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!