It’s official, my teeth have moved. I’m half-way through tray set 5 and I’m pretty sure my bottom teeth have moved. I’ll take some pictures and compare them with the early ones I took and post them straight here. It’s very satisfying to finally get some proof that this is working – after shelling out all that money and going through the hassle of wearing these pieces of plastic in my mouth all the time. I’m pretty sure now that the Invisalign treatment programme takes it easy on you for the first few trays and then lays it on from tray 4 onwards. In a previous post I mentioned that tray 4 hurt more than the previous trays, and tray 5 isn’t disappointing on that front – the first few days was really uncomfortable. Thing is you get used to it and really it only is painful when you are taking them out and for a few moments afterwards. Once they are in for a while you get used to them – it isn’t comfortable but it isn’t anything that is going to stop me getting any sleep.
Last week I visited evil Nikki the hygenist at my clinic – but my view on her has changed and I no longer consider her evil. Just mildly sadistic. This time it was far less painful, and far less probing that the first time. Perhaps my brushing three times a day and blasting it with Listerine is keeping my gums healthier. She said there was a little area I needed to work on but broadly I was doing well. She showed me how to use these pieces of floss that are held in a plastic harp-shaped thing that makes it much easier to floss. I never used to bother because I was all fingers and thumbs with flossing – I just didn’t get on with it. But these harp things are quite good and I use them every time I brush – they are especially good at getting bits out of the gaps that the dentist created (they haven’t closed up yet – I hope they do).