Starting Invisalign (naughty teeth go in the punishment tray)

Well, I'm on tray #2 of my Invisalign ~journey~ and I suppose that's a good time to start posting about it. I got my first tray on the 8th of December after deliberating for some time. I felt kinda bad for betraying my wonky teeth by straightening them, but now I've been wearing Invisalign for two weeks, all my worries and guilty feelings have melted away and been replaced by a dull toothache that makes it impossible to eat cheese toasties.

That unruly front tooth is about to be put in its place.

Sacrifice #1: cheese toasties.

Thankfully, the trays only hurt for the first few days of wearing them (for me, at least), so for the most part I can eat whatever I want. I try to avoid very hard foods though. And I've stopped drinking tea, because it just takes too long. Everything has to be part of a meal, which I expected to be challenging since I'm usually the biggest snacker in the world, but actually I'm finding it really easy, and if anything it's making me appreciate meals more and probably eat more too (I have a bad habit of putting off eating when I'm busy doing something).

"they call me Johnny two trays"

For now I've only been given two sets of trays, so when another two weeks passes I'll have to go back to my dentist to get more. I can't tell a difference between the two, but my teeth can certainly feel the difference. There's a weird satisfaction that comes with the ache of new trays - you know it's working.

The first trays I had were so embarrassingly hard to remove at first. I thought all my nails were going to break off trying to get them off. Thankfully now it is super easy. I think you just have to get the knack for it and then it becomes almost fun clipping them in and out. Well, maybe that's going too far.

Sorry these are gross, but these are my first set of trays (photo taken a few hours after I changed to tray set #2).

I definitely already want to start changing them quicker (two weeks for each set of trays feels so long), and I'm excited for the eventual release of my teeth (free them), but so far it's been pretty good. It's more proof that I'm really good at sticking to deadlines. These things are on my teeth for the recommended 22 hours a day no matter how much I miss having 4-5 cups of tea a day. As Christmas and New Year are coming up soon, I'll be testing how possible it is to get moderately drunk whilst sticking to the allotted time slots. Catch me with a stopwatch in one hand and a gin and tonic in the other!

The sun is doing a lot here to mask the true level of wonky my teeth possess. Thank you sun.