03.22.08
at 4:47 pm by admin
Tray 2 were fitted without any drama, they’re tighter (as you would expect), I can see a slight difference in the positioning of my teeth and look a lot cleaner than my first set. This makes me wonder if brushing them with Bicarbonate of Soda actually does get them properly clean like my dental assistant suggested? Or perhaps they’ve just been stained with my endless cups of tea…
After a few days the second tray are doing fine, I again notice some tenderness in my front bite and even a little to one side but I’m assuming after a few more days this will also pass. Next appointment in two weeks time will be 45 minutes long and include some tooth coloured fixtures being stuck to my teeth to help them move. I’m assuming that this may be when I really start to notice some serious discomfort, as up to now it’s really been a breeze. I do still lisp a bit but it is getting better so I’m trying to ignore it, I think it’s actually me that notices it more than other people anyway.. I’m still just happy to think that in a years time my teeth should be in drastically better shape than they are right now!
My biggest concern up to this point is only my payment plan (which is kind of a large one considering the total cost of this treatment!).
As mentioned previously, I have really good dental cover and they have agreed to contribute 50% of the total Invisalign fee, which is absolutely fantastic. Unfortunately with the information my dentist’s front desk person gave me (I was advised my dental plan would reimburse me because they did not take money from plans towards Invisalign treatment and this is not the case at all) , I ended up overpaying the first third of my total fee (as my dental plan then also paid them half). So my dentist is really earning interest on money that should have stayed in my bank account, but whatever, I’m now aware of how much I have remaining to pay and they also have record of this so it’ll all work out in the end. Note to self; Never trust front desk people to speak to ‘your’ Dental Plan people!!
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03.18.08
at 10:28 pm by admin
I expected some pain, a dull ache – maybe the need for a pain relief tablet or two. What I discovered was, although initially the trays are extremely hard to insert and remove, there is very little pain at all. I had to check out a mirror to see whether they could be seen. You can’t even tell I’m wearing them! Well, you can’t tell until I try and speak and sound like I have some plastic stuck in my mouth, I’ll need to work on this.
I’m warned I MUST wear them constantly or delay the success to my teeth adjustment. I can go back a step if my teeth fail to move into the next tray. However this only delays your end result and quite frankly 1 year and 3 months of constant brushing (plus no snacking) sounds perfectly long enough to me!
I didn’t sleep too well for about two days, but I am not entirely sure whether it was my impending job interview (which I took the trays out for – just in case my vague lisping made me even MORE anxious) or the trays. Before long I slept well, barely noticed the trays and really only felt my teeth ache vaguely when I removed them for eating (which was now drastically less frequent due to my general disinterest at brushing constantly). Snacking is now a thing of the past or unless I am violently hungry and cannot wait another minute. Perhaps somebody should market these to dieters?
I am finding I use my bite less, my front teeth which are the most crooked and twisted feel tender somehow. I’m not sure I’d want to bite down hard on anything in the near future but maybe it’s something I will get used to. Going away for weekends and vacations can be a small pain. I find you can cheat and chew gum between meals where brushing is simply not an option and rinse the trays thoroughly with water, and clean properly in the evening works fine. On the plus side if you grind your teeth at night these trays actually help you. No more worn down molars.
After ten days I don’t think I’m lisping as much and I’m curious to see what my next tray will be like, also I’m advised I’ll need some colourless fixtures ‘stuck’ to my actual teeth to help twist the stubborn, deformed teeth round on later trays. Maybe I have been given an ‘easy’ tray to get started with… So far I’m very impressed, the trays themselves are really amazing pieces of plastic! I can’t currently tell if I have lost weight from my running training or the Invisalign trays. Maybe it’s a combination of the two??
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