34 Yr. Old, Male, Had Invisalign in for About 2.5 Days Now. New Orleans, LA

I always wanted to fix my smile. I'm a professional and do a lot of public speaking; could not do metal braces --- even the tooth colored ones.

So, my bottom teeth have always been fairly straight for never had them corrected as a youth. My upper-teeth have had some issues:

I have always had a misaligned midline --- I think my jaw has grown a bit asymmetrical. When I bite down my jaw naturally goes to my left. My two upper-center teeth have always had a gap. My upper canine teeth grew over crowded next to their incisors and are slightly behind them.

My premolars at the top before my actual molars are both rotated a full 90° (I may need an assistant bracket to turn those two premolars 90°)

So, I have 6 buttons along the bottom and 5 along the top.

My teeth are very tender and there's a pretty consistent dull "throb." It has gotten better since day one. I got them early Wed. morning so I consider this day 3 (Friday).

I have a blister under the left side of my tongue from the bottom of the tray. I finally picked up an Emory board and did some filing while the trays were out during dinner. Better, but will need a bit more filing.

My last 2 days has consisted of breakfast, drinking a smoothing for lunch so I don't have to take them out, and dinner. I'm starving by the time dinner is served. Sure I will lose weight on this.

Tonight I was really looking forward to taking a break from the Invisalign. They're not hurting as much as they were, just a dull annoying throbbing. It's hard to sit still. I set my timer on my phone for a full hour to take a break this evening from the trays --- and boy did I take advantage: enjoyed a glas or two of wine.

I've used Ambesol for the blister under the tongue. It helped.

I'm keeping my trays clean with toothpaste and a soft toothbrush. They've seemed to come clean pretty easy --- I clean the inside and the outside of them.

There is a…smell developing. Can't say its a bad smell, but it's not a pleasant smell. May try washing them in anti-bacterial soap tomorrow.

I only drink water throughout the day and a smoothie for lunch w/a straw.

With this 1st set of trays my two top center teeth are touching for the 1st time since I had my baby teeth: that's nearly 30 years. Very happy.

I thought sleeping with something in my mouth would be challenging, but I sleep curiously well. I somehow ignore the throb while sleeping.

The 1st day the trays were in was the toughest. I was salivating like I was going to gag, but never did. It felt like I had someone else's teeth in my mouth and it was hard to close my mouth b/c of my back teeth rubbing. I've had a slight lisp but it's gotten better. The blister made it laborious to talk so I choose not to. I had a pretty bad headache the 1st night that Advil didn't relieve.

Looking forward to tomorrow (they say it gets better after the 1st 3 days).

Overall, I'm glad I'm doing this. It will be worth it. It's just annoying right now due to the constant deliberate tugging of 11 teeth with all the buttons.

So, I made it through the weekend and let me tell you what: the emory board was my best friend. Literally, LITERALLY made an overnight difference once I knew what I was doing.

First I took care of the 1st edge that caused the blister and then after about 3 more filing sessions I was able to fine-tune the little nuances I didn't notice before b/c of the egregious edge causing the blister. I can't express enough how much the emory board really was a game changer.

So, yeah, I noticed that I was missing two attachments and am scheduled Wed. morning to go back in and replace.

I'm getting pretty use to the trays now. Sometimes I do, sorta', forget about them. Much easier to talk now especially since all of the blisters have healed. Any sort of speech impediment is greatly diminished. Only gets tedious to talk when I'm speaking for a long period of time b/c my mouth begins to dry out.

Speaking of mouth drying out, the biggest annoyance now is how dry my mouth feels. Think I'll try some Biotine and see if that makes a difference. It's mostly the driest where the trays are pressed up against the inside of my cheeks and around my lips. I guess we don't realize how much moisture gets around our teeth and keeps our inner-cheeks wet until we put a plastic cap over our teeth.

It's getting pretty easy to take the trays on and off --- don't know if missing two attachments is aiding in ease of removal --- although the bottom trays are the hardest to get out b/c it's just hard to get your hands in your mouth to remove off of your back molar as suggested on the bottom. Looking forward to my next tray, but that's still over a week away. Just ready to move on (I have to wear mine 14 days at a time).

My routine is still trays out in the morning for breakfast, coffee and cleaning. Smoothie during the day. Out for a full hour for dinner time and relaxing (and wine). Wearing the trays for at least 22 hours, if not a bit longer.

Had my 1st restaurant experience over the weekend; just brought my case, kept dental floss and an… inter dermal brush (I think that's what it is called) brush in case and no problems. Just took them back out that night for quick cleaning.

Cleaning still consists of brushing my own teeth, mouthwash, floss, brushing each tray inside and out individually and popping each one in after each is freshly cleaned. No staining. No bio-film. Maintenance is pretty easy. The smell, again, isn't' a bad smell or a good smell --- neutral I'd say. The only way I can describe it is perhaps a "wet" smell after they've been sitting in the tray for nearly an hour. I don't believe they smell while they're in my mouth or when I take them out; just after they've been sitting for about an hour.

Teeth are only tender when I 1st pop them after being out for a bit and I still notice tenderness when I bite in to something. After they've been in for some time I tend not to notice much pain or discomfort.

If I'm adapting this fast I can see why people around tray 12 (about half way through) report they don't notice them anymore and they almost become apart of you. Not there yet, but of course, this is only tray 1 and the end of day 6. We'll see how I feel after I get my missing attachments replaced.