Marius McGovern, owner of the Liverpool Dental Spa sat me down and told me everything. I have to go through 21 sets of aligners on the top teeth and 16 on the bottom set, which means I should finish Invisalign treatment around November time.

He also mentioned that I was to have six ‘buttons’ or attachments as they are otherwise known, added on to either side of my front teeth which would stay on throughout the course of the treatment. When I heard this I did panic a little – ‘SIX buttons?’ I thought they would look so noticeable.

These had to be added to my teeth first before the trays were put in. The idea behind this is that they help to provide grip on the teeth and aid in their rotation – so they move into the correct place. There must have been about 10 minutes where these were bonded on, though I didn’t feel anything during this process.

After that he snugly fit the aligners onto my teeth and asked me if they felt tight. I didn’t feel anything at first – though I was aware they were on my teeth, as it felt like wearing a gumshield.

After they were fitted, I had a consultation with one of the dental nurses who brought a mirror over to me so I could have a look at them on. The first thing I noticed was the small bumps on my teeth known as the attachments – but they were the same colour as my teeth and on closer inspection, barely noticeable. I was shown how to clean and maintain the Invisalign trays and she asked me to practice taking them on and off so I could get used to the feeling. It took a few minutes – but I got there!

We had a joke about Invisalign being the best diet to go on as people tend to avoid snacks and hot drinks when they’re wearing them. This is because hot drinks can warp the aligners and snacks mean you are then required to take them out and brush your teeth/aligners to avoid the build-up of food which can lead to plaque.

With regarding to cleaning the Invisalign aligners, I was advised to just use a bit of toothpaste on a toothbrush and rinse them out using cold water.

I was also given two sets of trays to store them in to keep them safe when they’re not in my mouth. One of the trays is red and one is blue. The blue one is for during the course of treatment and the red one is for previous aligners.

It was a strange feeling taking them off at first and I thought they might snap if I pulled too hard – but I was told just to pull them off, from the left, right and then finally the centre to remove them. She also told me to be aware that my teeth would feel sore with these aligners in for the first couple of days, as the teeth adapt and get used to wearing them.

Pain
At first I thought ‘this is easy’ and wondered what all the fuss was about. For me, the pain didn’t kick in until I’d been wearing the aligners for at least 2-3 hours. The pain wasn’t excruciating, but it felt like a dull ache on my bottom set of teeth – more annoying than anything else. I took two paracetamol however and the pain soon resided. It did hurt to remove the aligners to eat though and the pain was pretty sharp and somewhat agonising when taking them on and off. I just kept on thinking to myself that it can only get better!

Day 1-2
I’m still finding it slightly difficult to adapt to these aligners. The pain taking them on and off is still there and it feels weird to taste the sensation of plastic in my mouth. I can’t get over how invisible they really are though and so far no one has said anything about them or commented that they can see them.

Day 2-3
The aligners are becoming more comfortable and don’t hurt as much to take on or off. They’re getting easier to remove too – maybe my teeth have started adapting to them? The taste of plastic is still there, but I’m getting used to it. I am noticing that I’m lisping slightly, but nothing too obvious.

That’s it so far! So what are my overall thoughts about my first few days of using Invisalign?
I’m really impressed by how virtually invisible they are and now my teeth are adjusting it feels pretty comfortable – and not like wearing a brace at all. I have to wear the first set for about 10-14 days before moving onto the next tray and I’m already feeling pretty excited to see the results. Of course there is a lot of commitment involved – 22 hours of wear a day is required, but so far it’s not been as difficult as I at first imagined.

In the next update I will talk more about my progress during this first set of aligners and how I’m adapting to it – plus whether I have seen any results yet.

For now, I will leave you with this snapshot of my teeth before I underwent treatment (on the left) and a picture of my teeth wearing the Invisalign aligners (on the right), so you can see the difference. I’ve noticed it makes teeth look nice and shiny. Can you tell I’m wearing them?
Anna