Invisalign - DAY 124

Wow, I have not been keeping up with this as well as I wanted to. Unfortunately, I have been in rehearsals for a musical "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" and finishing up shooting "Why I Hate Bitsy Malone" for the web, so I have been spending all of my free time either in the car, at work on on the set/in rehearsals. But, I figured with a huge milestone coming up, it might be good to jump back on this.

This Monday is going to be huge. No, not because everyone will be talking about how "Lost" ended. Actually, that IS going to be huge and probably a conversation many will be having, but that is not as big as...

MONDAY IS MY HALFWAY MARK WITH INVISALIGN!!!!

I truly thought this day would never get here when I started and now I realize that it has not felt that long. I am sure if I was a teenager, the time would have crawled by, but since I am at that age where my life is passing before my eyes, the time has just flown.

I looked at my ClinCheck today to see how much change has really occur ed and most of the "big" movement has yet to happen, but it is on the horizon. Weeks 10 thru 19 really start pushing and pulling the teeth around. Not that I haven't had some discomfort with the movement so far.

This week, when Tray #9 went in, I really felt it. Especially with my front top right and my front bottom right teeth. For about two days, my gums felt like it does when you have a bruise and you push on it. It doesn't hurt but it has that achey feel to it, which sometimes feels good, you know?

My wife, who has been doing this with me, lost both of her buttons on her front teeth this week. One came off last Saturday and was replaced two days later, where she proceeded to lose the other button the next day. After contacting our Orthodontist, they recommended to come in before starting Tray #10. All in all, out of the 23 buttons between us, we have only lost 3 in the last 124 days...not a bad record.

In the past two and half weeks I have had bad days and good days, nothing really big to mention in a blog. All in all, for my halfway mark, this has been a pretty painless experience that I would recommend to anyone.

Last 2 1/2 Weeks Combined:
Pain Level: 4
Dedication Level: 7
Irritation Level: 2

Invisalign - DAY 64

I thought this day would never come. Today is the day we have our first followup with our Orthodontist and get the next three trays (5 thru 7).

I am kind of worried because on the weekends I am getting into the habit of taking my aligners out when I wake up and having them out for a while.

After taking 10 minutes to roll out of bed, I throw the aligners in the CVS Generic Polident solution, take a shower, spray the Flonase, get my contacts in, apply the underarm deodorant in my pits and product in my hair (hopefully, I don't mess those two up), SonicCare my teeth and take off for Starbucks, leaving my aligners in the solution to soak some more, even though they only need five minutes. Trust me, coming from my mouth, 5 minutes is not going to cut it.

By the time I get back home, Frappaccino fully inhaled, that's when I put the aligners back in, 2 hours after taking them out. I mean, why put them in before leaving the bathroom only to take them out 30 minutes later to have breakfast? Yeah, I know; it's 30 extra minutes, but what a pain.

Also, yesterday my wife and I had lunch with a couple of her ILM friends out at Octopus, a great sushi restaurant in Burbank. Since we were eating, out came the aligners. After eating and talking and eating and talking, three hours had passed and I still had to head home and brush before putting them back in. FIVE HOURS and I hadn't even had dinner yet?!?!?!

To top it off, with all the talking at lunch my attachment on my canine tooth started rubbing the inside of my cheek and now I have one of those tiny sores that looks like a pimple but feels like a cattle brand.

I think the Ortho purposely makes the attachments "pointy" so you will keep your aligners in and not tear your mouth apart. Well, Dr. Azani, lesson learned, my friend...lesson learned.

Until breakfast on Saturday.

Pain Level - 0
Dedication Level - 4
Irritation Level - 5 (just for the small cattle brand)

Invisalign - DAY 31

I can see how people start to get lazy with putting their aligners in for 20-22 hours a day. It is weird to keep these plastic trays in your mouth when you feel they are doing absolutely nothing.

Sure, for the first couple of days your teeth hurt and you know the aligners are doing something (that reminds me of Carl...inside joke, I tell you later). But now, I just feel like I have these contraptions in my mouth that give me something to chew on all day. It is akin to chewing plastic gum with no flavor...and you can't even blow bubbles. Come on, now!!!

I have heard the teeth move the most for the first couple of days with the new aligners. Although I am only guessing here, since I am not an Orthodontist, I think it is the same concept as weighlifting (don't worry, I know I have to reference the WINTER Olympics...I'll get there) where you work a muscle hard at first then rest it, only to work it hard again. Any Orthodontists reading this can chime in. I don't have a problem being told I am completely wrong.

Look, I only want to do this once. I will keep my tasteless aligners in for the 20 to 22 hours (that sounds cool, "20 to 22 hours"). I don't want to put all of this time in, get to the end and know that I did a "Method Grab" like Lindsey Jacobellis at the Torino Olympics in 2006 and screw this up. I do not want to take the chance of coming back hoping for a different result only to have "contact with the gate" and not get closer to the Gold Medal my second time out (see, I told you I would get there).

BTW, Carl is a programmer that would write code and, whether the data was correct or not, as long as it "did something" he was happy. Carl was a very happy man.

