30 Years and Finally Working on my Smile. - New York, NY

About to start my Invisalign treatment with Propel to fix my open bite. I had braces when I was young but because of a tongue thrust, my teeth have moved resulting in an open bite that I am self conscious about. I went to the ortho and had my scans done and I am just waiting to receive my trays. He said it should be around 12 months long which seemed shorter than I expected but I guess that's where the Propel comes in.

After reading the reviews on here I am nervous about the pain but I am also just excited to begin my treatment. I will upload pictures of my before on here as well as keep posting on my progress. Wish me luck!

So I got my first three trays on Sept 30th and I just started my third tray yesterday. I have a total of 20 buttons, 9 on top and 11 on the bottom. They make the aligners more noticeable especially on the top front teeth, and at first it bothered me but now I don't really care what people think just because I am looking forward to the end result. So far I can say things have been pretty good.

On one hand they make meal time a little inconvenient. I sometimes skip lunch because I don't want to go thru the hassle of the full floss/rinse/brush routine in a public bathroom. I make sure to do the full routine each time I take out my retainers to eat because I want to avoid cavities at all costs. When I pop the tray back in I might chew the Chewy for about 10-15 mins just to make sure the fit is good. I usually wear them for around 21-22 hours a day. Sometimes if I skip lunch I might leave them out a little longer than 30 mins after dinner just for a break.

On the other hand I am surprised that I can see progress already in the closing of my bite. When I've changed trays I haven't had as much pain as I expected which is a pleasant surprise so I didn't expect results until a few more tray later. When I do switch the trays, they usually feel a little tight the first couple of hours, and when I put them back in after eating on the first day or so, but unless I am chewing on my Chewy I don't fee much soreness at all.

I have realized that more often than not I wake up with my jaw clenched. My jaw doesn't hurt or anything but I have to tell myself sometimes in the morning to unclench and relax. I'll ask the ortho about this when I go back in two weeks from today.

At that appointment I am supposed to be starting the Propel treatment. I am nervous about the pain (I am always nervous about pain) but based on some other reviews I've read and the lack of absolute pain so far on this journey I think I might be psyching myself up for no reason. We'll see in two weeks. Fingers crossed.

So I had my second visit yesterday. I was also scheduled to have Propel done. I must say I was quite nervous for the pain going in but the Ortho and the assistant were very assuring that it wouldn't hurt much at all.

After numbing the top and bottom of my front teeth with a local anesthetic he then injected a stronger one into the areas in the front. After about three minutes my mouth was completely numb from my nose to my chin. When he started to drill into my jaw I couldn't feel anything. I could see him pushing down and twisting the little drill but I couldn't feel a thing thank heavens. In all he drilled about 8 holes (4 on top 4 on bottom) into my jaw bone.

He told me not to take any Aspirin or Advil because it would negate the point of drilling the holes but Tylenol was fine. I took two before I left the office which I'm glad I did because because by the time the anesthetic started to wear off I was feeling pain. It became pretty painful about an hour after but then it dulled down to an ache by the time I got home. I contemplated taking more Tylenol but didn't need to in the end. I do recommend eating before the Tylenol fully wears off because I couldn't imagine chewing repeatedly with completely sore gums. It's the next morning and even though it hurts to move my bottom jaw when talking, it's a bearable ache that I don't mind.

Other than that everything is still going well with the treatment. My open bite should be completely closed by tray 10 of 23 and after that it's just the straightening and closing of the rest of the gaps. I'm excited to see my new smile.