Reading the news with invisalign

On the paperwork it says your speech can be affected for a couple of weeks. 


When I got into the studio this morning, it felt like there was double the amount of saliva in my mouth... there wasn't - there was just two thin bits of plastic. 


I read fine, anyway... perhaps a few more 's' sounds, but nothing audible really and that will go in a few weeks, once I get used to it. 


I'm also getting alot quicker at taking them out. Lunch was between the 2pm and 3pm bulletins and I didn't use my allotted half hour! 


Getting through a shift on desk without a cup of tea was the hardest thing. I think invisalign needs to create a clear brace that is tea proof. 


So there's the good news, NOW THE BAD NEWS - I have broken one of my attachments!!!


Its the lower jaw on the left as you look at my mouth. 


I'm going to the dentist hopefully tomorrow to get it fixed!

invisalign fitting day

Saturday 28th January 2012 - the big fitting day. 

Today I went to have my attachments done and the braces fitted. 

When they do the attachments, they look like tiny balls of cottage cheese on a few select teeth. They make the fitting really tight and aid the movement of teeth. 

It took about 40 minutes to stick them to my teeth... you can see them below... 

Then my dentist made me practice taking them in and out. It's quite uncomfortable. (Take lots of tissues, saliva everywhere) but as long as you do it properly, your teeth will not fall out. 

Mine feel like they're just going to drop out - but i'm assured they won't. 

The red circles show where the attachments are in my mouth... you can actually see better on the second photo. These are both taken with my braces in: 

Standing back at a distance, you can't really tell. Speech on Day 1, hasn't been affected that much but 's' is hard to say... more on that tomorrow when I go to work though!

These are my cases to store them in when I take them out. You can have two hours every day to eat and drink. 

30 mins for breakfast

30 mins for lunch

1 hour for dinner

You can only drink room temperature water with the braces in otherwise they may warp with the heat of a cup of tea, or discolour with Ribena! 

There is time to have a snack - take them out - eat a cake - then chew some gum - then put them back in. I haven't mastered this yet though. 

Just hungry.... 

If you are having or thinking about having invisalign contact me on the comments bit below and I'll try and answer your questions as we go through. 

My finish date is August 2012!!!

ClinCheck - check!

The actual ClinCheck looks likes this: 

It took about FOUR weeks for it to come back from the invisalign nerds, and then a further three weeks for me and my dentist to agree on the final outcome. 

So that's how you know invisalign will work. They promise to get within 95-98% of this. 

At the point of agreeing this ClinCheck, I knew it would take 14 aligners, and a total of 28 weeks to move the teeth. 

An extra month on the end will include fine tuning and whitening. 

Because of christmas there was a delay in the manufacture of my aligners, so they finally arrived at the end of January. 

Operation Straight Teeth (Sept 2011)

Operation Straight Teeth first started for me in September 2001, when I decided I wanted some cosmetic dentistry. 

I knew it'd cost ALOT - and I wasn't wrong. But if you're looking into it, be prepared for a long wait. 

From getting three quotations, to going for all the impressions, agreeing my ClinCheck, and then getting the braces took four months. 

This is my journey with invisalign, hope it helps if you're doing too. 

As I've only started this blog now, here's a brief rundown of how I got here: 

September 2011

Contacted THREE clinics who do invisalign or a UK alternative. I'd researched that I wanted invisalign because I didn't want a brace that was visible, and I wanted FAST results. 

Holywell House in Hinckley were helpful, but had a massive backlog of patients and quoted over the phone in the region of £7000. 

Simon Rixon in Nuneaton quoted about £4000, but this was for more like a six month smile. 

Euro Dental Care in Harborne, Birmingham quoted £3800. Dr Agaarwal met me for an initial consultation on the 8th October 2011... he talked for two hours about my options and how much each option would cost. 

A month later I was in for my invisalign impressions, so they could create a computer generated diagram of how my teeth would look.#

By the 18th December, I'd had an extraction in my lower set of teeth to make room for the squashed teeth to move around... a filling, because if there's even slight decay in a tooth, moving it could make it die. ALWAYS have these fixed before invisalign treatment. 

Next I'll post my clincheck and talk about treatment...