Tray number two

After two weeks, popping the trays in and out had become second nature, as had the constant teeth brushing after food and before putting them back in, so I was looking forward to making some more progess with the second trays.


I went back to the dentist on Wednesday where he told me he would be fixing 'buttons' to five of my teeth and filing down other teeth to make room for surrounding teeth to move. Nice.


The buttons are tooth enamel-coloured lumps that are attached to your teeth. The number of buttons and the position of them are attached depending on your othodontic requirements and are designed to allow the trays to grip and turn certain teeth. Compared to traditional braces, Invisalign's main drawback is that they trays are unable to grip teeth so buttons correspond to ridges in the trays which pull teeth the way they need to go. These were attached pretty painlessly and though I've read that buttons can sometimes fall off, mine seem pretty secure for the timebeing. At the end of treatment they're filed off. I don't think they're particularly obvious as they are attached to something like for fourth and fifth teeth at the top and bottom. I wouldn't like to have them on my front teeth though. You can see one of the botton in the far right corner of my mouth.


Having the buttons made putting the trays on and taking them out significantly more difficult.


The filing was never going to be pleasant and I was amused to see a little gap in my front two teeth when it was done, as you can see in the photo. As I said before, this is designed to make space for other teeth and should quickly close up.


It turns out I wasn't ready for my new trays yet, so was instructed to keep wearing my first set for another three days which I was a little disappointed by. They did, however, feel a lot tighter with the buttons attached so it clearly made sense to keep wearing the first set for a few more days.



The first time I tried to take the aligners out with the buttons on took about half an hour of bitching and moaning until I found a way to leverage them out so I could eat dinner.


After a couple of days this went back to normal and yesterday, with a bit of force, I managed to get my second set in! It was so difficult that I was thinking I might need to go back to the dentist but they're in now and feeling pretty snug. Despite them going in just yesterday, I'm not finding taking them in or out very difficult. Well, that brings me up to date. Will post again when new developments come in.

After tray one

Taking the Invisalign plunge

So, I've got to 29 years and am tired of keeping my mouth closed when pictures are being taken. I have crooked teeth, which I could handle but not the crossbite which makes me look like I have a tooth missing. So a couple of months ago I decided enough was enough and, inspired by my father's recent decision to wear braces in his mid-50s, I began to check out what options were out there to help my staighten out my malocclusions.

I started with a bit of googling and a modest budget of £3-4k. I knew the cost would be in the thousands but I thought the sooner I pay for better teeth, the better 'cost per wear' ratio I would get from them. I looked at traditional braces and also came across Invisalign braces. Invisalign seemed great. The marketing is very powerful and the benefit of these clear tailor-made plasic trays is that when they are on your teeth, as the name suggests, they are supposed to be invisible.

I thought this sounded ideal as I do have a job involving meeting clients and interacting with lots of people but I wasn't necessarily prepared to pay over the odds for it. I contacted a number of London dentists for quotes and in the end went for a consultation with the most competitively priced Invisaglin dentists in Harley Street.

The initial consultation was good and we talked prices and time scale. I was told that the trays would sort out my crossbite and straighten my other teeth in nine months and with 18 sets of Invisalign trays, which seemed a reasonable amount of time. The cost was £2995 for everything which was significantly cheaper than anyone else. (Though I've recently seen that my dentists has lowered their costs further to £1,500 - grrrrrr).

I returned to the dentist a few days later to have impressions taken of my teeth. The Invisalign inventors have a facility in Costa Rica where my impressions were to be sent and from which the plastic trays would be created. I was told this would take between 4 and 8 weeks, though in fact they didn't arrive for around 9 and a half weeks.

Invisalign also creates a computer generated image of your teeth realigning (great motivation). So, nine and a half weeks later, I went to pick up my first trays. I'd got the day wrong so my appointment was a little rushed and my dentist showed me the trays, told me how to clean them, (just scrub them with toothpaste and a brush) and put them in and showed me how to take them out. No problem. Off I went.

It's worth noting here that with the trays you MUST wear them a minimum of 20 - 22 hours a day, only taking them out to eat. This is why it's not necessarily a great option for kids as, believe me, the temptation to take them out is pretty great.

So on day one of tray one, I leave the dentist for work and arrive there feeling extremely conscious of this mass of plastic in my mouth. My bite no longer felt natural and I feel like everybody can see them and that the shape of my face has changed significantly. What's more, my lisp is awful!

But that's not the worst of it. Despite the relative ease with which I managed to take out the trays at the dentist, the first time I tried it by myself the pain was so enormous, I felt like I was going to pass out! As with all things, the medical professional said there would be a little discomfort. Whatever! My teeth felt as tender as anything, so much so that I could barely bring myself to eat when taking them off. Plus the pressure on my tooth had made one or two a little wobbly. Not much so but as the invisalign was putting so much pressure my tooth and making it move, it's really to be expected.

Also, on the invisible front, though they are in no way obvious, people did comment on my lisp and a couple of people noticed them on my teeth when we were in close quarters.

This problem with taking them on and off lasted about three days and after that it became a lot more easy. I lost a few pounds not being able to graze or snack during the day which I wasn't really complaining about. Sleeping in them wasn't great.

I definitely kept them in for 20 hours per day for the first two weeks but not always as much as 22 hours which is bad as word is that for every extra hour you don't wear the trays, you may have to wear them for another 24 hours.

Anyway, to the picture:

My gnashers at the beginning of the process. I'll post some pictures of the aligners next time.

Before Invisalign