Oops!

Well it's been a while since an update!

I've been in the middle of exams and uni holidays for the past 6 weeks so forgive the lack of updates.

Right after exams finished I was off to a theme park with my friends to celebrate my birthday. Not only did this day mark the celebration of my birth, but also the day I first failed myself with Invisalign. After having lunch and seeing the exxxxxtreeeeeeeemmmmeeeeelllllyyyyyy long line for the very messy bathrooms I did what I swore I would never do....... I didn't brush before putting my Invisalign back in.

Now normally this is cardinal sin #1 for me and I would never dream of doing it! But under the circumstances it was just not realistic to spend 20 minutes standing in line for a bathroom and asking my 6 friends to wait while I did so. That and to be honest those bathrooms were gross and I really didn't want to brush my teeth in there. I did swish really well with water for about 15 minutes before putting them back in and did use a on the go retainer wipe to clean them up a bit but I still had that horrible guilty feeling for doing something I know I shouldn't have. Luckily I was only a day out from changing my aligners so I wasn't too worried about any staining or smell, just about the hygiene of it.

Then came multiple trips to the Eat Street Markets. If you're not from Brisbane, the Eat Street Markets are a small food market by the river selling restaurant style food out of shipping containers with live music and about a million different foods to eat (think cronuts, calamari, churros, bagels, mocktails, wood fired pizza, crepes, quesadillas, dumplings, burgers, sweet potato fries, and a whole lot more). This was where my second failure was. Normally one to take my aligners out, eat, brush, and get them back in asap (usually 30-40 minutes) I ended up leaving them out from the time I walked into the markets until I got home (the longest of these trips was 2 hours!!!!). I try to console myself by saying that although they were out for two hours straight it was the only time they were out that day. What can I say, if you ever go to Eat Street, trust me, it will be the only meal you need that day.

I do find in general I am getting a little lazier about how soon I put my Invisalign back in after eating but I'm still meeting approx 22 hours wear time give or take half an hour depending on the day. And other than the one theme park slip up I have never not brush, flossed, and mouth washed before putting them back in.

Sadly, my amazing orthodontist is retiring at the end of this month. I am only 3 months into my treatment plan at this stage so I was a little freaked out and panicked when I first found out. However after many long hours worrying I'm finally over it and am trying my best to trust that the orthodontist he has selected to take over his cases is every bit as good as my original orthodontist. At the very least I am safe knowing that my initial treatment is already sitting in a box and was designed by the person I chose.

Aligner 6 were by far the MOST painful set I've had to date. I'm currently in 7 now and am glad to have seen the tail end of 6. Aligners 6 were horribly achy for almost 5 days. They gave me awful headaches and were not fun at all. Aligners 3 made my teeth tender but I think that's just because those were the trays I had attachments with for the first time. But 6? Holy cow they were not fun. At this stage I notice that the gap that is being created behind my premolars is definitely moving (although you can't see it in the pictures above). That's were I get most my achy-ness now with each new tray, although it passes within 24. It's sort of a feeling like having the worlds largest popcorn kernel wedged well and truly up between my premolars and molars.

Here's a little picture update.

As you can seen Mr Gappy is gone and some of the lower front teeth are starting to stand up tall rather than slouch on their friends. I've also noticed that some of my lower premolars are now standing more upright rather than leaning in towards my tongue. I know it's not an amazingly huge difference just yet but I'm slowly getting there!