My wisdom teeth ain't too wise

I went to my ortho on friday to get my next set of trays I'm now on tray 14/20 for the top so nearly there 3/4 through...yay! So I mentioned to my ortho that my wisdom teeth seem to be coming through well atleast the back bottom right hand side one has decided to show itself. Excuse my ignorance but I was thinking considering I have closen gaps that I would have ample room for my wisdom teeth to come through perfectly....NOT the case she told me that it looks like I will have to have them removed because there doesn't seem to be enough room and if I don't get them removed I will end up with crowding issues grrrr 10 steps forward 1,000 steps backwards so she informed me that we would get some xrays done in May exactly 1 year from the time I got my first xrays I'm really hoping that My mouth finds the room for these not so wise teeth or They will atleast hold off from ruining my whole course of Invisalign until I can get them removed. AND that I will either get more hours at work or a nice pile of money will land on my lap! Because I am not looking forward to having to spend more money on my teeth as far as I know it can cost a couple of thousand dollars to get your wisdom teeth removed plus a couple of weeks off work. I can't afford that I have to pay of my Invisalign, pay off my car and save $10,000 for a course I want/need to do!!! Life isn't it grand sometimes....

Not alot to say

There really isn't too much to say about my Invisalign journey at the moment other than the fact it is going swimmingly. It's pretty much just part of my life now and I have no real issues with trays getting them in and out, eating in public/at restaurants. I just slip them out then brush my teeth in the toilets when done, I have received some interesting comments at the pub but yeah if you're thinking about it DO IT!! I was actually speaking to a guy the other night who has traditional metal braces and he has had them on for 2 1/2 years ALREADY!! seems crazy and his have costed him $5,500 so for the extra $2,000 and nearly 2 years less time I'm so stoked and I know I have made the right decision. I've only got about 5 months to go on the top teeth and the bottom teeth are now finished. I'm not sure how I will go wearing the same bottom tray for the next 5 months eek! I do find denture cleaner the best way to keep my trays sparkling clean so hopefully this will continue to work for me.

Tray 10 half way

I haven't posted for awhile as Invisalign has pretty much become a normal part of my life. So update...I'm on tray number 10 which is 10/11 for the bottom teeth and 10/20 for the top I am so happy with how I am progressing the bottom teeth are perfect but I was never really worried about them, my gap on the top is almost closed although my ortho is creating gaps either side of my front teeth so she can build up the teeth next to those as she thinks they are a bit small but all in all I am super stoked with the results so far and I am so glad I chose Invisalign who would have thought 5 months have already passed now I only have 18 weeks to go woo hoo!!!
Pictures to be uploaded now!!

Half way through tray 6

I've been back from Thailand for about 2 weeks so thy blog is in need of updating and new pics....travelling was quite easy with the Invisalign, I probably had my trays out for a little bit longer than normal but it hasn't seemed to ruin any progress though tray number 6 was a tad more painful that normal.....all seems to be going quite well gap is closing which is nice all my friends are quite amazed. I did happen to run into another girl brushing her trays in Singapore airport which was nice!
Updated photos to come soon!

Tray 4

Last night I put in tray no. 4 it's a tad painful and my teeth hurt but I'm only 2 weeks off being a 1/4 of the way through my top trays and 1/2 way through my bottom trays. Man does time fly or what in no time I will be finished so exciting. I'm already feeling so much more comfortable than I ever have about my teeth. I think I even took photos with my mouth open last weekend, this is a massive thing for me I don't know how long it has been since I have smiled in a photo much too long I believe I can't wait for that day...I wonder if I will know how to smile naturally I think I may have to relearn this ha!

Top Invisalign Tips....

Removal of thy Invisalign
I found the end of a teaspoon rather handy on my first tray but then...

I discovered crochet hook no.3 I suspect it is rather like the outtie tool but totally awesome and I just happened to have one lying around so free or cheap.

Cleaning thy Invisalign

My routine is remove trays,rinse with water, place in container which contains 1 part water, 1 part whitening mouth wash and 1 part hydrogen peroxide (not necessarily measured). Go about eating, drinking etc. Brush trays with toothpaste, floss and brush teeth, replace trays! It seems to keep them pretty clean and fresh smelling, they can be a tad gross first thing in the morning. I am yet to try denture cleaner but next time I go shopping I shall get some and give it a go.

