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Hello, hello!! It is finally some glorious spring weather and I am so excited! I’m even excited enough to toss exclamation marks around like glitter!! I hope you have beautiful blue skies with puffy white clouds and delicious temperatures where you are, too.
This is going to be a great weekend of relaxing and organizing at Chez Lindamood. Time to shake off that winter dust. What are you up to this weekend?
I’m also adjusting to my new Invisalign “invisible braces”. I got my attachments and first set of trays this week and the whole process has been fascinating so far. For those of you unfamiliar with the Invisalign terminology, let me explain. Because of the severity of my bite, they had to build little white bumps called attachments on specific spots of my teeth. The trays that snap in and out on the teeth to correct alignment hook over those spots and it helps pull the teeth into the right place slowly.
It takes some adjustment to get used to it, since there are some sort of sharp edges on the trays, but removing the trays leaves those raspy little bumps to rub around the insides of your lips and cheeks. It’s not bad, though, just a little uncomfortable and different.
In addition to all of that, they should be worn -in an ideal world- for at least 22 hours a day. Since they have to be removed for eating or drinking anything other than plain old water, and since I’m a homeschooling mom, I did the math really quickly and realized that was 2 hours a day alotted to me to eat my meals and drink my tea. I decided on half an hour for breakfast/tea, half an hour for lunch, and a leisurely hour for dinner. I also decided I’d do everything in my power to economize on breakfast and lunch time so I could make my dinner even more luxurious.
The first two days, I panic ate every time I removed my aligners (because I’m still getting the hang of this and my teeth are new to being adjusted, it’s a little uncomfortable but getting better.) I would just start stuffing things in my mouth; a sandwich topped with goat cheese, half a bag of tortilla chips and a bunch of salsa, the world’s hottest cuppa tea poured straight down the gullet, a toweringly huge fried egg sandwich, a very large wedge of chocolate cream pie, and whatever else I could lay my hands on.
I’ve heard people refer to the “Invisalign Diet” and I have no idea what they mean other than no snacking. I managed to take in a day’s calories with each meal with my panic eating. The last couple of days, I’ve “pre-gamed” my meal by laying a proper meal out before I removed my aligners then eating slowly and carefully and just until satisfied. It’s going to work out. This learning curve wasn’t too steep!
I’m just awfully glad to be on the road to straighter teeth for ease of care. Flossing (which I do religiously) has been a bit of an upper body workout my whole life. This should correct that.
THINGS I LOVE (Invisalign Edition) My Soda Stream fizzy drinks maker. The jury is kind of out on this, but my orthodontist seemed to think that drinking seltzer water (unsweetened, of course) was a-okay while wearing aligners. Unfettered access to an unending supply of seltzer water is helping ease the transition to no snacking for this snackaholic. Sometimes fizzy water is just what the ortho ordered.
This toothpaste. When you’re going to taste the stuff for a few hours with no food or tea to break it up, you’re going to want to like it. Luckily I stumbled onto this stuff the day I got my aligners. It’s super “hot” mint, which I love, and it keeps my breath fresh and neutralizes food tastes pretty quickly. While normally I like to linger over my meal and not be rid of the taste too quickly, that approach is most unpleasant with aligners sitting on my teeth after each meal. I have a tube of this in my purse and another in my bathroom.
This remover. I know this doesn’t exactly sound exciting, but it was hard to get a hang (literally and figuratively) of those slippery aligners the first couple of days and it’s my understanding that repeats with every tray change (be it every week or two weeks). This little thing looks like a crooked crochet hook and helps unhook the grippy aligners gently and safely from your attachments and teeth. This is a must for me.
I haven’t had to use these yet, thank goodness, but it’s my understanding that subsequent trays can get a little harder to snap in place, so these chewies are there to make it a little easier. You simply bite down on them and the trays should pop right into place.
QUESTION OF THE WEEK: Did you ever wear braces or aligners? What was your experience like?
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