Tray 1

Invisalign Day Tray 1/Week 1/Day 1 (1/14/14)(This is a dramatic re-creation of what happened that day, I remember it like it was yesterday, even though it was…not much longer ago than yesterday.) Oh Snap! Literally! The minute they snapped those things on my teeth…oh, the pain. No one told me about the pain. I immediately thought to myself "I made a mistake." The trays felt way more restrictive and invasive than I expected. I felt like I had…stuff in my mouth! Then the drooling started, quite excessively. Initially the pain was sort of a dull ache. But then it sort of started hurting--sort of. However, when they showed me the mirror, I couldn't really see much of anything. And of course, it made me smile. One would have to be inches from my face literally to see that less than millimeter gap between a precious few of my teeth and the aligners. To help with that they gave me "Chewies," or as I like to call them, "the Devil's Gum." Basically they are flexible plastic mini tubes that you chew like chewing gum to get the aligners "Seated" in your mouth properly. I'd really prefer actual gum, but apparently that's not an option. These are probably responsible for 50% of the pain I have felt since this day. I went grocery shopping, but really couldn't get into it because of my new mouth accessories. So I had a long drive home, and when I got there, my husband asked "what did they do?" He really couldn't see them! Awesome. So I thought "well, I'll just take them out and show you!" Big mistake. I thought I was trying to pull my actual teeth out, not the Invisalign trays. I can't really say I've experienced such pain before, and I've had two kids, several surgeries, and lost two entire big toenails to violence (actually that was just ill-fitting shoes and an ill-advised basketball game, but it felt violent). I thought this was as bad as it could get, until, after being unsuccessful at taking them completely off, I snapped them back on. Swoon! This required several minutes of mouth-clutching recovery, and I thought "what have I done???" Later, when I had to brush, I think may have actually teared up. (And so it would continue for the next three days…) My experience? Sore spots in the mouth where the aligners made contact with the inside of my cheeks, under my tongue, and back of the lips. Where have I seen this before? Oh yeah, regular braces…what the…? Oh and the the tightness. This is not "a little pressure" and they are not "snug!" These aligners have a kung fu grip on my teeth! I am now officially convinced I have made a mistake, even though, every time I look in the mirror I think "they really are invisible…" But now the novelty has worn off! My thoughts: "I am not this vain! I could have done the train tracks for a year, it wouldn't have been so bad!" and "I'm not an actress, a newscaster, or someone who needs to have my braces be invisible! Why the [bleep]would I spend this much money just because they're invisible. All the disadvantages, but twice the pain? Ohhh…I was not a happy camper. I seriously considered forfeiting whatever I spent and just getting regular braces. OR…just living with my crooked teeth. There are worse things in life. Irony of ironies, the one thing I like about Invisalign--the invisibility--has been compromised by the fact that not only did I post a picture on Facebook saying "Look everyone, I got Invisalign!" But I also, seem to have a proclivity for telling people "Yeah, you know, I just got Invisalign…" I'm the worst Invisalign user ever, I do believe.