Removing thy Invisalign in publie ARGH!

I find this probably the worst part of Invisalign, removing the trays in public bathrooms eek.... the spit stringing off the tray as you pull it out yuk! then getting super strange looks from people wondering why the hell you are brushing your teeth in a public bathroom! Basically I have found disabled toilets and baby change rooms my best friends...they always have a sink and usually a decent bench they are pretty darn clean and don't really get used that often.

If all else fails and you need to use a puble bathroom and you are getting strange looks I tend to break the ice by saying 'such a pain in the arse' and then you can go on to explain the good, bad and ugly of Invisalign!

I'm sure I will have some interesting bathroom stories when I get back from Thailand!

Tray 3

Tray 3 was the first tray I have had to put in by myself as my orthodontist has put in my first 2 trays for me. I found it a tad difficult to get number 3 in and I was freaking out thinking I had no chance of actually getting it in eventually I managed to get it in. I can see quite a difference in my teeth already it seems my gap is definitely getting smaller....stoked so exciting I think by about tray 6 or 7 it should be pretty much gone altogether! For anyone contemplating Invisalign DO IT! It's pretty amazing.

Last Night of Tray 2

It feels like I haven't written for ages.....so it feels super weird that I'm only on the last day of tray 2. This tray has been super dooper easy no pain, trays come off quite easily which means I have been a tad slack in only having them off for 2 hours a day although I don't think it would be any more than 4 hours a day off and that tends to only be on the weekends.

I have also been drinking vodka and squash with my trays in and it doesn't seem to be doing any damage my teeth are no where near as scummy when I get home from drinking as they would normally be so in some way I think the trays are protecting them from all the sugar.....I do make sure I am drinking water and rinse my mouth out while drinking and I wouldn't recommended say drinking sugary beverages all day and not rinsing or brushing.

Tray Number Two

I got my second tray today so far so good not as much pain as my first tray and I think I now have the knack to remove it easier than the first few days of my first tray. My ortho has given me 4 trays and I get to change them every 2 weeks like everyone else thank god! so that means I only have 38 weeks to go which is excellent!
38 weeks I can't believe it that is like March 2011 soo excited and looking at tray 5 now my gap will basically be closed at tray 5 so I will kind of have perfect teeth before I finish, which is definitely a major bonus with Invisalign is that your teeth can look awesome before you are finished and no one even knows your wearing the trays.

For anyone contemplating getting Invisalign I would totally do it!

Slacker....

I was a tad slack on Sunday I had my trays out for a few hours opps I do have a excuse my mother is off to Canada so we had a going away breakfast so they were out for about a hour, then Sunday evening I went to a friends house and decided instead of drinking with them in I would take them out I think I had them out then for about 3 maybe more hours. My justification is that the trays are pretty loose and I suspect they have done all the moving they can do for this one and I pretty much wear them for atleast 22 hours a day possibly more as I only take them out about 3 times so yeah anyways I will see on Friday when I get tray no.2 I'm still hoping my ortho says that I only have to wear them for 2 weeks at a time rather that the 2 and a half she has made me wear this one.....fingers crossed because if that is the case only 38 weeks to go we shall see.

The Money Side of Things..........

Okay so your wondering whether you can afford Invisalign....

If you can save the first $3000 then it will be as easy as pie if you spend money like I do lol!

So after the first $3000 for the impressions and and getting the trays I am paying $200 a month.

Where is this $200 coming from???

Before Invisalign I would probably spend atleast $50 a week going out for food breakfast, lunch, dinner etc seeing as I have been out for food since I am now saving $200 a month not going out ha! Coffee I would probably buy takeaway coffee twice a week @ $3.50 thats $28 a month, then there is the alcohol I would probably buy a bottle of Jack Daniels a month at $35, then going out for drinks would probably spend say $40 a week = $120 a month.
There you go since having Invisalign I am saving around $383 a month in not going out verdict social life ruined but on the way to perfect teeth! and now I have a extra $183 a month to spend on clothes.

That's my break down on how it can be affordable to get Invisalign I think at some stage I will go out to eat but atm it's freaking me out the thought of getting my hands all in my mouth in a public bathroom.......I believe this will be changing come Sunday....pub bathroom even worst.

