Dental Part 3
When I asked the orthodontist what Invisalign was, no doubt he wondered what hidey-hole I have been in. Here is the short answer. Once the periodontist evaluates the bone/gum situation, the orthodontist will recommend braces or Invisalign based on what you have going on in there. Some folks can do either and some will have a better outcome with one or the other. In my case, Invisalign was recommended by my excellent orthodontic team. Plus also note that everyone in the office is dedicated to making the experience positive. Since you will spend a great deal of time there, this is important.
To begin, the orthodontist completed a 3D scan of my teeth. Invisalign uses this scan to produce clear plastic aligners or trays which when worn sequentially will shift the teeth into the proper position. For me, 41 trays were produced. Consider this process a real life flipbook. 
My primary concern with Invisalign was a requirement that the trays be worn a minimum of 22 hours a day and removed when eating or drinking anything besides water. The math simply doesn’t work. Imagine a relaxing Saturday. Start the day leisurely drinking coffee followed by breakfast (1 ½ hrs), lunch (1/2 hr), dinner on the town starting with a cocktail (1/2 hr), followed by appetizer (1/2 hr), main course (1/2 hr) and if I have no self control, ice cream (1/2 hr). If we are kicking over the traces, we may go out after dinner and that could be any amount of time. But let’s say 1 hr. This totals 5 hrs and does not include the endless snacking I do all day so let’s throw in another hour for good measure. Even on a weekday, total eating/coffee time is definitely over 2 hrs a day. It was a question of lifestyle vs. snaggle teeth. Time to run???
Did not run, discussed further and the solution is simple, don’t take them out when you eat and clean trays and your teeth afterwards. Great. I got the answer I wanted and stopped stressing.
Your approach will depend on whether doing Wilcko surgery or not. Without Wilcko, each set of trays is worn for two weeks or so. They will stain badly and suddenly Invisalign is disturbingly visible. One small serving of curry chicken salad will tinge them yellow. A blended vegetable drink turns the trays a lovely shade of light green. Plus great gob
s of food get stuck in them. Really attractive. And let’s not forget cavities.
On the other hand, with Wilcko surgery, each tray is only worn for a couple days since the teeth are moving so fast. Therefore staining is much less of an issue. I still have a little fear since no doubt even keeping them in will require adjustments to my daily feeding frenzy.
Up next, the first day of wearing the trays…