I got a new bag to carry around my cleaning instruments. It is girly and not plastic and closes with a zipper, not a Ziploc. It fits into my purse but looks enough like a wallet or wristlet to carry around on its own. You will want to find a bag that suits your lifestyle (and fits your toothbrush, some travel-size toothpaste, floss and your Invisalign case).

At the end of my second week, I switched to my second Invisalign tray (at night, as recommended by Dr. Jacquie and a slew of other Invisalign alumni online). My new trays snapped in and for 20 seconds, I felt them. It was a sharp but short-lived pain, which fortunately did not come back again. I went along with life as usual, averaging 20-22 hours a day with my trays in. Sometimes I went a few hours longer without them, sometimes for just enough time to eat and brush. I was not super strict with them, but I was not forgetting to wear them either.

When I talked a lot, or wore them to a concert (and sang a lot), I actually felt my jaw tire. Truth is: you are not going to forget you are wearing the aligners. You also would not feel them as much as you expected to.

I did in these two weeks develop the tendency to bite down (and up?) on my trays. And I found myself taking longer breaks without them in, the breaks always revolving around food. The biting brought the trays a little too close to my gums, and caused some irritation. The breaks were an indication of my laziness, or lack of discipline, or love of the two-hour lunch break. I decided these were the things that needed fixing, and vowed to work on them.

Next week: Some wear-and-care tips!