Hi everyone!
It’s been just shy of a month since I started my Invisalign journey here at the practice. It’s been something I have wanted to do for a long time and after seeing so many amazing results, I finally thought it was my turn to play patient!
At the time of writing, I am currently in my fourth aligner and so far, so good.
For those of you that are unaware, Invisalign is a clear aligner system that straightens your teeth. The aligners are removable and you change them either weekly or two weekly. There are tooth coloured ‘attachments’ which are placed on the teeth and these cause the tooth movement into the desired position.
Although I have seen many happy patients go through the Invisalign process I was worried about what the aligners would feel like and how they would affect my day-to-day life, e.g. talking, sleeping, eating etc, However, Invisalign had already considered this because the first set of aligners anyone is given are purely just clear retainers to help you get used to the sensation and adjust to what is going to be your ‘new normal’. This helps you to get used to the feeling of the aligners without having the added extra of the attachments causing the teeth to move.
At the start of November, I visited Dr Abdullah’s surgery where he placed the attachments on my teeth where required. The location and position of the attachments vary from person to person, depending on your case requirements. The attachments are in essence a small piece of tooth coloured filling that is placed into the inside of the aligner, then that aligner is placed into the mouth and the attachment is set into the correct place on your tooth. Once the attachments are on and the aligners placed into the mouth, the Invisalign process is underway and in a matter of just over 20 weeks my treatment will be completed (everything going to plan).
In my first week of wearing my aligners, my teeth did feel delicate, which I noticed more when I wasn’t wearing my aligners so my compliance with ensuring I wore my aligners for 22 hours per day was great! Since then, my teeth have only been tender on the days when I change my aligners, but this is as expected, and these symptoms do not last long.
I will be documenting my journey during my Invisalign process through the Christchurch newsletter and our social media pages, so be sure to check these out over the next few weeks!
Tabitha
