My Invisalign Adventure -Days 1-4

My dentist adventures have been interesting the past couple of years! In the last five years, I have seen three different dentists and we are just now getting somewhere with fixing my teeth. I have pretty straight teeth, so that was not the need for Invisalign. When I was little, my dentist told us that I didn't need braces because my teeth were pretty straight. Then in high school we started seeing a new dentist. He told me that I needed to consider getting braces because I have a slight overbite, but since he didn't make a huge deal out of it, neither did my dad. That was about 3 years ago. Over winter break this past year, I started seeing a new dentist. She told me that I had to get something done soon because my overbite was damaging my teeth and causing the top teeth to wear away my bottom teeth. Why was it doing so much damage? Well probably because that slight overbite was 100%.
     I ventured out and found an orthodontist and I didn't really like what he had to say. First of all, I would have to have braces for about three years. I couldn't have the white porcelain braces because they wouldn't be strong enough to pull my jaw into the right spot or something like that. That was something I was really hoping for. I am going to school to be a teacher and I really didn't want my mouth full of metal during my student teaching because I thought it would make me look younger and not as professional. On top of that he wanted me to go down to Madison and have a surgery to have part of my jaw cut out and then place my teeth higher in my mouth because I have a pretty gummy smile. All of this was going to cost about $10,000. I don't know about you but it seemed really overpriced and not affordable at all.
      I was really disappointed. Instead of getting braces in elementary when it was "cool" to have them, I was getting awkward adult braces. The amount that I was looking forward to this was about 0%. And then somehow we got to the conclusion that my dentist would do Invisalign. It was much more affordable ($4,000 total) and it would be a lot easier with school. I need 24 trays on the top and 14 on the bottom. I have to wear them for two weeks at a time, so I will be done completely in a little less than a year. That was already a big plus that regular braces didn't offer! I have 12 buttons on my teeth to help grip the retainers and push my teeth in the right positions. I can already tell a difference in the way I hold my jaw. At first it hurt a lot to put on and take off my retainers because of all of the buttons, but my teeth are starting to shift into the right position so it doesn't hurt as much. It does hurt to eat though because it feels like my teeth are bruised, but I expected this. I found out that if I take my retainers out and wait five minutes to eat, it doesn't hurt as bad. 
    So far I am satisfied with my decision to do this. It definitely is better than having to get my jaw cut apart and what not!