Invisalign and the Holidays - San Antonio, TX

First checkup. Fourth set of trays. Ortho mentioned teeth filing near the 20th tray. Not happy about this. I asked him if I could decline the filing. He kind of just looked at me and said "well the bottom teeth might not be straight". Well, I'm fine with that. I have very sensitive teeth. They would have to put me under for the filing alone and then I don't want to imagine what my sensitivity would be like afterwards. What is everyone else's experience with this? Oi, if I could go back now I would have begged for regular/clear wire braces. This is just too much.

Tray number 2 is in tonight woo hoo! Ok, are we done yet? I'm gonna be honest here...I'm still not sure about these things. Only two weeks in, and I'm thinking I should have considered traditional braces....clear traditional braces. They do have those. And you don't have to take them out to drink coffe. Or tea. Or smoothies. Or beer. That part is reeeeeally not good with me. And it's reeeeeally bumming me out. But, Ima stick with it. I have to seein as I'm paying for them! And I'm sure the end result will be just wonderful. But getting there...

A few things:
-get Fresh Guard by Efferedent. I really like cleaning them with this first thing in the morning.
-I've noticed when I wake up in the morning my teeth are clenched really tight. Wondering if I always did this or I just notice it more now because I have plastic in my mouth? Going to ask the ortho at my checkup.
-My bite seems weird...off? And my jaw is popping. Definitely overall weird stuff that I'm just going to mention. Anyone else experience that?
Only my second tray, so not much change. Hoping things get better...

It's been a week and a day and I think I'm almost used to them. Honestly, I already feel like a pro. And the eating is better. The first couple of days when I would take them out to eat I would literally set a timer and shove in as much food as I could. I'm definitely over that, and really enjoy having them out and consider it a little break. Definitely not snacking as much...I even turned down bacon the other day, gods forgive me. I was dreading taking them out at first; it was so hard! They told me to just pull down or push up with equal pressure in one spot and they'd pop out. I find it's much easier to start from the back and work your way to the center, gently loosening them. That's taken a lot of the stress out of it...I've already successfully taken them out at a restaurant table with my napkin covering my mouth, yay me! I also don't stress about brushing and popping them back in IMMEDIATELY after eating. It's the holidays, I'm on vacation, I'm with my family and friends...I can wait until I'm comfortable at home to put them back instead of excusing myself and wasting time awkwardly brushing my teeth in a public restroom. I only had pain the first 2-3 days of wearing them. And not so much pain...more like pressure and tightness. NOTHING compared to when I had regular braces. I have felt a little self conscious around some of my friends who don't know I got them. I'm realizing I smile and laugh a lot, which is wonderful! But I can feel myself sort of looking away sooner or I think their eyes are drifting down to look at my mouth. Of course that could just be me being crazy...and of course, they're not going to bring it up, like "Hey, omg did you get braces or something?" So then I want to point them out, like "Yeah so I got braces did you see them?" And it's just an awkward mess, for me. But whatevs. If and when the subject has come up, I've found myself calling them "braces" and not "Invisalign". Because you can see them. And they are braces. And I am not pretentious. Sorry for the long rant, but that's my update so far. Here's to a happy new year and hoping for progress in so many things!