I thought I’d share another update on my Invisalign progress so far, since the last one I did was back in January! I started it back in July last year, though I had a few setbacks and only properly started wearing them around October time last year. So far I’m almost halfway through my treatment and I’m really starting to notice the changes now.
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 for my treatment and I’m currently on my 24th. 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).
I’m not going to lie, but I’ve found that it definitely takes a lot of willpower and dedication to wear them each day and night. Sometimes, I think how much easier it would be to have braces as I wouldn’t have the ability to just take them out or not wear them when I couldn’t be bothered. At the beginning of the year, I found myself not wearing them too much at all. Maybe once or twice a week, just out of lazyness. I’d fall asleep at night and not go put them in whenever I woke up, or I’d be running late for work and didn’t have the time to properly clean them after brushing my teeth so I’d leave them at home. There were SO many reasons as to why I wouldn’t wear them each day, and the longer it went on, the harder it was to start wearing them again.
I went for my 8 week check and had moved only 2 aligners in the 8 weeks instead of the 5-6 that I’m supposed to have moved. My dentist really wasn’t impressed as I’d set myself back quite far by loosing the tracking on my teeth – basically my aligners no longer fit properly like they’re supposed to on some of the teeth and I’d have to have another round of aligners after I’ve finished this round to correct it. He ended up having to take off 3 of my attachments as they were getting in the way now of being able to click them in at least to a decent amount. He pretty much gave me an ultimatum – I wear my invisalign properly, I get ‘train tracks’ fitted or I just leave my teeth how they were. So I started wearing my aligners again properly and I’m so annoyed at myself for not wearing them properly before as I’ve set myself back so much!
Right now I’m at such an awkward stage as before invisalign, I had a crossbite and an underbite, and my dentist is correcting it so my teeth are in this weird phase right now where they hit each other when I talk or eat and it’s pretty uncomfortable so I’m pretty nervous about how my teeth and jaw are going to work after having an underbite for my entire life so far. I have these dreams of all my teeth smacking together at night and falling out when I’ve finished my treatment. Not even joking haha!
On the plus side, I’ve really noticed a difference in my smile now. My teeth are probably 10 aligners from looking at least mostly straight and that is just so weird for me! Most of the treatment so far has been moving my side and back teeth into the gaps where I had my teeth removed ready to straighten the front ones up, but now that’s starting to happen and I’m loving it! I find that I’m starting to smile more in photos and to people at work and I love it. I’ve still got a long way to go (30 aligners), but I’m loving the changes so far. Oh and if you’re going through invisalign at the minute, take it from someone who almost ruined the treatment – wear your aligners properly and don’t miss out days. It’s not fun!
Have you had invisalign or are you going through it? I’d love to know your experience! Also, if you have any questions, ask! 🙂 You can find all my Invisalign posts here!
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