On trays 14 out of 18, almost done! (NEW PICS)

Sooooo the big day is exactly one week from today and I'm getting nervous. I made the mistake of watching more videos of people removing their trays, and I never realized the loud cracking sound it makes whenever it snaps on and off the teeth. it sounds so painful! I'm really nervous as well for when they'll be putting the Attachments on next week, because some of the teeth they're putting the buttons on has a tiny bit of exposed roots at the top of the tooth and I'm afraid they'll hit or scrape them or whatever while putting the Attachments on. I'm sure if I express my fears to them that they'll be extra careful not to touch them, but I'm still nervous. I also had to call my dentist to have a small panic attack because I was suddenly very nervous about said exposed roots; I was wondering, "Will the trays scrape against them the entire treatment and cause me severe pain? I can't deal with that for 10 months! Will it cause the gum recession to worsen?" And then of course I jumped to all of the worse conclusions. My dentist assured me that it won't negatively affect my exposed roots or cause me any pain; of course, I'll still be nervous until I actually get the trays and know for sure that it doesn't cause me pain in that respect.

However, I got my updated Clin-Check today and so despite my nerves, I am also INCREDIBLY excited! They fixed up a couple things and I can't believe how straight my teeth will be when the treatment is done. I still plan on getting bonding done on my lateral incisors after treatment so that they're more snug against my front teeth and canines. But other than that, I couldn't be happier with what they'll look like by this time next year!

I'll add the new Clin-Check video, but it goes so fast that I also took screen shots of the first frame of the video (the BEFORE shot) and a screen shot of the last frame (what they'll look like AFTER treatment), so you guys can see the difference. :D I'll update next week once I get home from my appointment. Wish me luck!

So, yesterday was the big day! I spent the entire night beforehand freaking out, crying, and basically working myself into a panic. A word of advice: if any of you reading this are like me, and tend to work yourself up like this, don't. Really, take it from me: I am bad with pain, and I was terrified going in to the Orthodontist's yesterday to get my attachments put on and my first set of trays. It was NOTHING compared to the horror I imagined. Here is a break down of what happened:
(1) I first sat back down with my Orthodontist and ran some of my questions by him, which he answered for me. (2) His helper (I apologize, I don't know what to call her) talked me through my fears and comforted me (I started tearing up lol). Then she walked me through what she was going to do, and what the tools were. She also gave me a mirror to watch the entire process. (3) Next, she used the tools to clean the 6 teeth that were having the attachments put on them. There was a set of trays specifically used for putting the attachments on my teeth; she filled them up with the stuff, put the trays on my mouth, and then used a blue light to harden them to my teeth. (We had to redo one tooth because the attachment didn't stay on the first time). (4) My orthodontist then came back over and used a tool to smooth the edges of the attachment. This was my least favourite part because the tool has a high-pitched drill sound; the sound of it is literally the worst part. (5) He then used a tool (that also had a drill sound to it) to clean away the residue left over on the tooth. On the tooth on my upper left side that had an attachment, we had to stop when he tried cleaning around my gumline, and move on. I was way too sensitive and the blast of air was painful. He said he will work on removing it in chunks over the next few months. The attachments themselves feel weird, obviously. When the trays aren't in, it definitely feels like you have random stuff sticking around in your mouth. Because of the placement of my upper attachments, I pretend that I just have fangs (like, vampire fangs) and turning it into something fun like that makes it less annoying when the trays are off. The ONE thing that is the worst about the attachments when the trays are out is that I have to bring my teeth together VERY carefully, or else they hit off of each other, and that doesn't feel pretty. The nice thing is, my fiance was sitting pretty close to me, and I had to point out where they were on my teeth, because he couldn't see them on his own.

THEN CAME THE FUN PART!

Dr. Dagasso took out my first set of trays, and put them on my teeth. I was really scared for that inevitable "snap" onto the teeth, but it actually didn't hurt at all. It is UNDOUBTEDLY tight though; that was the biggest sensation I felt once he put them on. Then he said, "Okay, now do you want to try and get them off?" He warned me that, on the first try, most people tend to panic because it takes a few minutes per tray to remove it. While he talked, I calmly started working on the bottom tray. I kept myself really calm because I'd read so many stories regarding this moment, and watched so many videos, that I just felt like I kind of had a hold on the situation. I guess I did, because to all of our surprise, I was able to pop out the bottom tray, on my first try, in less than 10 seconds. It was kind of gross though - I pulled it out of my mouth and a big line of spit came with it and fell onto my chin. But I didn't care, I was wide-eyed and staring from the tray to my Ortho with a big smile. My fiance laughed and said, "That's attractive," but Dr. Dagasso said, "No, THAT'S the face of someone who's proud of themselves!"

