Everything Else

My Invisalign Experience – Part 2

January 19, 2015

InvisalignI thought it was about time I shared an update on my Invisalign progress so far after starting my treatment back in July! I’ve had a couple setbacks (my own fault haha), but so far it’s going really well.

For those that don’t know, Invisalign is a clear alternative to braces in the form of ‘aligners’ kind of like retainers, that you wear for up to 22 hours a day. I have 54 aligners and I’m currently on my 10th. For my treatment, I had to have 4 teeth removed and 18 attachments (little tooth coloured dental bonding that are stuck to your teeth for the duration of the treatment to help the teeth move).

So far the actual treatment isn’t as bad as my first thoughts on it. I came back from the dentist the first day with my first set of aligners in and my attachments on and kept constantly thinking that I would never be able to get through this for a year and how uncomfortable it was and how I couldn’t eat because of the placement of the attachments and how I’d have to live with a cut mouth for a year. It really isn’t that bad at all!

The attachments do take a couple of weeks to get used to, but I honestly can’t even feel them now (I actually think it will be really strange when I get them off at the end of my treatment). I have had a couple aligners that have rubbed against my tongue a little more than others, but after a couple days you get used to it and it’s fine.

My number one tip: put the next set of aligners in just before bed as you sleep through most of the new pressure/pain and by the morning you can’t really feel it. I also noticed that skipping a couple days of wearing them makes the pain 10x worse. I’ve had a couple times (like our trip to Morocco) that I didn’t wear them for 4 full days, and actually ended up having to go back a couple sets just in that small amount of time and it hurt so bad! I learned my lesson and over Christmas I made sure that even if I wasn’t able to wear them during the day, that I at least put them in over night to stop them moving too much.

So far I haven’t noticed too much of a change in my smile, but that’s only because it’s mainly my back teeth doing all the moving into the gaps where my teeth used to be to make room for my front teeth, so I’m not quite ready to share any smile photos just yet haha, but I have noticed I am a lot more confident in smiling and I do tend to smile a lot more now, so I’m happy with that!

Let me know if you’re in the process of having Invisalign treatment! I’d love to know how you’re getting on or if you have any tips! Also, I’m not getting paid for writing this, I just want to share my personal experience 🙂

  • Reply
    Jamie Rose
    January 20, 2015 at 2:49 am

    I remember that pain after getting my braces tightened! Memories…. It’s definitely not a great feeling but it’ll be worth it when you have a perfect smile! It seems like it takes forever but it’ll be over in no time.

    • Reply
      April
      January 20, 2015 at 8:13 pm

      I cannot wait to get finished with the treatment and have a (hopefully) perfect smile, so I’ll take the slight pain for now haha! I bet you couldn’t stop smiling when you got your braces off! 🙂
      xo April

  • Reply
    Zanna
    January 20, 2015 at 5:36 pm

    Hey, just wondering how you found this alternative to braces…did your dentist recommend it? Thanks!

    • Reply
      April
      January 20, 2015 at 8:16 pm

      I actually found out about it on a couple blogs that I read (Wish Wish Wish & Keiko Lynn) that they were going through the treatment so I started looking in to it, went on the invisalign website and found my nearest dentist provider then booked a free consultation with them and they talked me through my options. It was such an easy process 🙂
      xo April

  • Reply
    Lauren
    January 25, 2015 at 11:37 pm

    Thanks for writing these blogs! I am taking a trip to the dentist on Friday to book in for a consultation! Its nice to read true opinions, and I am quite looking forward to having them! That’s if I am suitable of course!

    • Reply
      April
      January 27, 2015 at 4:26 pm

      Ooh how exciting! Hopefully everything goes OK and you’ll be compatible. I remember being so nervous for my consultation incase they said my teeth were too bad and I wouldn’t be suitable but it all worked out ok!
      xo April

  • Reply
    Cee
    January 29, 2015 at 3:21 am

    It’s so interesting to read about your experience with Invisalign – thank-you for sharing this! I’ve been intrigued by invisalign for a while now; I had braces growing up but they weren’t totally effective and my teeth have shifted a lot since then even though I’ve worn my retainer pretty religiously for the past ten years. I feel like invisalign could potentially clear up some of the cosmetic stuff that my braces didn’t fix, and I’m definitely going to look into it a bit further now 🙂
    xox,
    Cee
    http://www.cocoandvera.com

    • Reply
      April
      January 29, 2015 at 6:43 am

      Thanks for your comment! 🙂 I would totally recommend getting Invisalign! I’m pretty sure they do a ‘lite’ version too for people who just need a little bit of movement to get straight teeth or for people who have had braces/invisalign before and they’ve shifted slightly. 🙂
      xo April

  • Reply
    Mark
    February 7, 2015 at 3:43 pm

    So I’m on day three of my first trays and I have to say I am extremely uncomfortable. The pain has worn off, but my mouth feels all gooey and gross from the production of saliva. My tongue hurts underneath from constantly rubbing on the back of the bottom aligner, and the sides of my tongue now hurt too like I’ve been biting it.

    Did you have these issues? The attachments don’t bother me at all, it’s mainly the bottom aligner just jabbing and cutting my tongue (even after filing the tray down).

    I hope I can get over it and/or that it’s not just me!

  • Reply
    Behzad Manzoor
    November 20, 2018 at 9:49 am

    So I’m on day three of my first plate and I need to state I am to a great degree uneasy. The agony has worn off, yet my mouth feels all gooey and gross from the creation of spit. My tongue harms underneath from continually rubbing on the back of the base aligner, and the sides of my tongue presently hurt excessively like I’ve been gnawing it.

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