Aligner #2: Planning around eating

After 8 days with my first aligners I could finally move onto my second set - Thanks AcceleDent!

I changed them after work as I thought it would be best to have the new ones in at night so they wouldn't bother me as much. I slept fine and in the morning the tightness wasn't causing me any issues.

My main issue with the Invisalign is that my days seem to revolve around planning when and what I am going to eat. The aligners are quite easy to get in and out, it is more trying to do so without being noticed (I don't want to gross people out) and then being somewhere that you can brush your teeth, floss and reinsert afterwards.

So far I haven't been able to warm to the idea of using public bathrooms to brush my teeth, no matter how clean they may be.

Essentially, the amount of snacking I do during the day has reduced to nil. During the week things are pretty easy.

• I take them out when I get up, go and have some breakfast, then brush, floss and reinsert.

• I then leave them in all morning and only drink water, then take them out sneakily at my desk when no one is looking. I then go and organise some lunch and then brush, floss and reinsert in the work bathrooms (unfortunately I can't avoid this public bathroom scenario).

• I leave them in for the rest of the day until I get home and then if I'm super hungry I take them out for a snack, brush and reinsert. 

• Then I do the same for dinner, I am getting in the habit of soaking the aligners in Steradent while I eat my dinner - this helps kill any bacteria you may miss when brushing. It also takes away any funky smells they are omitting.

So on an average work day I would have my aligners in for around 23 hours.

Throw in a weekend with some sort of social event and things get a lot harder. The first weekend I had these in we had a dinner party to attend with 6 courses. I started off with them in and another friend at the party has Invisalign too. She said when she drinks she uses a straw and leaves the Invisalign in. I tried this for a while but my teeth were starting to feel gross and my mouth was really dry and feral tasting. Once the food came it would be impossible to eat one course - brush, floss, insert then do it all again 6 times in the next few hours. So I took the aligners out and enjoyed my meal and drinks as normal. The aligners were out for about 1.5 hours and then I started feeling guilty so I stopped drinking wine, brushed my teeth and put them back in.

I then had a baby shower to attend which was a High Tea. So there were lots of sweet treats to be indulged in over the afternoon. I took my aligners out and then realised I'd left my aligner case at home so I wrapped them in a tissue and popped them in my bag. They were out for another 1.5 hours and then when I went to put them back in the tissue had stuck all over them and it took a while to wash them clean.

Note to self - don't forget to take your case with you.