x2k

I'd had my first set of aligners for a week as of yesterday and was finally pretty used to them.

However, the time had come to get the cement attachments added to my teeth (7 at the top, 6 at the bottom).

It was quite a strange experience having the work done. Had to wear these oversized green shades, the usual plastic bib, and a cheek expander. The process itself was painless.

Some sort of pen was used to draw on which teeth needed attachments, then I guess the cement was blobbed onto each tooth, then a set of template aligners were slotted on so the cement filled into the right shaped holes.

A little device which looked like a mini-hairdryer with a blue light at the end was pointed at each tooth for 20 seconds each to set the cement, and then the template aligner prised off. A drill was used to tidy up the rougher edges.

Then they used this flat strip to make tiny gaps between some teeth (as per Invislign's instructions) so that some of the teeth had room to move. I can only compare it to a cross between dental floss & sandpaper.

And that was it. They fitted my normal aligners back on and they felt a lot tighter (as expected), but that's good. However, taking them off was a different ordeal...

The top set was ok - slightly more difficult than before, but ok. The bottom set, I could lift the aligner easily on the left hand side easily as there were only 2 attachments on the left. But the right hand side was starting to hurt with 4 teeth in a row on the right having attachments.

It felt like pulling the aligner was pulling the attachment and in turn pulling the tooth! Eventually pulled it off with a gasp of "bloody hell". I asked the dentist if this would cause damage to the tooth that was hurting. He said no, just soreness/tenderness.

Back at home I practiced, and it was even harder. It hurt more, and even bled a little. Gonna have to work out a proper routine for removing the bottom set to minimise pain, or I'm gonna be eating a hell of a lot less.

Also, eating with the attachments on is a strange feeling, like you know when you've got food stuck between the front of your teeth and your gums which you'd normally dislodge with your tongue. Hopefully I'll adjust quicker. At leat the aligners are a lot more comfortable and barely noticeable when on.

So I've now got to wear set 1 for a further 2 weeks, and have been given the next 4 sets to keep me going until the start of July when my next appointment is.

Fingers crossed!