any pain just tightness really. Still 12more trays remaining until my refinement period so there is still heaps of time for movement and I'm not going to rush it.