Back in the beginning of April (2022), I started with tray set #1 of 16. I’m hoping to straighten out my middle front bottom incisors. I wear each set 14 days at this time. That may change. I’m approaching the 1/3 of the way through this. If all goes well, I’ll be going -
From this (which, admittedly, looks better than the reality)
To this projected result:
What I knew going into this:
* Dental insurance doesn’t pay for the costs for someone of my vintage. Or, at least, mine doesn’t.
* The “rules/conventions” of this journey are as follows:
- You may only drink water with the aligners in. You may not eat or drink anything else with them in.
- You must keep the aligners in your mouth 22 out of 24 hours
* There are apps, YouTube videos, and Facebook groups frequented by people who are also on their individual journeys.
* The “Invisalign diet” is a thing. But I didn’t understand why it was a thing.
* That fixing this now may save those teeth. Improving how they look is a bonus.
* I’ll be wearing a retainer-I’m hoping just at night- for the rest of my life.
What I learned and experienced afterwards:
* I didn’t know what the dentist would hand me on Day 1. That might have helped me with the following purchases.
* There’s all sorts of accessories that are handy to have. I thought I’d researched this all ahead of time. I thought I was ready. I was not.
* At my “vintage” time of life, others -with very few exceptions- aren’t interested in or even curious about how you’re doing with this. Some who haven’t experienced anything like this still think they know; they don’t. This is where the dedicated those Facebook pages are helpful. Because, friends, it’s been a lonely time of it.
* But, I learned not to depend on those Facebook pages for emotional support. My first post asked for advice on keeping to the 22 hours “in time” and some posters told me I was “overthinking it”. I was trying to figure it out and found that assessment insulting. Since I’d read the directions from Invisalign, I spotted a bunch of misinformation. Like advising you to socialize as usual and not be concerned about the time the aligners are out. Or to go ahead and drink your coffee with aligners in.
* There’s a vocabulary you learn or -in some cases- relearn from elementary school health classes. Malocclusion. Incisors. Molars. Aligner, which is the same as Trays to describe the set of two pieces of plastic that fit in your mouth that guide or urge your teeth in increments to their new positions. Buttons or attachments- the pieces of resin/plastic that are glued onto your teeth to both help guide the teeth and keep the aligners on. They also make it hard to get the aligners on and off. And using the word “set” when referring to those two pieces of plastic because the process can involve multiple set groupings. Starting out with one set of -say-30 aligners, getting rescanned, getting -say- 18, thinking you’re done and then getting 10 more refinement set. Every case is geared toward the individual. Some people have been using aligners for years.
* Having spent this money, I need to do whatever I can to make a success of this. And some of that is making me feel miserable. However, I can feel a difference in my teeth even if I can’t see it yet.
* The first week is horrendous. In my case, the first evening was the most horrendous. I was assured that I could socialize at a dinner that first evening. That was bad advice. The first days with this are uncomfortable and can be painful. It’s something that is repeated to new Invisalign users in the Facebook pages. This is normal. And it makes sense when you reason it out. It’s a new experience for you and your mouth isn’t used to it. Watch out for depression, the stages of grief, and Buyer’s Remorse.
* When you’re in a social setting, your companions won’t understand when you skip appetizers and just drink water. They won’t understand when you don’t eat as long as they do. Especially when they’re on their third glass of wine. Going through this -as with anything in life, really- can affect your relationships or reveal what they actually are.
* One of selling points of aligners like Invisalign is that you can eat anything you like. You can. You just find you don’t want to. Some foods irritate tender gums. Some foods like anything fibrous or sticky make a mess in your mouth. Your gums and teeth become less tender in time but you remember and still steer clear of those foods.
* It was excruciatingly difficult to take my aligners out at first. I felt I was going to take some of my teeth out with my aligners. It’s messy. Even at this point, describing my taking them out as “discreet” is laughable and things have improved quite a bit. I discovered why the “Invisalign Diet” was true. You wait for food that’s worth taking your aligners out for. So, you cut out snacking. You don’t get that coffee drink from Starbucks because -really- it’s not worth the bother. I’ve lost 12 pounds so far. Water is my friend.
*. The lisp is real. l heard it. The Alexa device hears it. It makes itself known when I try to practice French, Spanish, or German words using Duolingo. It still reappears for a day or two with each new aligner. I feel self conscious. But people claim not to hear it over the phone, over Zoom, or in person.
* I now have fingernails. I have to file them down more.
* I thought wearing these would be like wearing a bite guard. Not quite.
* It turns out that it wouldn’t have mattered if I’d had traditional braces when I was younger. Apart from a slight overbite (something that is also disappearing), my teeth were straight until they started to drift in my late 20s to early 30s and steadily worsened to their pre-Invisalign state. Invisalign was approved by the FDA and hit the market when I was in my 40s. The apps, Facebook groups, and computer 3-D technology (in place of mouth molds) came along in this century. My “being late to the party” in doing this just isn’t a valid issue. A lot of people on the Facebook pages report having traditional braces in their youth and going to aligners later because their teeth “wandered” or the permanent retainer failed.
My takeaways from this experience at this point:
* To avoid the phrase “overthinking it” when communicating with others. It’s condescending, judgemental, and unkind. People are trying to meet challenges the best they can.
* The lesson I learn over and over again: the words “sympathy” and “empathy” are truly mere words in the dictionary. People show compassion if you are correcting or healing from something they can readily see. If they can’t see it, they don’t.
* I know for sure there’s one person out there who’ll have my back. He’s the one who called me every day when I first started this to check in. For this I’m grateful. It would have been easy to slip deeper into depression without those calls. But I also know that he’s got multiple irons in multiple fires so I know not to lean on him much. As he reminded me, I chose to do this.
* I have an even deeper compassion for high school classmates who had traditional braces. I remember one who’d come back from appointments with tears in her eyes.
* Ultimately, I have to be my own cheerleader and be responsible for making sure I do what I need to to make this a successful process.
* I’m not sorry I made the decision to do this because I feel the difference. I’m hopeful. My slight overbite is gone. The bottom incisors haven’t gone side by side but they seem to evening a bit. It’s starting to look closer to this - what’s projected as my halfway point- over a month away:
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