No One Likes Their Teeth

I've never liked talking about my teeth but since I have started Invisalign and have been talking to people about it, it seems no one actually likes their teeth which to me was quite astounding considering most of the people I have spoken to have pretty nice teeth not exactly hollywood teeth but atleast they are photo worthy.
I find it really quite interesting that teeth are a massive hate of alot of people and it's really quite expensive and a long drawn out process to get them fixed or aligned. I also suspect if I were to ask anyone about any other part of their body they probably wouldn't be overly happy either I wonder why we strive for perfection in they was we look? Is it because we are all so judgemental that we judge ourselves so harshly that we must believe everyone else judges us the same way? Are we our own worst critics?

Hmmm Vodka and Squash

Last night was one of my very good friends Birthday and it was at the pub eeek!
I went along with the intention of drinking because that is what I do when I go out the celebrate I drink and I am trying to make sure Invisalign doesn't completely ruin my social life I meant it has already taken eating in public away from me. I couldn't quite bring myself to drinking vodka and soda water it is just yuk! and does not agree with my taste buds one bit so I choose My drink and drunk it with a straw and follow every couple of sips with water which seemed to work quite well, when I got home I did my normal routine of trays out brush them with toothpaste, floss my teeth, gargle with mouthwash and brush before putting my trays back in.
When I woke up this morning I did have that morning after drinking taste in my mouth which isn't the nicest not sure where it comes from but anyway pulled out my trays and wow they were a tad stinky ewww so I soaked them in mouth wash while drinking my morning coffee and they seem so be okay not sure how often I will be drinking over the next year we shall see..... on the upside none of my friends noticed my invisalign at all which is really awesome and I'm super happy about after all that is the point isn't it INVISIBLE teeth straightening!

Day 3

I totally take back the spoon thing not working it does help ALOT! especially where I have attachments it is becoming much easier to remove the trays thankfully I am however finding it quite hard to chew so I am on a diet of soft food on the upside my teeth seem to be alot whiter a couple of shades at a guess I think this would be because of a few things.
1. Brushing my teeth 4 times a day
2. Flossing 4 times a day
3. Using whitening toothpaste and mouthwash
4. My coffee consumption has dropped significantly
5. I am still smoking but am assuming as I'm wearing the aligners I'm not getting tobacco stains ha!

There is one thing I am worried about at the moment and that is losing weight I usually only have 2 main meals a day but I do spend alot of time snacking which with the invisalign isn't really working for me so I'm trying to pack as much food as I can into my 2 meals a day and hopefully I won't lose any weight we shall see how I go when I finish these first trays. I can probably realistically only afford to lose about maybe 3kgs which isn't much I'm hoping I don't lose any weight on these first trays otherwise I'm going to be in trouble....

Timing......

Being curious about how long it actually takes me to remove my Invisalign today I timed it. The verdict bottom tray took 38 seconds and the top tray took 2 minutes 22 seconds so a grand total of 3 minutes not as bad as I thought although I do swear it took me 10minutes the first day so obviously they are working as it seems to be getting quicker and easier to remove the trays which in turn means my teeth are slowly shifting hoorah!
Pictures to come in a minute....when I figure out how to upload them :)

It's been 24 hours

So it's been about 24 hours since I received my first tray so when they were first put in not much pain at all but after the second time I removed them for dinner ouch some serious pain there had to take 2 panadol just to get rid of it and I'm not really a fan of pain relievers BUT they were a must.

I am hoping that over the next couple of days they become easier to remove as it has been taking me about 10 minutes to get them off which makes me dread taking them off in the first place argh! I keep telling myself it will all be worth it in the end.

Visibility wise no one really noticed at work today except for my boss I'm assuming because I was tallking a tad strange and spent most of the days doing weird things with my mouth like sucking down on the trays, licking my lips alot they seem to be quite dry and NOT drinking coffee big big giveaway oh! how I miss being able to make copious amounts of expresso's at work during the day! Luckily I have my own expresso machine so I can squeeze in 2 a day which is alot less than I would normally drink!!

