Random FYI's

I thought it would be a good time do a posting on some random FYI's, especially since some time has passed now since I first started this treatment.

Cleaning
I still use Efferdent daily to keep the trays clean. They're usually film-free, but after a week or so, I touch them up with a toothbrush (I use the Efferdent solution to dip the toothbrush in) and they're sparkling clean again. It takes just a few seconds with the brush to get them this way.

Smelly Trays
I don't make a point of smelling my trays anymore. I guess that lost its luster with me really quickly (go figure?), so I really don't know if they still stink sometimes.

Smelly Breath
To make sure I have fresh breath, I've taken to always having Listerine strips with me around. Obviously, I can't chew gum with the trays in, but the strips ensure that my breath is acceptable. I've also, on occasion, sucked on a starlight mint as a last resort, but I don't like doing that too much because they do tend to get sticky and stick to the trays a bit, and all the sugar in them makes the trays get yucky and filmy quickly. Imagine without the trays, all that sugary, yucky film would simply be on my teeth, eating away at my enamel! Wow -- I never thought about it like that. Of course, this is never going to stop me from snacking on sugar after my trays are out ;)

Eating
Speaking of food, I've never tried eating a piece of chocolate with the trays in again. It's just not worth it. I pop the trays out and pop them back in when I'm done with the chocolate. I used to make it more of a pain for me, since I'd go to the bathroom to pop out the trays, and then go back in to put them back in. But now, I just go to take them out. When I want to put them back in, I grab a cup by the water cooler, fill it with water, and head back to my desk. I grab my trays, dunk them in the water filled cup, and pop them back in surreptitiously. At least I hope it is. Hee hee!

Spit
Because the trays are fitting better with my teeth getting straighter (AND me clenching down on them once in a while), I also haven't noticed the spit collecting in them too much, either. Of course, I could just be getting used to it and not bothering with it, too.

Clenching
I've noticed that I sometimes clench my teeth at night. Not sure if I'm grinding them, but sometimes, I'll wake up from a particularly intensive dream (I'm a very intensive dreamer) and find that my teeth are clenched tight. I'm really glad that I'm wearing my trays at that point, and wonder if my alignment problems had been exacerbated by my nightly clenching before. I know one of the issues people with alignment problems have is with teeth naturally trying to occlude, or "fit together", regardless of whether or not it's the proper way to fit. I'm actually looking forward to wearing my Invisalign retainers (same trays - just heavier duty, I think) at night after my treatment is complete to prevent my teeth from moving again. I'm such a geek to have said that. For those of you who know me, I know you didn't expect any less, of course.

Lisping
I hardly lisp with my trays in now. It will happen immediately after I put new ones in, but after the first night, my teeth have already moved, with the trays fitting better, so the lisping disappears. What was kind of odd is the fact that, with the earlier trays, I'd lisp AFTER my teeth had already moved. Whenever I'd put in a new set of trays, I wouldn't lisp because the trays felt really tight around my teeth even though they actually didn't fit as well because my teeth hadn't moved to their new positions yet. Now, it's the opposite. Weird, huh? I'm glad it's this way, though. I wind up lisping only for a few minutes with each tray -- right before I go to bed. For the remainder of the 14 days that I have them on, I don't lisp!