Hi everyone!
I am back to update you all on how my Invisalign journey is going and any tips/tricks I have picked up along the way.
I am currently in my 12th aligner (over halfway there!) of my treatment plan and I have started to pick up on noticeable changes with my tooth movements and how things feel when I brush my tongue against my teeth.
It has also been very interesting to see how little of my friends and family noticed my Invisalign aligners when I talk. I often find that only when I was removing my aligners to eat/drink that people notice I was going through the Invisalign process!
During my treatment, I have been using ‘Dental Monitoring’ to help aid my Invisalign journey. This is an app which requires you to scan your teeth (using your own phone) and then by using digital AI it flags anything important to me, as a patient, and also allows Dr Derek to monitor my progress remotely. This means instead of having to book an appointment with Dr Derek, I am able to rely on Dental Monitoring to do the tracking for me and reduce my time in the dental chair. Obviously, this isn’t so much of a bother for me because I am at the practice Monday-Friday anyway, but I’ve realised how valuable this would be if I was working elsewhere and didn’t have the time available to be able to have regular visits to review my Invisalign progress.
A trick I have been doing during my Invisalign process is keeping a large Tepe in my Invisalign travel box, I use the Tepe as a brush so that I can quickly clean my aligners after removing them to ensure there isn’t any bacteria harbouring in these when I’m not wearing them. This helps to reduce staining on the aligners too and avoid any unpleasant tastes/smells.
My next blog post will be coming up around the end of my treatment plan. However, even though I say ‘end of my treatment plan’, I may go through a ‘refinement’ process if I want to make slight changes to my end result. This initial refinement is something that is complimentary to all Invisalign cases here at the practice. The refinement process is another set of aligners but is usually on a much smaller treatment plan as only small adjustments are needed. Only once I finish my current set of aligners will I be able to judge if I want to go through a refinement stage.
As always, I will keep you all up to date with my progress and I am always at the practice to answer any questions you may have.
Tabitha
