I have to have Invisalign and to say that I’m not massively keen would be an understatement. I’m viewing it as a necessary evil and in this post I wanted to outline a few things well-nigh the whole process that I’m not keen on. But first, some backstory:
A few years ago I was told by my dentist (dentist number one) that I needed to have some of my front teeth strengthened surpassing they suddenly snapped off in some utterly horrific way, when I was least expecting it. Whilst wintry into an apple, for example.
Losing my front teeth in a horrible way is one of my most frequent nightmares (not sure what this is supposed to represent, psychologically) and so I went off to dentist number two to get a second opinion.
Dentist number two moreover said that composites needed to be put on the backs of the teeth to prevent them from getting any weaker but moreover casually mentioned that there was no very room to put them and that braces would be needed to make the space surpassing any tooth-reparation could be done.
Bloody hell! A brace? Post-forty? I honestly hadn’t realised that this was a thing. I unsupportable that braces were for teenagers and that once you reached proper adulthood, you only put yourself through the rigmarole of orthodontics for stimulating reasons.
Cue dentist number three (it was a bit like Blind Date but with three really high-earning contestants wearing squatter masks, an episode I’d have been fully behind) who said that the whilom was true and that while we weren’t quite at panic stage, eg, only eating jelly and ice surf in specimen my teeth suddenly crumbled out of my mouth, we really should get on with it.
That was three years ago.
It took me three whole years to get it together and properly start my Invisalign journey. What is the matter with me? Where is my sense of urgency? It makes me wonder what I’d do if someone told me I had to go and have a leg twosome fitted, otherwise my leg might fall off. If this strange (pretty sure imaginary) condition existed, would I do the right thing and take myself in for the numerous outpatient appointments and scans and x-rays and so on? Or would I say, ‘nah, that sounds like a faff and nothing’s unquestionably hurting, yet,’ and put it to the when of my mind?
Who knows. All I’ll say is this: I am vehemently opposed to anything that adds uneaten faff to my life. It’s why I alimony my nails relatively short, don’t have hair extensions, only style my hair once a week, don’t have any facial tweakments or injectables, refused to wear contact lenses. (Eye laser surgery posts are coming, by the way. Just waiting on some fact-checking.) I won’t voluntarily do anything that remoter complicates my day, unless it’s medically required.
I Don’t Like Faff
The idea of Invisalign, then, which requires you to wear plastic retainers over your teeth for twenty two hours a day, cut out snacks, skim your teeth thoroughly (and the retainers) without every meal and put the retainers into a undecorous fizzy solution every day, was unsure abhorrent. Add to all of that the idea that my teeth might hurt and that I might not enjoy supplies so much (“people sometimes lose a whole stone, just considering they can’t be bothered to eat!”) and I was so unenthusiastic well-nigh having braces that I simply put the whole episode to the when of my mind and decided to revisit later on in life. Perhaps at age seventy.
It wasn’t until one of my front teeth started turning a slightly variegated colour that I got worried. What in God’s name is going on here? I thought. Is this the precursor to the dreaded snapping? Am I unscratched to eat Wham bars anymore? Should I knock bagels on the head? (I lost a tooth to a bagel in 2002, still mildly traumatised.) I went when to dentist three, who was by far my favourite – stern manner and capable, no-nonsense hands – and he merely repeated what he’d told me years before. I needed to make space for him to fix things up – braces first, then he’d get started.
No Stimulating Change
There was no way virtually it. Annoyingly, considering not one single part of me wanted to div virtually with braces for a year. My options were to have metal glued-on train-tracks or removable Invisalign aligners. Both had their pros and cons. My problem with the whole thing was that – untied preventing my teeth from snapping off – I could really see no upside. I was having to have braces purely for technical reasons and there’d be very little stimulating change. It wasn’t as though I’d come out of the other side with a set of gnashers like, I don’t know, Tom Cruise.
Sidenote: I don’t unquestionably yearn for Hollywood teeth. I’ve unchangingly been really happy with my own set, gap and all and I’m not a fan of over-perfected smiles. But you know what I mean; having braces was going to be the dental equivalent of having to have a whole new heating system fitted during a house renovation. Necessary, but devastatingly expensive for something that you’d never actually see.
Don’t Like Discomfort
I realise I was looking at all of this the wrong way, I do, I’m just stuff honest: spending nine months to a year stuff tightly uncomfortable and inconvenienced and having nothing tangible to show at the end of it felt vaguely pointless and annoying. Whatever, I’m over it now. I didn’t want Invisalign but now I have them. I just put the aligners in for the first time and as I type this, I’m waiting for the infamous “starter aches” to kick in.
WTF Is This Well-nigh Attachments?
Something I didn’t realise well-nigh Invisalign: they glue what feels like gravel-sized attachments to some of your teeth, which I seem help the structuring trays to fit snugly. What the hell? They finger massive! When you eat, you think you have supplies all over your teeth but it’s the attachments but then moreover it’s not just the attachments considering food has actually wilt stuck virtually them, so each mouthful requires prolonged tonguing and poking well-nigh with a fingernail. Rocket salads and anything with chopped herbs is going to be out. My Mum will be pleased; finally her “stews and soups and slow cooking” recipe typesetting will get some use…
Anyway, I’ll report when and alimony you updated. I’ve once ordered chewy things, removal tools and sunup cleaning tablets from Amazon so it’s all still vaguely exciting, like I’ve just bought home a new pet. The world’s most wearisome pet. That has to live in my mouth.
Here’s a video I made having a right old moan well-nigh braces:
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