Somehow skipped a week

Last night was the weirdest thing.  Whenever I have to go to my ortho., I try to schedule the appointments so that they fall on the Wednesdays that I need to change trays.  That way, I can get the next set of trays on time and don't have to wait to start my next tray.  I was originally supposed to change my trays next Wednesday, but because of how the weeks fell, I wasn't able to get in next week.  So, I scheduled my appointment early for this week.  I figured that I'd get the next batch of trays, and then I could swap them out next week on schedule.

Instead, she did the IPR stuff that she needed to, and then snapped in the next set of trays.  Apparently because she did the IPR and created the spaces, I needed the next aligner that's designed to accomodate the gaps.  So, I basically skipped a week of tray 8 and moved right into tray 9.  I'm not complaining since it doesn't really hurt any more than normal, and it already feels like my teeth have largely moved into their new spots.  Yay for getting done a whole week earlier!

In other news, the new gaps are between all of my front, top teeth.  I think that they're REALLY noticeable.  I asked one of my coworkers though, and he swears that it looks fine.  Of course, I think he knows better than to answer those type of questions negatively. :)  Here's hoping though.  I have a first date next week, and I'm crossing my fingers on this one.

Chewies

After seeing a bunch of posts online about aligner chewies, I decided to order them and give them a shot. I really do think that they make the trays fit on better. Sometimes, I would bite down on paper towel because it was soft and help them seat better. The chewies accomplish the same thing, but you can chew on them for a bit.

Not much is new with my trays. My second IPR session is on Wed. Not looking forward to it... Not because it hurts or anything, but because food gets caught in the space until the teeth move together there. I also have a teeth cleaning on Tuesday. With how much I've been brushing and flossing since I got Invisalign, I'm hoping for a really clean check up. :)

The count down begins!

200 days left until I'm done!  It's gone surprisingly fast actually.  This really is so much better than metal braces.

Shaving... Part 2

This week, I've learned that teeth shaving means that any and all food gets in the gaps. I've had to be especially diligent about flossing after each meal before I put the tays back in. I've also noticed that mouthwash is particularly helpful now to get the last little tidbits out. At least my next cleaning should be a breeze with all this brushing and flossing. :)

IPR

Last night, I got the first of three IPR treatments.  IPR stands for interproximal reduction, and basically means that they reduce the width of some of your teeth.  Back when I was a kid, I remember everyone that had braces getting teeth extracted.  Apparently, this is now seen as being preferable as they're not removing any teeth, but creating room by making some of the teeth slimmer. 

When I first heard about it, I was worried.  When I was a kid, I ended up with quite a fear of dentists between having frequent dental problems and how my mother approached things.  My regular dentist now is the best, and is so calm and reassuring that I've largely gotten over that, but I still don't like drilling.  So, the entire thought of having them slenderize teeth with a drill wasn't high up on my list of things that I was looking forward to. 

It wasn't bad at all though.  Literally 2 minutes, and she was done.  A little drilling (that wasn't as all painful), checking the measurement to see whether she'd done enough, a little more, check again, and done.  I honestly think that a cleaning hurts more. 

And, then I got tray 5.  It was tight when they put it in, but it seems better already this morning.  And, it seems like the last 8 weeks have gone by really quickly... I can't believe that I'm already into the 2nd quarter of treatment.  I still can't 100% say that I can see a difference, but I can tell that my bite is different for sure.

Tray 4

I spent the past week volunteering at a kids' camp for kids with Muscular Dystrophy.  It was a good experience, but definitely presented its challenges for invisalign.  The water at camp was well water and didn't clean the trays very well, so they got icky quickly.  Plus, the way that camp was structured, we were frequently eating/drinking and it was hard to manage the removal/eat/brush/replace routine.  There were days where I didn't keep them in as much as I should have, so I wore them an extra day before switching to the next tray.

At this point, switching trays has become sort of routine.  They're tight for a day or two, but then start feeling pretty normal and I forget that they're there.  I sort of like those days because I can feel them being tighter and it seems like they're really moving.  I have my next appt. in two weeks to get the next group of trays, but I think that they're doing what they're supposed to do.

I'm not sure that I can actually see what teeth are moving though.  I'm really anxious to SEE progress, and I don't think that I can yet.  They originally told me that I'd notice around tray #10 (so, 3 more months), but I'm a little impatient. :)

Oops

Yesterday when I was flossing, I noticed that it was catching on the back of my tooth big time.  I thought for sure that it was a filling that popped out, so I called my regular dentist.  Apparently not.  When they put the buttons on, there was some extra bonding material that they didn't polish off.  So, he polished it up a little and suggested that I ask my ortho to polish it up more next time.  I feel a bit bad wasting his time like that for a button problem.