Dental Part 4
One week before the Wilcko surgery, it was time to start Invisalign. I walk into the orthodontist office with no small measure of trepidation and the patient coordinator said you must be so excited. No, not that. Many other adjectives came to mind and some preceded by an odd expletive or two. But it truly gave me some comfort because to even consider a state of excitement she must clearly see a positive end game. I know it is there.
Step one is placing the fasteners on your teeth. These are bits of composite that are temporarily attached to your teeth and aid the trays in moving the teeth accurately. I have a lot of them. This is an easy procedure, no sweat. Then it is time to put the first set of trays on. This was not an easy procedure and there was a lot of sweat. I couldn’t get them on and I couldn’t get them off. Plus the attachments were shearing off as I tried. When it was time for my flustered self to go, I said I would put the trays in before bed. Very bad decision.
I soon discovered that my teeth had been weaponized. The attachments on the lower front teeth ate holes in the inside of my lip while I was engaged in some much needed retail therapy. As soon as I got home, I rushed to put the trays in but the damage had been done and now the edge of the tray was having its way in the same area. I should have called the orthodontist for suggestions but instead made the first of many trips to the dental and first aid aisle trying one thing after the other to alleviate the pain. I ended up tearing off a bit of napkin and shoving it in there at dinner and it was blessed relief. I didn’t even care that I looked like I had a chew in. 
Save yourself time, money and aggravation and get the invisalign survival kit and avoid repeated trips to this aisle and go straight to the ice cream instead. Buy dental wax, emery boards, hydrogen peroxide and salt for warm salt-water rinses. That’s all you need. The orthodontist loaded me up with wax and I threw all the useless items away and bought large quantities of hydrogen peroxide and kosher salt
It would be a lie to say the first few days were easy. They were unpleasant at best but everything turned around by day 4 and I struck an uneasy alliance with the trays. By the day before surgery, the inside of my lip was healed and the trays were easy to put in and out. Good thing too because no dental wax was allowed after surgery…