2013 had been an amazing year for me, with many new experiences and friends made, and it also marked the start of a few journeys, such as the one for my Invisalign. I hope 2013 had been great for you guys too! :)
My 2013 ended well, with a trip to Taiwan in December. As we all know, good food and local delights are irresistible when you're overseas! I, unfortunately, am a foodie and I do eat quite a lot and quite often. As advised by my dentist, I wore my aligners for as much as I can during my trip and also the same set of aligners (which was #12) for the entire 14-day period. Due to little access to washrooms as I roamed the different towns, streets and night markets, I generally only wore my aligners from the time I returned to the hotel and until it was time for breakfast, which made up to about just 9 hours or so each day. Very far off from the optimal 22-hours/day. And the consequence?
Well, because I had the same set on for 14 days, at the end of that period my teeth were still on track for their progress in movement generally, based on a review I had at my dentist shortly after I returned to Singapore. It was, however, extremely sore for me when I placed the aligners back on at the end of each day. It's true when people tell you your teeth's alignment can shift in just a day. In the morning after I had my aligners on through a night's sleep, my teeth would be in aligner #12's position. However, I did notice that the alignment would be kinda off at the end of the day (it was obvious for 2 of my lower incisors which should be straight at #12) just before I place the aligners back on, which explains the discomfort and soreness I felt. Fortunately, the discomfort didn't last long and my teeth felt ok by the time I had to sleep.
After 14 days with aligner #12, I was back to my 10-day cycle with aligners #13 and #14. I was supposed to move on to #15 since last Monday, but I couldn't because.....
There's a defect in the top aligner of #15 :(
Usually when switching to a new set of aligners I'd just rinse and put them on without checking much. But this aligner really felt odd on my top left molar, so I took a look in the mirror and saw that it totally didn't fit onto my molar. It was only when I removed it that I saw the huge hole and the distorted plastic at the back of the aligner. Had brought it back to my dentist, and while they get a replacement for me, which would take 1-2 weeks, I can only stick with aligner #14 which I'm wearing for the 19th day now :( It's boring, my aligner's getting more worn out (because I'm wearing the same one for so long), and there's no progression with teeth movement. It's just stuck at this stage for now :(
I hope I get my aligner #15 really really soon! >.<
