Invisalign - 3rd Set - Attachements - IPR

So I just got my attachments today, and had some IPR done as well.

First, the attachements -

The tech placed them...by first using what she called a pomice on my teeth.  For the crown, she prepped a little differently, appying a couple of different agents (I have no idea what) and letting them each sit for few minutes while she moved on and worked on the others.  When she'd finished prepping them all, she put the template on and glued the attachements on.  I have 5 on top and 1 on the bottom. 

I'm not crazy about the looks of the attachments.  They are much whiter than my teeth and I feel like they are pretty obvious.  I'm not too upset about that though, because they still aren't as noticeable as regular braces, and when this is over, I'll have straight teeth!  Here's a pic of my attachments without the aligners:

The worste part of getting the attachements for me was when she went to remove the template (which is basically a flimsy set of aligners with holes in them where the attachements are to be placed).  I thought she was never going to get the top one off....and I was worried about the actual aligners being that difficult.  I asked her if they would be and she just kind of shrugged and said, "maybe"....So far, I'm not finding these guys to be overly concerned about their patients' well-being outside of their office, unfortunately.  Also, the glue left a pretty bad taste in my mouth, and there was quite a bit of clean up that had to be done after the attachements were done...no biggy though, and the bad taste didn't last long at all, maybe a couple of hours.

And just in case anyone's ever intersted, here's a pic of my teeth+attachments+aligners:

The IPR wasn't bad at all.  The only difference I notice is that it's much easier to floss in the areas he shaved.  At one point, he must have gotten kinda close to the gum, but it never once hurt and it didn't take long at all. 

Once the attachements and IPR were complete, he put the aligners in for me.  They felt tight, but honestly not as bad as I thought they would be.  Before leaving, I re-stated my concern about removing them to eat (it was lunch time, after all).  She told me to just be sure to take both sides out at once rather than pull from one side and gave me a little plastic hook thingy to use:

Hook thingy

It doesn't really work, it's too thick to get between my teeth and my aligners.  It took some time and energy, but I was able to wrangle them out and eat lunch.  I left them in until it was time for dinner, and it is already starting to get much easier, so I'm happy about that.

Camping with Invisalign

Camping with these and keeping the yuck factor down was a bit of a challenge for me.  For one thing, no running water.  Even with plenty of water to use, for some reason it just didn't seem the same not to be able to use a steady, warm stream of it to wash my hands and aligners.  I don't know if there was a real difference, but in my head, it just didn't seem right....haha....maybe I'm just neurotic though, I've always had a kind of weird hand washing obsession anyway. 

I didn't really miss being able to snack, but I have to admit, when the s'mores ingredients came out, I was a little bummed that I couldn't just spontaneously take part.  Not a big deal though.

I did notice something I hadn't before...I usually use room-temp water to swish with, because I'm more thorough that way as my teeth are sensitive to cold.  Well I had to use some bottled water out of the ice-chest and the cold made my aligners tighten up!  I thought that was really odd....and just goes to show how temp sensitive they are...so I'm guessing, when they say no hot soaks or drinks....they mean it!

I enjoyed our trip...but really looking foward to next summer when (fingers crossed) I will be done with this and won't have to be thinking about my teeth all the time. 

Also, I did have beer, and am happy to report that there are no apparent problems with drinking beer with these on.  I just made sure to swish with water pretty often, and brushed my teeth and cleaned my trays as usual.

This coming Thursday will be two weeks with my 2nd set in.  I will have to wear them until the 21st though because that's the first available ortho appt.  I'm kinda bummed about all that wasted time, but it may be a good thing, because our vacation is right before the appt and I won't have to worry about attachements, and tightness and all of that on our trip. 

Smoooooth sailing so far....I'm hoping it stays that way!