Category Archives: Jenna’s Invisalign Journey

Jenna’s Invisalign Journey – Months 11 – 16

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Covid-19 has meant that I have been unable to write anything for the Invisalign blog for quite some time now.

Just before lockdown, I was entering the refinement stage of my treatment, which can happen after your first round of Invisalign if there is room for improvement.  Refinement is very similar to the first round, except the treatment is usually a lot shorter and involves fewer attachments and space creation. 

Lockdown was challenging while undergoing Invisalign as many of you have probably experienced for yourselves. Using one set of trays for over three months had its pros and cons; one pro being the trays were used more as a passive retainer keeping everything in place rather than moving teeth, so we escaped from the pressure pain and annoyance of having them in for a while.

However, there were probably a few more cons to undergoing Invisalign during the lockdown, the primary factor being the delay in finalising our treatment but also the last set of trays ended up a bit worse for wear, no matter what I did or how much I cleaned them and that’s putting it politely!

In hindsight, though these are all minor nuisances compared with what the world has had to deal with these last few months, and I hope that everyone is well and still on the right track with their Invisalign treatment. 

Please do give us a call on 01344 482 882 if you have any questions regarding your Invisalign treatment or email our Patient Care Co-Ordinator, Lisa on pc@crownwooddental.co.uk. 

Jenna’s Invisalign Journey – Months 9 and 10

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I have now finished my first course of Invisalign treatment. This treatment consisted of 25 trays which I changed every 2 weeks.

I am now in the refinement stage, where I have had my attachments and buttons (for my elastics) removed. Refinement is where the teeth are rescanned with the Itero machine (3D scanner) and it comes up with another course of treatment to hone the finished product and attempt to achieve a result as close to perfect as Dr Wong would like.

While I am waiting for my new trays to arrive from America, I will keep my last trays in (tray no. 25) and wear them all the time to keep my teeth in position to make sure they do not relapse.

Once my trays are back from America, I will have more attachments placed and continue with the trays like I did before.

Jenna’s Invisalign Journey – Months 7 and 8

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I’m noticing massive changes now in regards to my bite, as this is what my treatment is correcting.

I looked over my photos before I started the treatment and the changes are HUGE.

This is really motivating to keep you on track with your Invisalign treatment, as at times it can be tough.

I don’t have any other pain with the Invisalign trays anymore, like I did in the beginning, with it rubbing.

Now I will only have pain coming from the teeth which are being moved by the trays (which I quite like anyway – as you know it is working).

If you do feel slightly de-motivated then please do ask your dentist for your ‘before’ photos, as I do believe this is a great incentive to keep going.

Just remember that pain is good, in regards to the movement of your teeth, and also why you even started the treatment in the first place.

Jenna’s Invisalign Journey – Months 5 and 6

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The FIRST HURDLE with my Invisalign treatment, was going on holiday with the trays.

Being on holiday, where you are constantly having nice food and drinks, made it very difficult with the trays – having to remove them so often.

Although I did indulge on holiday (as you should), but was very honest with Dr Wong about how long I was wearing my trays for. We decided that I should wear the same trays for an extra week.

If at any point you feel like you haven’t worn them as religiously as you were before, its best to be really honest with your dentist, as ill-fitting trays could delay your treatment by having to go back and rectify the movement.

Jenna’s Invisalign Journey – Months 3 and 4

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As the months go by, there isn’t a lot of change in my daily routine, in regards to my Invisalign treatment.  So, I have decided to write my blog every two months now, as I should have a little more to talk about.

I will be very honest and admit that I have started to slack with the amount of times I use the ‘chewies’ throughout the day and probably allow myself more tea and coffee in the mornings than I did when I first started the treatment.

This hasn’t affected my treatment, as the slip ups are only minor, but I have noticed that the trays will feel tighter for longer, in comparison to when I was being very good with my trays.  As I noticed the trays felt tighter than before, this really spurred me on to be extremely thorough with them once again.

Jenna’s Invisalign Journey Month 3

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Being well into month 3, with Invisalign, I have really started to notice results and movement, which is truly encouraging.  I am now on tray number 10, soon to be onto 11, and have found that these last few trays have had the most noticeable changes; however, this has meant that I have felt the tightness/mild ache has slightly increased with the new trays.

In the beginning of my treatment, the feeling of a new tray being tight would only last around half the day, whereas now it could take up to two days.

The ache is really manageable and hasn’t affected my day to day life whatsoever, so the slightly firmer feeling has actually been nice for me, as it has meant my teeth are moving.

Whether you are changing your trays weekly or fortnightly, you are aiming for your trays to feel slightly loose before you change to the next one.  If they still feel tight by the end of the week/fortnight, continue to wear your trays until they sit flush against your teeth.