Pain Level - 0
Dedication Level - 9
Irritation Level - 6 (they should flavor to the aligners - it would be great to be chewing on chocolate 22 hours of the day)

Invisalign - DAY 16

So, I think we have figured out how to get these aligners off our teeth with the attachments (I was calling them buttons, but I guess that is not what the industry calls them). If you are having issues taking them off and you don't want to use an crochet needle, it is pretty simple:

1. Pull the top front of the aligner off of any molars that do not have any attachements on them. Do this only on one side of your mouth.
2. Push on the back side of the aligner with your thumb as you pull down on the front of the aligner with your fingernail.
3. Go around and do this for every area that has an attachment. Do not try to take your aligner off from both sides at the same time.

Obviously, practice makes perfect, but both my wife and I have mastered this in just two days. I just don't want anyone to get as frustrated as I did and start to get discouraged about doing Invisalign.

One bad thing; I was eating pizza tonight with my wife and thought I hit a burnt piece of crust as it was very crunchy. After finishing, I ran my tounge across my attachments and realized one was missing. It was the same one that the Ortho had a difficult time putting on initially. I am truly bummed that it has only been two days and I am already having difficulties with the attachments attaching.

I will be calling the office tomorrow, and hopefully they will be able to add it back on soon.

Pain Level - 3 (certain teeth have a dull pain)
Dedication Level - 10
Irritation Level - 8.5 (losing the attachment bummed me out)

Invisalign - DAY 11

My wife asked me last night if I was experiencing any weird 'taste' in the back of my throat since starting Invisalign. She had read on the Internet that this was a symptom some people did experience. I thought about it and realized I had not. However, it made me think about something else. Since starting, I have had, what feels like, an abundance of phlegm.

I have been clearing my throat for the last week and was wondering if I was catching something. I've been pretty healthy for the last couple of months, but it is Wintertime and the H1N1 virus is hiding in every handshake. And, I 'vitaminize' on a daily basis; CoQ10, One-A-Day for Men, D3, Milk Thistle, Magnesium, Vitamin C, Fish Oil, Acidophilus (I am so old)...so maybe I wasn't sick.

This morning I woke up with morning breath (boy, do I sound attractive), but it seemed a little different this time. I took out my aligners and the 'flavor' was not going away. There is was...not that Invisalign 'aesthetic' but that hypochondriac response of mine. Now I am noticing it constantly. Damn my psychosis!

The savoriness of my aligners aside, I am still experiencing achy-ness in regards to my back molars. It is not my wisdom teeth (yes, I still have them) but the molars just in front of them. And, they only hurt with my aligners in. I am not sure if this is going to cause me trouble for months to come. I will bring it up to the Orthodontist and let you know what he says.

I have looked in the mirror at these teeth and noticed they seem to be turning and moving closer to my cheeks, so maybe they are just sensitive because of the shifting that is happening. Of course, I could be wrong and they haven't moved at all. Damn my bad vision!!

I have acting class tonight so I am not sure about keeping my aligners in. So far, they have been out for about 2 hours, so I think I might be a little over today. And, I was doing so well. Damn my propensity for fickleness and perfidy!!!

Someone get this thesaurus away from me.

Pain Level - 4.5

Dedication Level - 8 (I am assume class will be rough)

Irritation Level - 3 (except for the pain, not much to irritate me)

Total Time Aligners Out - 5 Hours (guess-timate)

Invisalign - DAY 1

January 18th, 2009
8:50 PM


Name: Sean Spence
Occupation: Actor
Age: 30 (ish)
Orthodontist: Daniel Azani, D.D.S., M.S.
Office: Snow Orthodontics (Encino, CA)

Today is day one of my regimen with Invisalign. I have decided to write a short blog regarding my 38 weeks with Invisalign. You may ask, "Why, Sean, would you want to do that?"

Simple. When I was looking for answers about Invisalign, I could not find one site, one person, one experience that explained the process from the patients point of view. Well, after 38 weeks, we won't be able to say that now, will we?

"Well, what are you going to talk about?", you may ask. (wow, you ask a lot of questions for a stranger)

I have decided to break it down into three categories:

1. Pain Level - on a scale of 1 to "Get this crap out of my mouth", I will write about any and all experiences. I will try to keep it clean for the kids.


2. Dedication Level - how well I adhear to the rules of no drinking, no eating and keeping the trays in my mouth 22 out of 24 hours a day.


3. Irritation Level - how irrated I become on a daily basis with plastic in my mouth all day. YAY!!! (enter sarcasm here)

"Hey, could you tell us a little more about yourself?" (has anyone ever told you you talk too much?)

Sure, why not. But only stuff that pertains to Invisalign. If you want to read more about me, check out my other blog...I'll wait...

Pretty interesting stuff, huh?

So, I decided to do Invisalign because I am an actor and can not have silver braces showing. I also, just recently as two years ago, started getting that one tooth that protrudes out on the bottom. You know the one; the one when you look in the mirror, notice it and say "Oh, I must be getting old, oh well..." That one.

I originally didn't think I could use Invisalign because all of my past Orthodontists (that were referred by my GP) told me it was impossible unless I shaved down my lower tori, or "Bone Growth", which is a normal slow bone growth that appears in the upper and the lower jaw. I have been told by many DDSs that mine is the largest they have seen.

Thank you.

I could go on but this is a blog and I am told that babbling on in a blog is downright rude. So, here we are.

In all seriousness, I hope this blog helps you decide if Invisalign is for you. Please let me know if you have any questions about what I am experiencing. I will be very truthful, or else this blog would be worthless.