Hey gang! How are things in your world?

If I’m being honest, I hit a bit of a bumpy road during the first few weeks of Invisalign. The hubs is the only one I spoke to about the issue during the first few weeks. Then I finally approached my orthodontist.

I developed severe burning on my tongue. It felt as tho it had been scalded. And accompanied by a strange metallic taste. I thought it could be a number of things.

• Initially, I thought it was from the rough edges of the trays causing the pain/burning sensation.
• Then, I thought it was from soaking my trays in mouthwash. And that the trays absorbed the strong mouthwash, causing the burning.
• My last resort was that I must be having an allergic reaction to the trays. I couldn’t think of anything else.

At any rate, the burning was so incredibly painful, that I thought I would need to stop the Invisalign journey. It was not a pleasant thought, as I truly wanted my bite to be fixed.

When I mentioned the issue to my orthodontist, he immediately replied that I should not be experiencing an allergic reaction. So I dropped it, thinking I was off my rocker. But I knew I would have to resolve the issue myself or give up the Invisalign.

I poked around on the internet to see what could possibly be causing this awful experience. And found something called “Burning Mouth Syndrome”. I began to read up on that and found that one of the causes can be from overly brushing your tongue.

That was the lightbulb moment. I instantly knew that had to be it. I always brushed my tongue when I brush my teeth. However, I was never in the habit of brushing my teeth after every meal and snack. I figured I was brushing and scrubbing my tongue up to 5 times a day! And was literally damaging the nerves/taste buds. Who knew?

I stopped brushing my tongue immediately. And the burning pain and metallic taste completely healed in 2 days.

It’s great having that behind me and on with the program with a better experience. In just a few short days, I will have reached the 2 month mark.

I can already tell the teeth are shifting. It’s a wonderful work in progress and I’m excited to be well on my way.

Shot this image this morning and played with a filter in Photoshop, just for fun. And to share my sheer joy.

Cheers to progress!

Blessings – Debbie

Hey peeps, I hope all is well out there with you and trust you are going into the weekend on a happy note.

I’m still kicking over here, learning how to adjust with these new Invisalign braces/trays.

The first three days were rough.

Days 4 – 6 seemed to be a lot better. And the hubs said my lisp was much improved. This is the time period that I could tell my teeth were moving. My bite had already changed. I especially notice it while eating.

Day 7 and 8 and were not so pretty. Seems I developed a bad habit while trying to adjust to these things = My tongue and jaw developed more sores.

Day 9 (yesterday) my tongue was still on the sore side. And I had to be mindful to stop fidgeting with my tongue.

Day 10 – (today) I think I’m getting the hang of it finally! I’m still mindful to relax tho.

The trays are in for this image. I love how clear they are. It’s hard to tell by looking at the picture. But if you were to zoom in, you would be able to see saliva bubbles in the trays. I’m conscious of them in public. But my mouth is less sore and much happier today.

I tried to capture both sides of my mouth while the trays were out. The below image is taken without the trays. This is showing my natural bite. I also tried to capture the four buttons that are on this side. The buttons are like dots of enamel that match the color of my teeth. I can’t even see them in this image. Yes, I washed my hands 😉

The natural bite on the other side. There, you can kinda see the four buttons in this picture.

Zoomed in – The four arrows point to the buttons. I have a total of 8 buttons. Four on each side.

The buttons allow the aligner to grip a tooth to ensure the right forces are placed in the right areas to move the teeth.

I’ve also had the issue with my lower left tray being loose. I explained in my earlier post that I put trays #2 in on my first day, due to feeling too loose. So today, just for fun, I put in tray #3 on my bottom teeth just to see if I could wiggle it with my tongue. Sure enough, I can lift the entire back side of tray #3.

So I called my orthodontist office this morning to see if this is normal. She stated, there is no concern for starting with the second set of trays. Trays #1 were pretty much starting out the same, such that patients have an easier adjustment period. So I’ll stay on tray #2 and I’m scheduled to see the Dr next Tuesday.