Not following this closely, could prolong your treatment.

Chewie’s are the best thing to keep your trays in place and to keep them flush with your teeth.

Jenna x

Jenna’s Invisalign Journey Month 2

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Month 2:

I am well into my Invisalign treatment now and getting on really well with it. I feel like I have got myself into a really good routine with it all, which has really helped with my progress.  To achieve the best results, you need to be wearing your retainers all the time, apart from when you are eating and drinking hot liquids.  I have found that cleaning my retainers while I’m having my dinner is the best time to do this. I just fill a mug with hot water from the tap, pop in a retainer, a brite tablet and leave my retainers to soak while I eat.  Don’t forget to give them a thorough rinse before you put them back in as they won’t taste very nice afterwards.


As a reminder, the reason I’m having this treatment done, is to correct my class three bite (in other words my lower jaw sits further forward).  Because of this, during my Invisalign treatment, I need to use elastics to slowly bring my lower jaw back.  During my next appointment Dr Wong reviewed my progress and attached some buttons to my very back upper molars, this is so the elastics have something to hook onto.  Then my lower retainers have little hooks towards the front of my lower teeth, to create that motion of pulling my lower jaw back.

Not everyone will be using elastics during their treatment, but if you are, persevere with them as they are a little bit fiddly to put on.  I now have a technique of putting them round my index finger and my thumb and holding them in place of the buttons and hooks and let the elastics roll off my fingers and into place, but you will just have to practice and persevere with them yourself.

 

Jenna’s Invisalign Journey Month 1

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Hello CrownWood patients and friends, it’s month number 1 and I’m going to share my experience of my Invisalign treatment, like I explained in my introduction post. My first appointment consisted of having IPR and the fitting of my first trays. IPR stands for interproximal reductions and is basically just making a bit of space between a select few teeth to make small spaces for them to move. Don’t let this worry you, as it will usually only be about a millimetre, so not noticeable at all and will slowly close over the course of your treatment. Another plus is that it is a rather quick appointment and no need for local anaesthetic.

At the end of the appointment, Dr Wong made sure that the Invisalign fitted and that I was able to remove and put them in myself, as well as telling me about ‘chewies’ which I was soon to find out would become my best friends. Chewies are little cylinder-shaped rubber pieces that are used to chew on to help push your retainers down, this needs to be done around 20 times a day or more to achieve the best results. If you find that you do not have your chewies for whatever reason, just bite or clench down hard, to keep your Invisalign in place.
The first and biggest thing that came to my attention, was the fact that my speech had been affected a little after having the trays put in. I didn’t let this bother me, and probably has a lot to do with the fact that I work in a dentist and see this sort of thing all the time with people coming in for dentures. That said, it is minor and you just have to persevere and trust that your body will adapt (which it did rather quickly), so again don’t let this dishearten you.

To try and speed things along, when I was alone, I would attempt difficult words, for example ones beginning with the letter ‘S’. So I said a lot of ‘silly sausages’ and tongue twisters and felt a bit like a silly sausage while doing it, but it really helped my confidence when talking to people and I feel that this really helped to speed the learning process along.

My next challenge was the following day, when I woke up, realising that the inside of my bottom lip was a bit aggravated. I started using Bonjela and things had completely cleared up by day 4. By the end of the first week, I felt as though I had fully adapted to my new Invisalign braces and that I could speak with ease. All in all, I have found the first few weeks of Invisalign to be quite easy and comfortable once the initial adapting week was completed.

Jenna’s Invisalign Journey Introduction

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Jenna Wigley's Invisalign Journey Hello CrownWood patients and friends, I am one of the nurses here at CrownWood Dental and have recently started Invisalign. We thought it would be a nice idea for me to document my experiences (a monthly blog) while undergoing Invisalign, for patients who may be interested in the treatment or for patients already undergoing treatment and looking for a bit of reassurance and support.

I thought I’d start by explaining the process leading up to the fitting of my first trays. My first appointment was an assessment consultation, where Dr Wong assessed whether Invisalign would be something for me, as I am having treatment to correct my edge to edge bite. During this appointment Dr Wong used a new machine called an iTero machine to simulate a 3D image of my teeth, instead of the old way which would be to take impressions and then send it off to the lab. So, if you are not a massive fan of impressions (which most patients aren’t) this is a huge benefit to the course of Invisalign treatment. Also, during this appointment, detailed pictures were taken from all different angles and my facial profile to uploaded onto my online portfolio.

The next stage was my clincheck, which is the 3D image of my teeth but with a simulation of how my teeth will move and showed me what the end result would look like. Dr Wong needed to make sure I was 100% happy before finalising this, as there is no going back after this stage. Then all that was left to do, was wait for my trays to arrive at the practice and have my next appointment.