College Student, Age 24, Really Want a Great Smile As an Outcome! Brandon, FL

My parents never were able to pay for me to get braces so now I was able to do it for myself! I began to do some research in January and began with my first consultation in Febuary and got my molding done as well. I got my first tray March 24 2015 and I'm now on my second tray and had buttons and have to use rubber bands as well. I have 39 trays until my teeth are straight so about a year and half until I'm done with Invisalign. It was definitely hard getting use to them at first and the soreness of wearing new trays for the first three days are awful but I will take the pain so that I can be able to get these teeth straight. I will be doing my third tray April 20. So far with these buttons and rubber bands it does make it hard to want to take them off to even want to eat just because it hurts so bad when I try and take them off and when I try and eat something that is harder than mash potatoes every single tooth hurts as I bite. I basically rather leave them in than take them off to eat. The main time I take them off is to brush my teeth off three times a day and when I take them off I rinse them and then brush them with tooth paste and rinse them again after I'm done brushing my teeth. Every three days I do let them sit in listerine mouth wash for about 20 min and brush them and put them back in after I brush my teeth. As for the rubber bands my doctor says to change them every four hours for the best results so I basically have a timer set. It definitely has been a huge change just because now it's more things I have to do on top of being a full time college student and a full time employee but I feel like it will all be worth it at the end. Just have to keep going and not think about them as much. I live in Florida and my orthodontist is not far from where I live and are very good about calling me and setting up my next appointments to get buttons and following trays and are always available if I have any questions. It's definitely hard to do Invisalign when no one around me has them and they don't know how it feels or how much it hurts so hopefully this forum will help me with basically reading about others going through what I'm going through. I will definitely keep updating as I continue my process!