Sixth Trays

I put in my sixth trays yesterday.  I could have started them on Wednesday, but my next appointment isn't until December 1, so I'll have them in for a few extra days, anyway.  (I find this to be a good thing since I will be able to have them out longer on Thanksgiving.  Hello, pie.)  These trays are proving to be pretty tight.  My teeth have been hurting since I put them in last night.

Before I got my aligners, I saw someone's blog post comparing her first trays to her sixth trays.  I was so excited to do that someday.  I took some pictures last night to compare.  And here's what I got:

See the differences!?

Yeah, neither do I.

I can notice some very minor differences between the first tray (left) and the sixth tray (right).  Because the differences seemed hardly noticeable, I decided to compare the trays from a different aspect:

Here is a cool difference!  The widths of the trays are quite different.  The sixth tray (right) is much wider than the first tray (left).  I tried to line up one side of the aligners so you can see the difference in the width on the other side.  I didn't even know that change was happening in my mouth until I compared the two!

Another exciting change:

The gap between my lower teeth is increasing, making room for that tooth hiding behind the others to come forward!  The bottom tray is my first tray, and the top tray is my sixth tray.  As you can tell, there is a noticeable difference in that gap.  Awesome!  The bottom trays look pretty similar otherwise.

And now, here are my typical pictures.  Changes are difficult to spot! (even for me)

 -current bite viewed from the side

-current bite viewed from the other side











-current bite from the front














-current smile.  Does it look different yet?

I'll have one toothpaste, hold the mint!

Since having Invisalign for over a month now, I find myself sometimes brushing my teeth 4 (or sometimes 5) times per day!  I've always been a little bit sensitive to mint (and spearmint makes me INCREDIBLY nauseous... even if someone next to me is simply chewing spearmint gum), so brushing that many times each day with a minty paste is getting old very quickly.

I went to a Halloween party where I got to pick a prize from the prize basket.  I, of course, went with the WATERMELON toothpaste!

Watermelon?!  Is it even good?  Is it still minty?

Yes, watermelon.  It is wonderful.  It tastes like some kind of watermelon gum, except the flavor never expires!  (let alone after 3 seconds like most fruity gum)  It is not minty at all.  It's this green goo/gel stuff.  I also use it to clean my aligners like I would any other toothpaste because I don't want to clean my mouth with something fruity and then put minty trays in my mouth.  Bleh!

After getting the watermelon toothpaste, I decided that I should probably invest in some more fun flavors of toothpaste, or else brushing would become a hassle for me.  Fruity/non-minty flavors are usually found in toothpastes for kids, so that's where I started my "research."  I wanted to make sure that using kids' toothpaste isn't (in some way) harmful for a 25-year-old.  I read that many of those toothpastes have less fluoride in them so it's safer if kids swallow it.  That was pretty much the only difference that I found.  I'm now worried about not fulfilling my fluoride requirement for the day since I brush so many times and since I will still be using adult toothpaste for a few of those brushes.  (AND fluoride rinse at night!)

Last night, I bought two new toothpastes (with coupons!):  Hello Kitty bubble gum flavor and Crest for Kids Sparkle Fun flavor.  I remember Sparkle Fun flavor from when I was younger, and I really liked it.  I haven't tried it yet to see if it's the same.  Bubble gum flavor is pretty legit.  It's not super bubble gummy, but it's still better than many of the minty flavors that I can't take during the day.

So... yeah.  Here's to better flavors of toothpaste during this journey!