Cheers to getting adjusted! It’s a great adventure and I look forward to getting my bite aligned this year.

Blessings – Debbie

There is much to be said about making lists, crossing things off, finding new things to add to the list and so on. That’s pretty much like life. New chapters form as we turn the pages and we move on to the next phase. amiright?

The saying goes, nothing ventured, nothing gained. In order for the adventure, there must be that very first step.

This year I branched out into the unknown, for myself. I visited an orthodontist.

While I haven’t had any major issues with my teeth to speak of = 3 fillings to date and all wisdom teeth pulled, that’s it.

That said, my bite is off and the lower jaw has to push back to get a bite. Grinding my teeth at night has been an issue for years. Thus, wearing a night guard is essential. My dentist thought I would be a perfect candidate for Invisalign. Invisalign would behave as a night guard to prevent grinding and would fill the slot for braces. I was on board.

Next stop was on to my new orthodontist. He too said that I would be the perfect candidate for Invisalign.

My scans were finished over the last two weeks and now I’m finally getting adjusted to my first trays. Today is Day #3.

It’s really hard to see in the picture, but the upper and lower teeth sport my very first set of trays. This shot was taken yesterday, Day #2.

Day #1 (Feb 19th) – Confession: I think I made a bad decision. On day #1, after I got home and settled into the first set of trays (about 3 hours in), I thought to myself – “These don’t seem to be doing anything.” That thought stayed with me a little while. Then is when I made the corporate decision to put the second set of trays in.

“How cool is this,” I thought. I reasoned that I was already 2 weeks ahead of schedule. A little pain settled in that evening, so I took a couple of Tylenol and called it a day.

Day #2 – Yikes! What was I thinking when I thought advancing past the 1st set of trays was a novel idea? It was worse than I expected. I really don’t know what to expect, as I didn’t have braces as a child to compare it to.

And then a saliva issue started. Sorry if this is gross to you. But I have to tell it like it is. Seriously, it was like opening the saliva glands and swallowing every two seconds! So not only was I dealing with the pain from my teeth, the continuous swallowing caused my tongue and sides of my gums/jaws to develop sores from the edges of the trays from all of that swallowing.

That saliva issue sent me straight to google in a panic, to get to the bottom of it. Turns out, the mouth is adjusting to a foreign object and the saliva is the natural way the body responds. WHEW! I finally relaxed knowing that that would pass one of these days.

Having said all that, I learned to follow my orthodontists instructions. Leave your trays in for 2 full weeks and cool your jets for wanting to speed up the process. While your teeth may have already adjusted to the trays in 3-5 days, you need to leave it alone to give ample time for the bones to shift.

I have enough trays to get me thru the first 8 weeks. So I’m going to simmer and keep this #2 tray in for 4 weeks. Then move on to my #3 trays. And be a good girl and stick to the letter of the 2 week law, per each set of trays.

Day #3 – Today

My goodness, the saliva has finally simmered. That was crazy folks! I thought I was going to lose it. Also, the soreness is beginning to subside. And my gums and tongue are getting used to these foreign objects. Cheers! I can finally feel myself getting situated for this great adventure. I’m so excited!

It’s hard to see the little buttons they added to my teeth. You might be able to see them in the pictures above. I have a total of 8. 4 on the top and 4 on the bottom.

In other Invisalign news.

• I’m wearing the trays no less than 22 hours a day.
• I take them out for 3 meals a day and put them back as soon as I finish a meal.
• My teeth and trays are cleaned after each bite of food.
• I clean my trays with a soft toothbrush and mouthwash.
• While my bite is the biggest issue, some of my teeth will be straightened to form the best smile. (Grin)

Cheers to moving forward into the great unknown with Invisalign. Stay tuned for updates. I’m not sure how smooth or bumpy the journey will be, but I can already tell things are looking up after those first two days.

Blessings – Debbie