38, San Diego - Invisalign Day 1: 2/24/2018

My teeth are not "terrible" and every time I've said that I've wanted to get braces to fix my teeth, everyone asks, "Why?!" But I've always wanted perfect teeth and finally I am doing something about it.
After looking into three different options, I chose Urban Dental downtown San Diego. I chose Dr. Kim because she was referred to me by someone who I think has a great smile. Plus she's a younger woman starting a big, local business and I want to support that!
I had my first appointment to scan my teeth on January 11, 2018. The scan didn't go so well because they couldn't reach my back teeth just right. We opted to do the mold impression of my top and bottom teeth instead of the scan.
Honestly, I think that traditional braces would give me a more perfect result, but given that I am 38, I chose to go the less noticeable route with Invisalign. I am expecting great results to be happy, but am not expecting perfection.

It’s going on 6 weeks and so far so good. My first tray when I didn’t have any attachments was super easy. Then I got attachments when I started tray 2 and ouch! I hardly ate anything for 3 days because it hurt so much getting my trays on off and on. But I’m adjusted now and it’s much easier and less painful.

I’m super thoughtful with my teeth and trays. I brush like it’s my new full-time job. And as laborious as this was for the first couple of weeks is now just part of my routine. I eat and then clean my teeth and trays. And now it’s no big deal.

I’m still wearing each tray for a full 2 weeks but hoping I can start switching out every 10-12 days soon. I’ll know at my next visit which is in 3 weeks.

The trays get gross the last few days. My friend says she cleans hers with denture tabs but her treatment/progress has been very delayed and isn’t going well. So I’m sticking to why my doctor said which is to just brush them like I would my teeth.

I haven’t noticed anything visually just yet as it’s still very early on. But I do feel a difference in my bite and how my teeth interact with each other.

I’ll post again at tray 6 or 7.

I just put in tray #4 today and this one hurts the most. And you will see from photo there isn’t much of a change yet. I’m wearing trays 14 days each per doctors orders and it just seems so long in between switching out trays. I’ve been reading through lots of reviews to find some new motivation and it’s definitely helping. Thanks everyone for all the updates! This seems slow going but I know it will be worth it. Exciting to see some results soon!