My First Week: "The Experience"

Day One: Got my Invisalign "installed" at 9:00 am. Day has gone on as usual. I went to Target to get some travel oral hygiene supplies and a little pouch to keep everything. I have a toothbrush, tooth paste, flossers, mouthwash and the second baggie of rubberbands. My speech isn't that bad at all! And I don't have the crazy increase in saliva production that other people have written about. And the rubberbands aren't as restricting as they thought they would be. Although, I am afraid to yawn with them in - what if this thing snaps and slingshots across the room?! Maybe everyone was right - maybe this will be a breeze! Day Two: What the actual hell? This is uncomfortable. My top aligner still won't fit all the way down, so I have been chewing on my Chewie this morning. I miss chewing on gum and this is a very poor substitute. The little ridge that sticks out of my top aligner on my top front teeth is cutting into my lip. I called the office and they said I could file it down with a nail file, but couldn't trim the ridge off. It actually made my lip bleed and my lip is actually a little swollen. My lisp is WAY worse and super noticeable. The Invisalign itself is significantly more noticeable when I smile. Hardly "invisible" at all. I took them out to eat a salad for lunch - my teeth kind of hurt, so hard foods are hard to chew (screw you, croutons). Also, food is getting stuck in my teeth VERY bad because of the attachments. To the point where I need to bee-line to the bathroom to brush these chompers before I talk to ANYONE. Gross. Thank goodness for close bathrooms and orajel. Day Three: I probably should have had a consultation with an orthodontist about regular braces before I committed to invisalign. If a regular orthodontist told me I would need regular braces for 6 months instead of a full year of invisalign, I might have done it. Especially if I knew how this would bother my eating and speech and cause this much discomfort. And be this noticeable. Maybe I am still in the "getting used to it" phase, but I am pretty unhappy with this. My top lip still hurts from this ridge. Day Four: My lip hurts. My tongue hurts (there are a couple of spots, despite filing, behind my bottom teeth that rub into my tongue when I talk). My teeth hurt. I guess that's a sign that they have moved a little? I can't eat hard foods comfortably. And I can't eat anything you have to bit into (burgers, burritos, sandwiches, pretty much all of the best foods) because food gets stuck in my front teeth pretty badly because of the attachments. I think I may just be a candidate for the invisalign diet after all. I even weighed myself on Day 1 to see if it works. I am also tired of brushing my teeth all the time, so I have passed up quite a few snacks throughout the day. And I couldn't comfortably eat chips from Chipotle because the crunchiness hurt my teeth. EFF THIS. Day Five: I will have to limit my talking. I'm a talker, so it will be a bit of a change. But holy guacamole am I salivating a lot. Drinking water has helped - it helps me be less spitty and also makes my lip/tongue feel better. And I haven't had any soda since this started because I am afraid to trap all that sugar against my teeth. Day Six: Wore these things for a loooooooong time today. I actually forgot about them (first time ever) and drank some of an iced white mocha from starbucks with them in. Boyfriend pointed it out and I freaked out! These things are noticeable enough - I definitely don't want to discolor them! We ended up eating a big lunch pretty late in the day, so we didn't eat dinner. Which landed me more time with my aligners in. Day Seven: My lip and tongue aren't bothering me quite as much. I feel like I am talking better. I transition to my next set of aligners in one week. I am hoping that transition day isn't as uncomfortable as it was with the initial aligner. If it isn't, I plan on asking my dentist if I am a candidate to start changing aligners every 10 days instead of every 14. If I am, I will reduce my invisalign treatment time by almost 14 weeks. Meaning I will be done in mid/late January instead of early April, which would make me very, very happy.