Never Had Braces, Minimal Adjustment Needed - New York, NY

Photos are of me wearing aligners on day 1 - "before" photos.

The story so far:

- Got 3D scanned in person on June 29, rather than doing the sending in impressions thing. This was a good idea. The technician was not very friendly, and seemed impatient with me-- brusquely told me I had a small mouth, and when I had trouble fitting the scanner in without pain, she huffed in annoyance a lot.

- They wanted me to pay in person but I held off, saying I needed time to decide. A representative called me later and I finished my order on July 13.

- It took 4 weeks to get first aligners sent to me, on a 21 business day estimate; they arrived August 18.

- They put me on a 5 month/25 week plan, 17-hour a day minimum wear time. I get three sets of trays a month; first one is the thinnest plastic and 1 week. second is more rigid and 1 week. third is standard Invisalign-style rigid plastic, and 2+ weeks. The idea behind that gradient of tray thickness is that it eases your teeth into the pressure of the adjustment rather than doing it all at once.

- On day 1, the trays felt tight but in the morning they felt fine. I wonder if I got used to them in my sleep (they still feel weird, but just not high-pressure) or if the thinnest plastic is more malleable too.

- Instead of only covering my teeth, they cover part of my gums in the front part of my mouth, extending into my palate a little bit. I'm experiencing some nausea and I wonder if it's related.

- Despite brushing twice and flossing a lot, my teeth feel sensitive in the morning after I wear them and I'm really paranoid about getting cavities while wearing these. We'll see.

Just started my second set of trays in total. Some thoughts:

- The thin plastic trays I wore in week 1 were pretty thin to the point of having small cracks in the top of my upper trays by the time I switched them out. I was gentle with removing the trays each time, so this was due to the thinness of the plastic.

- When I got used to how smooth the trays were, I started noticing every little bit of texture on my teeth more when I wasn't wearing the trays. Strange shift in perception - my teeth are basically still the same, but it felt like they grew cracks and grooves overnight.

Now new trays:

- The plastic is much more rigid, and the fit is a little tighter. It doesn't cover my gums as much, which is AWESOME.

So far, no really noticeable changes (especially since the things that need to be straightened are really subtle), but my teeth are starting to feel more sore in general.

No more nausea. In this tray, it seemed like my adjustment period to new trays goes something like this:

- Day 1 - Insert new tray at night. I sleep off the initial adjustment.
- Day 2 - Teeth a little sore but they feel normal if I take the trays off
- Days 3-5 - peak of tooth sensitivity, as my teeth stay sore even when the trays are off, and they start kind of resigning themselves to their new positions
- Days 6-7 - slightly less sensitivity, as the adjustment settles in

But now I'm going to put a new tray in tonight, so that adjustment is short-lived.

Other observations:

At the end of tray 2, I can start to feel that my underbite (teeth are shifted inward on my upper right jaw) is very subtly not closing in the same way that it used to-- the upper teeth are shifting further outward. Pretty exciting to be able to feel that change, but I'm slightly anxious about how the adjustment will end up. We'll see!

Very diligent brushing and flossing means that when I take my trays off in the morning, I feel no plaque buildup. However, there's always some acidity/sourness that I assume is unavoidable and probably from my gums ... still hoping my teeth survive this all okay.

Still can't see any big changes in the photos, since all of these will be subtle.