Then I had to remove the top tray. Admittedly, this one was slightly more difficult because it wasn't as easy for my to get a good grip on. I stabbed myself in the gums with my nail at one point (so yeah, don't do that lol), but I was also able to remove it on my first try, and probably within about 15 seconds. My Ortho and his assistant was very surprised and they seemed impressed, lol. I guess a lot of their patients weren't so lucky on their first attempt. I pretty much figured out a system of removing them that works for me, and it's been easy to remove them ever since. (It's true, work from the back to the front; some people remove both back ends first, I pop off one side in the back and then work my way around the teeth to the other back end.)

He told me to try putting them back on after I successfully removed them, which he admitted was "much easier than taking them off, so it shouldn't be a problem." I popped them back in and worked them back on, and WOW, the pressure! To make it EVEN better (sarcasm), they got me some Chewies, which I chewed on for a while, to make the trays EVEN more snug against my teeth. They gave me a bag of them, along with just this first set of trays. They said they want me to get used to having these in before giving me my nest few sets. So I'll be wearing them for 2 and a half weeks before I go back in, which will fall on a Friday. This makes me very happy, since it'll then mean that I'll always be switching over my trays on Thursday nights (making Friday my first technical day with a new set); I have Fridays off from school, so it gives me the weekend to adjust to the tenderness and any soreness, and if I want to just lie in bed and sleep it off, I can. :) They also told me that if my teeth react really well to the trays, and I stick to wearing them for the appropriate time (minimum 22 hours a day), they might try to shorten each set of trays to 10 days, instead of 14. Even if they choose not to do this, 14 days a tray is still okay with be because...

I don't know how it happened, but now I'll have 18 trays (top and bottom) instead of 20, which shortens my treatment to 36 weeks, ending at the end of May, instead of into early July! I'm stoked for this because this means that I can have the attachments removed by MY Ortho (instead of a random dentist in Ottawa, as I'll be across the country from June until August for my wedding), and I can also go to my dentist and get the bonding I want done, and then I can go back to my Ortho and they'll make me a new tray in office that I can use as my retainer.

Now, the PROS and CONS:

PROS: Unless you're right up in my face, you legitimately can't notice that I'm wearing the trays. Also, as I just mentioned, I'm so happy to only have an 8 month treatment. Trust me, when you're wearing these and feeling sorry for yourself, just watch Youtube videos of people with metal braces, and read all of their comments. It definitely makes me appreciate Invisalign a lot more, haha. I also love being able to remove them to eat; it's just a nice feeling knowing I'm not "trapped" in the braces. That might have made me feel claustrophobic in a way. The teeth I was worried about - the ones with the exposed roots - so far are experiencing no pain due to the exposed roots.

CONS: I do have a tiny bit of a lisp, though I heard that goes away. My Ortho said it wasn't bad in comparison to other patients he's had, but to me it's pretty noticeable. Also, the first night (I can only speak for Night #1 since I haven't had Night #2 yet), there is a high chance you will wake up frequently and experience a fair share of discomfort. I didn't sleep very well last night, but I DID sleep at times, which is better than nothing. Also, I wouldn't recommend eating anything tough the first couple days; it'll just feel better on your teeth to eat softer foods while they're in pain. I also have the habit of clenching my teeth together, and it's VERY painful doing that at ALL with the trays in. I actually find I couldn't close my teeth properly yesterday. it was too painful and uncomfortable. Today, I can sit them gently on top of each other, but I still have to be careful chewing food, or bringing them together. The BIGGEST con is this: they are VERY sore for me today. Maybe this won't be the case for everyone, but I woke up this morning and they were incredibly tender. Namely my lateral incisors (the most crooked ones), my canines, and the teeth right next to them. I was told that the majority of the movement happens within the first 48 hours of wearing each tray, so that means that my teeth are in the midst of being moved at the moment. That means the pain is good news, because it's working. The bad news is obviously that the pain sucks. But my fiance is taking me for ice cream tonight, so hopefully that will soothe them a bit.

A big piece of advice is, live off of Ibuprofen for the first few days! I took two regular strength Ibuprofen before getting my trays, and have been taking them every 5 hours since. They do help; both the tooth pain AND headaches, which I have been getting. Overall though, I have changed my rating to "Worth it" because it wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting, and even though it hurts, and I have a tiny bit of a lisp, I know what is waiting at the end of the road, and I'm SO excited for it. In comparison with metal braces, 8 months of my life isn't that bad, and then (minus the retainer), I never have to have braces for the rest of my life (hopefully haha).

OH YEAH, prepare yourself, hygienically. I might have overdone it, but I went out and bought 4 tooth brushes (1 for me at home/1 to clean the trays at home, and 1 for me when I go out/1 to clean my tray when I go out), 2 things of floss (1 for home and 1 for going out), a new bottle of alcohol-free mouth wash, toothbrush trays to put my toothbrushes in for when I go out, and 2 new tubes of Sensodyne Pro-Namel toothpaste. As I said, it may be a bit much, but I like knowing I'm prepared.

Anyways, that's all I can think of for now. I posted a couple new photos, and I'll probably update again in a week or so, hopefully with good news (that the pain does go away after the first few days).