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INVISALIGN: A (MOSTLY) LOVE STORY WEEKS 13-14 (TRAYS 7)

Let the upper lip issues begin

I think my teeth stopped moving, or that their movement has hit a plateau.

Confession: I am looking forward to being able to take my top trays out for good. My bottom teeth are in a worse predicament than the top, so if everything goes as planned, I will be wearing the bottom trays longer than I will the top. Which is totally fine with me.

My only issue is the (super-duper slight, noticeable to no one but me) change in my appearance when wearing my trays. I think my mouth (at least my upper lip) protrudes a tiny bit when I am wearing them and I feel more, um, feminine, when they are not in.

When this feeling of un-prettiness hits, I just remind myself: I am not wearing train tracks. I will have my dream teeth in less than a year. STRAIGHT TEETH IN LESS THAN A YEAR? I will drag queen it till then. (Possible future Invisalign patients take note: I seem to be the only person who notices the change in my lip. I asked my boyfriend, and some other select friends who I knew would be honest, and they all think I am being too critical. Which would not be surprising.)

Because everything else in my Invisalign process is going so smoothly, I decided to check out the mix of patient reviews/diaries/blogs/journals out there and compare my experience to that of others. Here is a list of common complaints/comments from other Invisalign wearers and my reaction:

Dry mouth: Nope.
Pain: Rarely.
Teeth look bigger with trays in: Sure, a little.
Teeth look shiny with trays in: Sure, a little. (And not in a bad way.)
Teeth look straighter: This is not actually a problem, right?
Teeth cannot fully close: Well, of course, but you would not be doing anything with your trays in that require your teeth to fully close. Practice your semi-close-mouthed smile for pictures and this would not bother you at all.
Stinky mouth: I have never noticed this and unless my boyfriend, friends and family are totally dishonest, neither have they.

The one recurring theme in my experience and everyone else s: we could wear our aligners more. We should all wear our aligners more.

Next up: James Bond and I have something in common.