23 Y/o Aussie Undergoing Invisalign + 4 Attachments - Australia

Hello All!
My name is Hannah and I’m a 23 year old Australian that has just commenced Invisalign treatment. I had metal braces as a teenager, but unfortunately my teeth moved around quite a bit when my wisdoms came through some years later.
The main issue I have with my teeth is overcrowding, especially on my lowers, and I’m hoping Invisalign can fix this.
I was hesitant to get Invisalign for three reasons:
1. My teeth still appear somewhat ‘attractive’ and not a lot of people even notice the overcrowding.
2. It’s expensive.
3. IT’S LIKE REALLY REALLY EXPENSIVE.
4. Points 2 and 3, as mentioned above.
However, after a lot of deliberation, these 3 points contributed to me commencing treatment:
1. My mother spent a fair bit of moleh (read: cold hard cash) on straightening my teeth as a teenager. If I don’t invest a bit of money on fixing my teeth, all her efforts would have been for nothing.
2. I smile a lot. Literally all the time. I walk down the street and people probably think I’m either on drugs or have a handicap (or both). If I put my teeth on display so goddamned much, they may as well be straight.
3. I’m paying a decent sum of money for private health care and think I should tap into those benefits!
So it begins.
I am to have 15 sets of aligners, and potentially some “refinement” aligners towards the end of my treatment. I will need 4 attachments – one on each of my lateral incisors on my upper and lower jaw.
I am currently on tray 1, which my orthodontist made me wear for 3 weeks. He said this was just a precaution to make sure my teeth were exactly where they need to be before he puts the attachments on.
Pros so far:
1. I floss all the time. Literally. I never used to floss before, so this is fantastic news!
2. I found out that a bit of whitening toothpaste can do wonders when you wear Invisalign – I think it’s the trays that help keep the whitening paste on my teeth as I sleep. I’ve noticed a decent change in 3 weeks!
3. I’m drinking and snacking less (hello bikini body).
Cons so far:
1. I’m a straight 23 year old female. Currently single. I really doubt any fellas will wanna get near me during this process. Goodbye romance. Goodbye hot men with abs. Hello loneliness.
Alas. I will keep thee updated with my journey. Fingers crossed all goes well!

Until next time.
xo

Hello All!

Thought I would attach some photos showing my teeth in retainer numero uno. Hopefully I can use this as a benchmark to track my progress!
On a side note - how annoying is brushing after coffee and tea. I absolutely LOVE coffee and tea. It's part of my morning ritual at work - come in, grab a latte from the coffee machine, drink the latte while I scroll through the news, eat breakfast an hour or so later.
Now, because of these pesky yet brilliant retainers, I need to brush in between my morning coffee and breakfast. I've thought about how to tackle this:
1. Skip my morning coffee. It does taste marginally like poo, so this shouldn't be a problem. But Han Han so sleepy in da morningggg. Me want coffee. Coffee coffee coffee.
2. Drink coffee / eat breakfast in the one sitting. Oh there's an idea! But I have muesli. And that involves milk. Latte milk + breakfast milk = TOO MUCH MILK.

I know I know. I'm being difficult. Any suggestions on how I can resolve the 'double brushing dilemma' would be great.

Until next time.
xo

Hello All!
So – an exciting day today. I had an appointment with my orthodontist where I got my second set of trays and some nasty little attachments (also known as buttons). Now I’ve heard a lot of horror stories about these attachments… the general consensus being:
1. The buttons are sharp and uncomfortable. Apparently this is so bad in some cases that people try and avoid removing their trays throughout the day!
2. They’re superduper noticeable, making the whole Invisalign process fairly visible.
3. The buttons make it impossible to remove your retainer.
Well I have to say that I’m pleasantly surprised with my buttons so far. After the nurse glued them on and buffed away some of the excess glue, she asked me to go to the mirror and gargle.
THIS WAS IT. THE MOMENT OF TRUTH! Was I going to look like someone with tic-tac’s strapped to my teeth for the next 6 months? Would people point and laugh at me? Throw rocks? The answer: no! I don’t deny it – if you look closely, the attachments are noticeable. But hardly! And yes, when my retainer is on you can notice the bends in the plastic a bit. But considering what my teeth could look like in braces, I’m rather impressed with how subtle Invisalign is.
My orthodontist came and buffed the attachments down a bit, so as to make sure they weren’t too uncomfortable when my retainer was out. I had a feel of the attachments and really don’t think they’re too harsh on the inner mouth, but maybe my experience will worsen over time. I’ll keep you updated!
Unfortunately, the last point I mentioned is true. It is quite hard to remove your retainer with these buttons. And by hard I mean impossible. It took me about 5 solid minutes of me standing in the clinic with my hands down my throat before I could manage to wiggle these bad boys out. I never realised how large my hands were and how small my mouth was until I attempted to remove my aligner. It really is impressive how much of my hands I can fit down my mouth. Kinda like how a baby head can fit through a vagina during childbirth. Oh the wonders of the human body.

Until next time.
xo