One of the errands JG and I ran during our common day off last Friday was stopping by the dentist. See, yours truly is in need of some orthodontia work.
When I was a teenager, I managed to avoid wearing braces and all of the pain that entails. I don’t have really straight teeth, but I always thought they were pretty good for not having had braces. At my most recent cleaning, however, my dentist had a completely different opinion.
Apparently, I am a victim of “downward drift,” and my teeth will continue their glacier-esque travels toward the front of my mouth as I get older. They have already rotated and encroached on one another, which is part of the reason that I have a hard time flossing. The other part of it is that I have an overactive gag reflex. Oh, and I hate to floss. The team of hygienists made molds of my teeth, and my path toward straighter teeth had begun.
On Friday, we finally paid the down payment and I received my first treatment. Don’t be fooled — despite my moaning and groaning, it’s not bad at all. I have been saved the adolescent trauma of wiring my jaw by virtue of clear alignment trays. Instead of a mouthful of metal, I have the unpleasant sensation that I can only imagine is akin to that of wearing a mouth guard, not that I have ever worn one of those. The trays put pressure on my teeth, but there hasn’t been any pain, thank goodness. I keep sucking at my teeth furiously because I feel like something is stuck to them, which might be because, well, something is.
When I eat, I have to dig my fingers into my mouth to pry out the trays and put them in my handy carrying case for the duration of the meal. It’s lovely. Then, before bed, I feel like a geezer when I brush each tray with toothpaste. As if I didn’t have to brush my own stupid teeth! Apparently, denture cleaner is an absolute no-no, according to the brochure, which recommended that I buy a $75 cleaning kit, despite the fine print that said that toothpaste was okay, too. Huh! I should buy myself something with all of that saved tray-cleaner money!
So far, five days in, the biggest impact to my life is that I have to condense my eating pattern into three distinct times (so as to wear the trays for 22 hours each day), and that has really put a wrench in my previous strategy of Snack Constantly on Healthy Things. What, I have to eat my leftovers, fruit, crackers, and applesauce at the same time? Geez. My “S” sounds have become rather lispy in the past few days, and I find that I’m covering up my mouth more when I smile or laugh. JG says that he doesn’t even notice, but when I arrived at the wedding rehearsal on my first day of wearing the trays, the first thing the bride said to me was, “Do you have something on your teeth?” Great.
The bright side of the matter is that, in seven months, I will have a lovely, straight smile, and a mere eleven months after that, it’ll be paid in full. Beauty doesn’t come cheap.
12 comments
Hooray for Invisalign! My dad does them at his office (he’s a dentist) and in fact, the reason he’s out here so often is that he does seminars for other dentists on how to do them.
Anyway, i think they are awesome and just wish he’d have started doing them BEFORE I had the big ugly mouth of metal when I was in high school. Oh well.
Make sure to take some good before picture for a great before/after post in seven months!
I never had braces either, but luckily my teeth are still straight (I think) and no dentist has ever said anything to me about need orthodontia. Still, seven months isn’t too bad. Do you not have dental insurance that helps you with the cost?
I had braces for what felt like FOREVER. Even after the fact, I swear I think I wore them for 3 years. I do have nice straight teeth now, but what I wouldn’t have given for a clear option!
And I do think you should get to buy something new and great with the money you saved from not buying the expensive tray cleaner!
Good for you for doing it! Thank god I wore my retainters when I was a teenager or I’d be in the same boat.
Holy crap, I wish that I had let my parents pay for braces when I was a kid. Of course, that would have meant a much more unpleasurable experience that what is available today, which is also something that I could use.
Braces, isn’t that a lovely memory (please bless you can detect the massive loads of sarcasm here). I’m so glad you had the Invisalign option!
xox
I had braces twice as a kid - once in 4th grade on just the front four teeth, and then in high school I had a whole set. Got them off just before I left for college. And now my teeth are already shifting! I guess I’m just going to deal with it, but it’s nice to know about the clear alignment trays as an option!
I got braces in fifth grade. I was the first person I knew to get them. Luckily for me, they were off by eighth grade, so I wasn’t wearing them in high school. I actually didn’t mind the metal. I had fun changing the colored bands every month….the sore mouth wasn’t so fun though.
I’ve never had braces, and I hope I never need to! Hope you like the results!
And that is bullcrap about the 75 for a cleaning kit when you can just use toothpaste… stuff like that ticks me off!
Ugh.
I think it would be more of a pain in the arse to eat on a schedule like that.
As someone who didn’t get braces until the very end of high school - college, I feel your late othodontia pain!
Here’s hoping that the clear un-braces work with a minimum of inconvenience and discomfort!!
Oooh! I’ve been coveting Invisalign for a couple of years now. I don’t have a huge need for them, but my top teeth stick in slightly and I have an enormous overbite!
Good for you! How exciting!
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