Crowding and Tilting Plus Acceledent

I've waiting a long time to finally be financially independent enough to fix my teeth. When I was younger I had braces for a short time, but we didn't have enough money to properly fix everything.

Last summer I started seriously talking with my dentist about the steps I'd need to take to start fixing my smile. Step one was wisdom teeth removal, which I accomplished in October. Shortly after that I met with a recommended orthodontist and really loved the office and his attention to detail. I was scanned with the iTero scanner in December and received my first trays this past Wednesday.

I have about 35 trays in my treatment plan (before refinements). My orthodontist does not have any experience with Acceledent, but brought it up to me as an option because he thought that I would be a good case for him to study the effects. He'll be selling it to me at cost, though I'm not sure when in the process that will be (hopefully soon!). That would bring my treatment down to 35 weeks rather than 70.

I'm really grateful for everyone who has posted about their experiences here! I got a lot of tips that I didn't know would be useful until I put them into action. The things that I've used most:

-Filing the edges of the tray with a nail file to eliminate sharp edges. I did this on one spot on the bottom and one spot on the top. Really, really good tip. I have no mouth discomfort at all and did this before I developed any sores.

-RetainerBrite + Sonic Cleaner. This is honestly the best tip that I read here. Rather than having to spend extra minutes every time I brush my teeth also having to brush my trays, I purchased a sonic cleaner and just pop them in there. In the mornings I put a partial tab of RetainerBrite while the sonic cleaner does its thing. I am really, really happy with this! It saves me probably at least 20 minutes per day if not more.

I've attached a photo of my teeth with the first tray in - didn't realize how difficult it was to get a mouth shot. Not the greatest picture but I want to be able to document my journey especially for when things start changing.

I've done a pretty good job at keeping my trays in, I think - I've been over 22 hours each of the days so far. I have drank light beer with them in + swishing water and brushing when I get a chance. That's my only concession.

This tray already feels like it's fitting really well and I'm still supposed to wear it for another 10 days so I am wondering if it will continue to feel different or if this is about as comfortable as they get. I've gotten pretty good at taking them out quickly and learned to bring hand sanitizer in my kit so that I can take them out even if there is no sink. I'm hoping that even when the trays change they will continue to be able to be taken out with my method - any insight from those farther in the process? Do some tray changes make it harder for the trays to be removed?

I haven't had any ache really, which I found odd - most all reviews here mentioned the first few days being pretty bad. I had one evening where my top molars were a little sore when I was removing the trays, but besides that I've had little to no pain.

Oh, also - 20 attachments on my teeth, no IPR scheduled. My doctor showed me my ClinCheck and I'm very excited. He told me a lot of places don't do attachments on the first day but his motto is get all of the worst parts done right away. Kind of weird to think that if I were somewhere else I wouldn't have the attachments yet - I didn't get the practice of taking trays out without the buttons but maybe that has made it easier for me to adjust.

Biggest change for me so far is not being able to sip on something besides water all day - I work from home and often would have a diet soda or hot chocolate or even flavored water while I work. That is no more. Probably better for me overall but I do miss getting flavor while I work :)

I have another appointment after the second tray (they gave me 2 to start with). I'll update with any major info as it comes... and after I try out tray 2 I may be back as well.

Not a lot to report on my trays - I discovered I actually have "Invisalign Teen" and I can't find a bunch of difference between that and full. Not sure why he chose that over the normal but I'm not too concerned. I'm officially over a week in.

Today is a fun day because I got my ClinCheck! I asked for them to e-mail it to me and they sent it right over - after reading here about some offices not wanting to share I was very happy with how easily I was able to get mine.

I am sharing pictures of the start, middle (tray 18) and end (tray 36). I am really excited for even just the middle of the process because my big problem areas are mostly sorted by then - it looks like the end of my treatment is working on my bite and my arch. Still thrilled about those things but if all goes well I will have much visibly straighter teeth by the time I am in a wedding this summer :)

Well, I just said goodbye to my trusty friend Tray One. I could pop that thing out with one hand (if I needed to). I compared the new to the old trays and was pleasantly surprised at how close they were in color - it's obvious that my new trays are brand new but I'm not that embarrassed with how the first trays ended up.

I can feel that Invisalign hug on my teeth now, for sure. I know that many said to put the new trays in before bed to sleep off the pain... I put them in a little early because I wanted to see if there were any spots I needed to file. So I might start aching a little before I go to sleep - I have Tylenol handy. Not sure I'll need it as I did not with my first trays, but we will see!

My top tray was actually a little hard to get on - My left molars must be shifting a bit this time around, because I had to focus on that area when I was putting the tray in. My bottom was easy like the last tray. I have a lot less attachments down there.

I'm hoping this is one of my last trays that I wear two weeks... I was told they will definitely be ordering some Acceledents and that they should be in soon! I'm crossing my fingers that that means by tray four. I put little numbers on my calendar for what tray I'm on so I can look at my ClinCheck to see where I'll be for major events and if I can at least get the Acceledent by tray 5 (and if everything moves well) I'm going to start really noticing change by the end of March (tray 7 seems to be my tipping point).

Good luck to anyone else changing out a tray today!