On to aligner #4 and #5

Aligner #3 was a sore experience! Following the tightness that came with the elastics in the first few days were very sore molars and gums on days 6 to 8. It was really hard to chew my food and I had to opt for a slightly softer diet on those days, so no biscuits, crackers, or m&m snacks :(

Aligner #4 was pretty much a faster experience and time just seemed to fly by quickly. It might be because I was busy as well, but it did seem like a shorter experience with the aligners and very soon, 10 days were over and I was on to aligner #5! :)

I'm now on day 2 of Aligner #5 and I gotta say, this set of aligners are the tightest yet. Besides aligner #2 which was tight because I just had my attachments and elastics newly added on, aligner #5 almost took my teeth out when I tried to remove them >.<

The aligners weren't difficult to remove, but the removal did send up shots of intense soreness from the teeth to the roots to the gums. The intense sensations were short-lived, fortunately, and the intensity now is not as high as it was during the first removal of aligner #5. I do hope my teeth get accustomed to their new positions soon!

Other than that, I do feel my last molars moving into place and more small gaps in btween the rest of my teeth. Routine-wise, however, I gotta admit that I'm getting a little lazy now haha. There were quite a few occasions where I took drinks, like Milo, with the aligners on and only gargled my mouth after that. Also about one or two occasions where I snacked about 2 hours before dinner time and only gargled before putting my aligners back on because I figured dinner time was gonna be soon and I will be eating again anyway =X Bad habits!!! Am trying hard not to let them kick in because they do increase the chances of potential decay and my aligners did get more stained as well :( The stained aligners probably aren't obvious to others but they are very noticeable to me because I see them everyday and the discolouration just gets stronger. So, it's not good! I shall attempt to stick to the optimal routine more for aligner #5. Wish me luck!

Stretchy elastics and aligner #3!

Trip to the dentist on 4 Sep'13 to add on buttons for my elastics! Somehow my blur brain registered that elastics will only be on from my 5th aligner onwards....... But it's really from my 2nd aligner onwards so after the buttons were attached on today, i had my elastics as well.

Frankly, I'm not that excited about elastics because they kinda make the treatment a lot more visible :( But okayy for the sake of achieving my desirable end results, let's just quickly get them over and done with!

At the appointment, I had a quick aligner review with my dentist who informed me that I should be feeling some gaps at the back of my teeth where food gets stuck very easily too.

Well guess what?
Bingo! Well done teeth! Great that u're movin' in the right direction and so quickly too ;)

And since my dentist was there, I had a quick check with him about my current cracked aligner and asked if it's ok to switch to the next set when I'm only on my 11th day. Not that the aligner was causing me discomfort in any way, but there would always be this worry that my aligner might break when i remove it this time every time i have to do that. Also, just in case another aligner cracks in future, I want to know if it would be alright to move on to the next set. So according to my dentist, if I'm able to wear my aligners on for 22 hours a day, and in view of the current treatment stage where we're moving tooth by tooth towards the back, it would be alright to switch aligners at the 10th day or even on the 7th day :)

So I'm on to my 3rd aligner now!

First impression: It feels reaaally tight together with the elastics. Besides the usual initial tightness with a new set of aligners, it also felt like my jaw movements were restricted, or like my jaw was "clamped" together when my mouth's closed :X

normal smiley view with aligner and elastics

full front view with aligner and elastics

elastics on the left

elastics on the right

The last photo's the best I could get to give a slightly clearer view of the button that the elastics hook on to. The two buttons on the front (attached to my canines) are tooth-coloured while the two at the back (attached to my molars) are metal, much like those on traditional braces. After the buttons are bonded to my teeth, they're trimmed for comfort so that they don't cut my skin. So far, the only issue I've had is with the metal button on my left molar, which seems to "catch" onto my cheek when I eat, making me bite myself a little :( For that, my dentist gave me some wax to stick over the metal button so that the surface kinda smooths over. However, if the wax doesn't help, then the button can be re-positioned. Well, the wax does help a little, and I don't bite myself so often now after my skin got used to the button. Hopefully the issue gets completely resolved soon!

Putting on the elastics was pretty easy with the help of a little plastic holder (refer to photo below). So basically I just have to place one elastic band over the hook on the holder, use the holder to hook the elastic band over the metal button, and then stretch it up to the tooth-coloured button at the front :)

holder, elastic bands, and bag of elastics

Thankfully, elastics don't cut me, so wearing them was pretty comfortable and I adapted to them soon. Let's hope aligner #3 comes with a good experience too! :)


Fun fact: There are different animals on the bag to indicate the different strengths of the elastics! Zebra's the least strength and good for starters' use :) In the event that stubborn teeth don't move with the elastics, stronger elastics may be given (e.g. indicated by Elephant).

Oh no :(

Horrors!!

I found a crack in my upper aligner on Day 9 of 2nd aligner while cleaning them in the morning :(

Had a few petrifying seconds with fleeting thoughts about how the crack came about, like was it during removal was it because i brushed them too hard was it because i held them the wrong way.... Thankfully, they were still pretty functional so I placed them back on and called my clinic for advice.

According to them, since the cracked aligner wasn't causing me pain or discomfort in any area, and since I have an appointment just a few days later, I could continue using the aligner until then. Of course, I could make a trip to the clinic immediately and let them have a look, but honestly I think they wouldn't be able to do much either - I mean, it's not like they can "glue" and seal the crack up right? I could also get a replacement of my 2nd aligner (which will take about 2 weeks to arrive and will cost $100) but I find that unnecessary since I'll be switching over to my 3rd aligner soon.

And so, I had my cracked aligner on for the next few days and prayed that it wouldn't crack further or even break.

Moral of the story?
Be really gentle with your aligners! >.<