First of all, the "Feeling" of the difference is actually bigger than what you see at this point. I constantly feel my teeth move, even after taking off the trays for an hour for meals. I feel more of the shift of my teeth especially when I change trays every 3 weeks. This constant shift did not give me much pain or discomfort honestly as I already got used to wearing the trays (in fact, I sometimes feel uncomfortable when I'm not wearing them).
As you've noticed, I have a big stick-out tooth on my upper teeth. I used to not be able to feel the back of that tooth before my treatment. The teeth next to that stick-out teeth are so crowded that it did not create any gap at the back. (You may see it better through my treatment plan in my earlier posts). But now, I am starting to feel the space between the teeth and I could actually feel the back of that stick-out tooth. It feels good to know that I could finally brush a little bit of that tooth. And flossing has been so much easier.
If you look closely, you may also see the tooth next to my stick-out tooth are straighter than before.
I also noticed that the bottom teeth are becoming less crowded as I can see bigger gaps between the front bottom teeth. Food tends to get trapped more easily in those wider gaps though.
I review the treatment plan that they gave me at the beginning of the treatment and it does seem my treatment is going on track without any delays.
So far, I encounter no trouble inserting or moving on to the next trays. The transition is always smooth.
There would be some discomfort at first. And some of the times, there would be minor issues, for example, one tiny part of the tray would be too sharp that hurts my gum a little bit. I usually get used to it after a 3-4 days and forget about it. I also find it helpful to smooth out the edges a little bit (but they usually don't help much).
However, compare to the constant pain and discomfort that traditional braces has given me, the discomfort I'm feeling through this treatment is minimal and very much bearable.
Here are a few things that I've learned so far and I hope this will help as you may consider going through this journey as well:
1) I always carry my toothbrush and toothpaste with me, but so far I had actually never used it due to my job nature. What I find useful is FLOSSING and MOUTHWASH! I floss every single time after I eat and I only brush my teeth in the morning and night. I've went to the dentist last month and we found not cavity and in fact, the health of my gums actually got improved. SO FLOSS regardless!
Side Note: I also drink sweet drinks on top of water while wearing the trays. Can't resist!
2) After wearing the first few trays, the dirt actually get piled up quite easily even brushing the trays with soap doesn't remove the stains. So after brushing gently with soap, I would soak these trays into Retainer Brite for 15 minutes during my shower. They make the trays looking like 90% brand new (There would still be some stains sometimes but it hardly noticeable). I've also tried it without brushing and soap but the stains are more visible. I normally use Retainer Brite every day or every other day. I purchased these on Amazon.
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I intend to use the whitening gels that came with the SDC treatment towards the end of my treatment.
4) One of the best thing about wearing these trays is that my husband no longer complains I'm grinding my teeth during my sleep. I know I grind my teeth real hard during my sleep because my jaw is always very tense. I even bite my teeth hard sometimes when I'm working. My husband said he did not hear my grind my teeth anymore since I've started my treatment. I guess I'll be wearing a mouth guard or retainer for the rest of my life. LOL
So here are my thoughts so far. I will update again maybe when I'm half way through my treatment.
Thanks for reading. Happy Holidays!
Disclaimer: I am not associated with any brands I've mentioned above. None of these companies paid me to write this review.
