Inman Aligner: January 2011

Its been 7 days with the inman so thought i would update.

The first couplde of days i was in ALOT of pain. Wishing i had never bothered with it. I went to see if i could buy some form of tooth ache gel but non existed. I did buy some bonjela and calprofen (calpol with ipubrofen). This worked pretty well. I just held the calpol in my mough for about 2 mins and let it absorb into my gums. The pain drastically lowered.
note-calpol is now sugar free so i no where near as good tasting as it used to be! :)

Pain died down after about 3-4 days. Now it just hurts when i take it out and put it back in again. The pain is quite bad for about 5 mins but quickly settles.

i have been wearing for about 17 hours a day on average.

Heres pictures after 7 days of wear

(i dont think they have moved at all)

Got my Inman fitted today.

Firstly i got there and had some xrays taken (surely these should have been done before). Not sure why, didn't seem too important. Then he took some pictures of my teeth so he can track my progress.

Next the dentist told me he had to do some filing to create gaps for the teeth to move into. I had heard this term over and over again on the internet so was prepared. However i preshumed it would be with some form of electric drill/machine whereas it was a metal wire. He just forced the rough metal wire between my teeth and rubbed it back and forth. He did that between all my front teeth. Then swapped to a thin paper one - looked just like sandpaper. The actual filing did not hurt - just like a viberation. But the pressure of his hand resting on my teeth really hurt!

I could taste blood and there was blood all over his gloves which worried me slightly, but i didn't feel him nic my gums or any real pain. Then he put the inman in - with difficultly. I was just waiting to hear that the lab had made it wrong. After about ten minutes of fiddeling with it he managed to position it correctly.

I was then told that i need composite blobs putting on my teeth so it would stay in place.
But i previously had asked and had not been told i would need them and with getting married in 10 weeks i was worried. He reassured me though and said that if my treatment wasn't completed that they could take them off for me - and put them back on after my honeymoon.

He then taught me how to put it in and take it out. I had to sign a form saying if i broke it i had to pay for a new one! So i will be very careful when removing it and re-fitting it!

And that was that. I now have it in my mouth. Feel like a horse with a bit. Lots of slavia. Bad lisp. Cant close my teeth together. Can feel pressure on my teeth though which can only be good sign. I have to return in 3 weeks!

Here are some pictures ---

This is what my teeth currently look like-
(you would never believe i had 2 years of fixed braces could you!)