All in all at this point they are manageable but I may be going a tad nuts due to coffee detox! I have also figured I'm either going to lose a hell of alot of weight or gain it as I seem to be eating as much as I can in half an hour so I don't get hungry and want to take them out.....

They have arrived

Okay so I got a call at work today to say that my Invisalign had arrived! So I made a appointment for this afternoon to pick them up.
Arrive at my appointment and am told that they are going to put some attachments on I think there are about 9-12 all up not really worried about them so I haven't counted them as yet!
Man the sound of snapping the Invisalign on = bad so sounded like my teeth were breaking ahh! Anyways I started work at 7am this morning and I don't eat before I go to work too early my stomach isn't a fan and I didn't have a chance to eat between finishing work and my appointment so as soon as I got home I made me some noodles. Then came the trying to get the invisalign out OMG! talk about hard the bottom ones came off pretty easily but the top one hectic I swear I nearly cracked it. I don't know what all you bloggers are talking about when you say using the end of a spoon helps I don't think so I'm going to try my ortho's advice and use a small crochet hook.

And in my blabbering I have totally forgotten the most important part how many trays I have.
I didn't get accepted for Invisalign Express damn it!
20 on the top
&
10 on the bottom
So I thought wow only 20 and 40 weeks but my ortho says I have to wear each try for 2 1/2 weeks we shall see plus she only gave me my first try so I can't skip ahead.

Still waiting

So it's been 4 weeks since I had my impressions done and my aligner trays are still to arrive so I find myself constantly looking at other peoples teeth whether it be in person, in movies or on TV I am really surprised to find that there are many more people than I originally would have thought that don't really have great teeth.
I really hope this habit of teeth watching doesn't get worse when I get my aligners ahh! as I know what it feels like for people to double take your teeth and I would hate to do that to someone who feels shit about their own teeth!

The Beginning....

For as long as I can remember I have had teeth that I hate I have quite a large gap inbetween my 2 front teeth when I was in high school I had the option to get braces but I was too stubborn to get them and hated the idea of having train tracks looking back I was such an idiot I should have gotten braces then and I would have perfect teeth now but alas I didn't and here I am at 23 and I have finally built up the courage to do something about my teeth. From the first moment I heard about Invisalign I wanted them!

About a month ago I made a appointment with an Orthodontist to see if I was a candidate I was thinking that I probably wouldn't be a candidate and I would have to get traditional metal braces anyway but much to my surprise I went to my appointment asked if I was a candidate for Invisalign and was pleased to be told that I was hooray!

Then and there I decided I would go for it there is nothing stopping me now so they put those funky mouth opener things in my mouth and took alot of photos everyone was really nice and I wasn't feeling as self concious about my teeth being all out there as I would have thought.

I was then told I would need to make a appointment for the impressions so I made one for the following week. I was a bit worried about having the impressions done as I had been told it feels like you are going to swallow the impression medium but it was fine, not too umcomfortable at all.

Payment wise I was told that the total treatment would be $7500 at this stage depending on whether I got accepted for Invisalign express or not so I had to pay $1500 straight up for the impressions and then I will have to pay another $1500 when the trays arrive then the remainder in $200 a month installments seeing as I don't have insurance which I did have a look into and I probably would have to spend the $7500 grand over a couple of years before I could claim for orthodontist treatment so I think I will come out of it okay in the end.

My impressions were done 3 weeks ago and I was told it would take about 3 weeks for my trays to come in so fingers crossed they arrive this week. I can't wait to get started, I just want perfect teeth already!

When my aligners come in I will be shown the clinicheck video of my treatment plan and will find out how long my treatment will take.

So over the last 3 weeks I have had a look at soooooo many other Invisalign users blogs to see what I am getting myself in for.

The things that I am most worried about are:
1: Removing the aligners and getting them back in
2: My coffee consumption at the moment I drink about 4-5 cups a day!
3: Getting my eating habits in check as I'm a snacker not a 3 meal a day kind of person.
4: Alcohol can I give up my vodka and squash habit? or can I get around it by drinking vodka and plain soda without damaging my teeth?
5: Smoking....yes I'm a smoker...smoking with the aligners in is it possible we shall see I really don't want to end up with disgusting breath and yellow aligners ahh!

All in all I am not worried at all about the pain of my teeth moving.