I recently got my first Invisalign® aligners! As of this post, I’m on my second set – but I’m wearing the very first in these pictures. For those of you who missed my last posts (read those posts here), I’m currently receiving complimentary Invisalign® treatment in exchange for sharing my experience, once a month. 

I’m officially on the road to straighter teeth. I wanted to fill you all in on my first month of treatment, and what it entails. I’ll be wearing my first set of aligners (on top and bottom) for two weeks, then I switch to the second set for two weeks, as well. Once I’m done with those, I’ll be going back in to Dr. Zhu at Manhattan Bridge Orthodontics to get my attachments. So, keep in mind that I am only wearing the initial aligners in these photos, not the clear attachments that will be fixed to some of my teeth. Once I get those, I’ll make sure to update with more photos, so you can see what those are like.

Here’s what I know about wearing the aligners, so far: 

• No eating or drinking (except water or seltzer) while the aligners are in. I remove them for every meal, brush my teeth, clean the aligners (no hot water!), and put them back in. This process has helped me resist compulsive snacking, and I’ve been drinking a lot more water. 

• The blue case is always at my side, in case I need to take my aligners out. It also contains what was introduced to me as rubber gum, little rubber pieces that you bite down on to secure the aligners, once you put them on. 

• The red case is used for the previous aligners, which should be kept in case they need to be re-used. I’m going to do my best to make sure I don’t have to backtrack, but it’s good to have them just in case! 

• The optimal wear for the aligners is 22 hours a day, with time permitted for meals and snacks. Mine might be more like 20-22, depending on if I’m out to dinner or at home. 

So far, so good. It took me a few days to get used to having the Invisalign aligners in, but now I’m adjusted to the routine and I’ve found it easy to adapt. These have been pretty comfortable, but they warned me that the one that will take some getting used to is the initial set with the attachments, so I’ll have to wait and see. But since the pressure means it’s shifting my teeth, I’m okay with that. I’ll check back in, once I have the attachments on!