Invisalign on holiday

I know I was supposed to write all these fabulous tips for people who had just started invisalign and issues for people who were trying to decide whether or not to start invisalign to think about. But then I had a two-week holiday in Asia and I didn't quite manage to get those blog postings done.

It has however led me to the topic I want to write on today: how to deal with invisalign while travelling.

There were two major invisalign issues when travelling in Asian countries:
1) the temptation/desire to eat all the time; and
2) the lack of public bathrooms, especially clean ones.

Fortunately, I foresaw these problems and spoke to my dentist well in advance of my trip. His recommendation was to finish the two weeks on one set of aligners and then stay on those aligners for the trip, wearing them only at night like a retainer.

So with some good planning, by the day I set off on my trip I was up to Day 12 of that set of aligners (close enough to the end by my books) and it was great knowing that I would not have to feel guilty even if I had the aligners out all day as I'd had the okay from my dentist. As I would mostly be staying in hotels, I figured wearing the aligners overnight should not be too difficult. That gave me all my waking hours to eat and take a holiday from the tooth-brushing fuss I'd endured for nearly six months.

Actually, it ended up being easier than I had expected to wear them for about 12 hours per day. We tended to have breakfast at the hotel, so I was able to put them back in after breakfast and only take them out late morning or even early afternoon when I next wanted to eat. Some days I would leave them out until the end of the day but I found that most days I was able to find an opportunity to put them back in, even if only for an hour or two at a time. The days where I had them out for more than 10 hours at a stretch, I could definitely feel that my teeth had moved and there was a bit of discomfort by the time I put them back in. So whenever possible, I would break up the long stretches and I found that it helped a lot.

The biggest challenges for my trip were a two-day trek and overnight trains with only a tiny not-very-clean bathroom. Bottled water and anti-bacterial gel and wipes were absolute essentials to have with me. My general rule is that when I was in doubt about hygiene, I opted to leave the aligners out. I figure it is better to have the aligners out for longer than to trap food or bacteria in my mouth and risk cavities.

A quick word about flights. I had read in someone else's blog that flights were really difficult but I didn't find that at all. I made sure I had an aisle seat, and with a bathroom at hand throughout the whole flight, it was very easy to brush and put the aligners back in!

When I got home, I moved on to the next set of aligners. They were quite sore for the first two days, but it is hard to know whether it is just one of those more difficult sets of aligners or whether it is something to do with the holiday. All in all though, there seems nothing out of the ordinary and nothing to be worried about. Hopefully the dentist will confirm that at my next appointment.

So, my message for today is: don't fear - invisalign does not have to make holidaying difficult.

Some initial thoughts

I'm up to my 11th set of aligners and I thought this would be as good a time as any to set up this blog to share some of my thoughts and experiences with you on the invisalign process. This is not going to be one of those blogs where I put up before and after pictures or tell you in detail about the pain I felt on Monday when I got food stuck between my teeth. My goal is to give those of you trying to decide whether to go for invisalign some idea of what it's going to be like, and to give those of you who have already started, some helpful tips and reassurance that it does get easier.

Let's start general: would I recommend invisalign? The short answer is yes. The best part is that it really does work. I have 6 more aligners for my bottom teeth and 12 more for my top, but already my teeth are much straighter than before and are looking pretty good.

The other advantage is that they are practically unnoticeable. I wouldn't say that they are invisible, but they are difficult to see unless someone is especially looking for them. I look young at the best of times, so I was not keen to walk in to see clients with metal tracks, Ugly Betty style.

But....there is always a "but". I have had to make a lot more lifestyle changes than I had expected. I thought, "how hard can it be to wear a couple of pieces of plastic and take them out when I eat?" Let me tell you, it is much harder than you think! I am a grazer by nature, so I have had to totally alter my eating habits. No afternoon snack, no coffee on the way to work, no tasting a piece of cheese while shopping at the markets, and so on and so forth. One of the other difficult things is that it adds a lot of fuss to social occasions. Drinking, going out for dinner, picnics, all become more complicated. You have to be willing to deal with the fuss to make the invisalign work.

Of course, the whole point of me writing this blog is to tell you that there is a way to cope and you do get used to it. More on this soon.