I have turned a significant corner in my Invisalign treatment. The lower retainers have now finished, and i now have 8 weeks left of the upper retainers to go. The last of the lower retainers remains in situ, and i now regularly change the uppers every 2 weeks as before. Derek gave me the option of installing a permanent retainer on the lowers, this is a metal bar on the inside of the teeth which no-one will know is there, but i decided to leave this until I have finished the full course of treatment. After the uppers have finished, we will then reassess whether any further treatment is needed. Derek tells me, I do have the option of continuing with more aligners at the end if i am not happy with the result, free of charge.

I really have noticed an amazing change in my teeth especially the”twisted” uppers that were always bothering me. I have noticed a minute “triangle” that has appeared between the 2 front teeth. Derek warned me of this. I can only describe it as about the size of a pin head, only noticeable when the light is behind it.

Work on the discoloration of my teeth has started in a very simple format. I add a small amount of whitening gel to my trays every other night and leave in overnight. I would suggest that every other night is sufficient as it can make your teeth quite sensitive the following day. The days I don’t use it I replace with Sensodyne and leave that in instead. This works well for me. The teeth have taken to the whitening gel very nicely and have changed shade.

I would like to write about the “politics” of Invisalign for a moment. This being, not the company itself but the actual treatment of your teeth. When I made this decision I was totally confident in what I was doing and why I was doing it. You will, however, come across people with very different views on what you are doing. I have managed to narrow it down to these groups…

The Family… Almost every member of your family will say that you do not need it doing; they almost feel guilty that you dislike your teeth. At one point you would have thought I was having every single tooth removed and having nothing replaced.

The Intrigued. Have almost certainly looked into it Invisalign themselves, and are very interested in the whole procedure. Derek’s next customer.

The Jealous/ intrigued. Have also looked into the treatment but are too nervous to proceed, or cannot afford it.

The Condemnation… Complete disrespect for what you are doing, and look at you and think, what a complete waste of time and money.

The believers. The people who realise that you would not go to this effort, without having a good reason (usual brothers in law!)

Noticeable facts

• I can no longer “Mexican whistle”. I have embarrassingly tried to recall my dog with a non-effective ” ssplargghhsst”. He didn’t come back…I am hoping this will return when I am free of aligners.
• Whenever you try and do a stealth removal of the aligners, the whole room will go quiet, followed by you wrestling with your jaw bone, a pop and a splutter. The noise is like nothing else known to man. Every single person stares and thinks, “what is that bloke doing to his face?!”
• I am now wearing 32 inch waist trousers again!! waahooo! Now going to dust off my white clingy t-shirt and black leather jacket. I’m 18 again!

Regards Mike