YOWZA -- these trays were pretty rough on my teeth. Up to this point, I had no major aches when I'd take out my trays for eating. They'd feel a bit sensitive, but nothing significant.
Well, whatever movement was called for these trays made every single one of my teeth feel so tender, that biting into a chicken salad sandwich on white bread was painful.
In addition, my gums started bleeding more than any other trays, mostly by my crossbite tooth, since that was moving a good bit. Here's a gross fact you may not have thought of: When wearing Invisalign trays with slightly bleeding gums, the little amount of blood that comes out has nowhere to go, since it would normally simply be swallowed. However, with its escape route blocked by lots of plastic, it just gets caught in the trays and stays there....swishing all around the surface of our teeth, making you look like you've got ALOT of red lipstick stuck on your teeth....or a vampire who forgot to brush and rinse after eating. Yes, this is exactly what happened to me at work one day. First thing in the morning, someone from my group comes over to ask me a question, and notions that I've got alot of lipstick on my front teeth. I grab a pocket mirror to look, and Lo and behold! It's not lipstick after all, but blood! Muhwahwahwhawah. I quickly head to the bathroom to rinse out my trays. Thank goodness it was a trusted friend who noticed it first!
These trays also showed me how much my back teeth were moving so that there could be enough space to push that crossbite tooth over to the front. It was such a slight difference, but I noticed my spit (sorry - gross, but true) swishing around in between my crossbite tooth and my canine. COOOOOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It felt so different when flossing, since some teeth I knew were tight, now felt so spacious. Yay!
Onto the pictures!
Center, smiling:
Center, mouth agape:
Lower jaw:
Upper jaw:
Right side, crossbite area. Notice how my teeth have moved apart to make room for this tooth to push ahead? And yes, I'm biting down in this picture. My bite will be flush again once movement in both jaws have ceased.
Compare this to what my teeth looked like after my 1st tray:
Not extremely noticeable to you, but very noticeable to me. I'm so excited!
