Third Aligner!

Yesterday I started the third set of aligners (of 13 on top and 15 on bottom). It will be exceptionally exciting to start the fourth, since that would mean that there are less than 10 to go on top! But, I'm getting ahead of myself. Since I've spent the past two weeks traveling either for work or vacation, I will post my thoughts on travel and doing business while going through the Invisalign process.

1) Get used to brushing and flossing in very public establishments. In the past two weeks, I've brushed and flossed on airplanes, in a park restroom, countless restaurants, and just in general any public place that I've had a need.

2) Double check you have your supplies every time you go out! Twice I forgot to bring the case with me! Doh. I spent the evenings so worried that something would happen to my aligners that were wrapped up in a napkin in my purse. One other time, I completely forgot my toothpaste back at my hotel room. Not wanting to be without the aligners for countless hours, I just rinsed as thoroughly as possible and brushed as soon as I got back to the hotel.

3) Make sure you have adequate supplies! Oh thank goodness I brought two containers of floss with me this last trip. While brushing on an airplane, I pulled out my floss only to discover that just a tiny bit came out, because there was hardly any left. By the end of the trip, the other container of floss was nearly gone. You definitely will go through a lot of floss on this program, so make sure you have enough. On a positive note, Aquafresh makes a pretty large size of toothpaste that fits FAA guidelines, which costs about $1.50, but was so much more valuable on a four day trip than the tiny travel size (which I would have easily had to bring two or three of just to get by). At the end of the four days, I even had some left, though not enough for another four day trip.

4) Brushing with the "sensor" type faucets is a royal pain in the rear. I can never seem to get the water to come on when I want it to, and even when it does come on, it's always too forceful and totally the wrong amount of water.

So, in summary, travel is kind of a hassle with Invisalign, but you can make due if you just get over the fact that many people will see you brushing and flossing in all sorts of places. I never used to brush anywhere but in the privacy of my home (or a given hotel room if I was staying away from home), but I've had to learn to think of brushing as a very public and normal thing to do. I guess perfect strangers think I'm just obsessive.

Now, on to wearing them in business. This isn't a problem and unless they meet you in the bathroom while you're brushing, your colleagues won't really realize you are wearing anything on your teeth. They are "hardly" noticeable, and when I do tell people, they never realized I was wearing anything at all. This is the perfect program for people who don't want to get any kind of negative attention that they would wearing traditional braces.

On both the second and this aligner, I've had to take pain medication. Not tons, just once or so to get over the feeling. It's not horrible suffering by any means, but I decided that it isn't worth it to feel that dull pain when a pill or two will make it all better. And yes, after a tylenol or an ibuprofen, the pain is completely gone. I've noticed that by the third day the pain is gone entirely.

The third aligner seems to fit better than the second one did, and yes, I still get surprised to realize how tight it feels.

My nails look awesome, my pants fit better, and I am still drinking lots of water, although the dry mouth part has slightly improved. Oh, and two friends have told me, WITHOUT ANY PROMPTING, that my teeth already look better. I noticed it myself in some photos from vacation. I'm just surprised that I can see a noticeable change so quickly. No, not a huge change, just a noticeable change. I'm glad, because the program overall has many more challenges than I would have ever realized, and I need the encouragement. 5 months to go!!