Smilelign- How i clean my aligners.

I thought i'd do a little post about how to clean clear aligners. Over the last few months i've found many useful tips and tricks on how to keep my aligners clean and hygienic.

What i use:
*Water
*Soap
*Brace/aligner toothbrush
*Small pack of toothbrushes
*Nitradine Disinfecting tablets
*Sensodyne Pronamel Extra Freshness Toothpaste

I firstly picked up a brush that is specifically designed for braces and aligners, the brush head is a lot smaller and softer so you can get a good clean on your aligners and most importantly it does not scratch them. I brought this brush from my dentist for £1 but i'm sure you can pick them up in places like Boots. 
I also decided to pick up a pack of smaller brushes in Boots so i could get a really good clean on my aligners. (Can you tell that i'm slightly over the top with the whole cleaning process, i'm just so worried about food still been in the aligner and decaying my teeth.)

My dentist advised me on what i should be cleaning my aligners with. When i got my Smilelign aligners and box i was given a box of Nitradine disinfecting tablets that are designed for dentures and removable dental appliances. These tablets are priced at £13.99 for a pack of twenty which is a 10 week supply. My dentist told me to keep these tablets safe and not to use them until i get my final set of aligners as these are going to be with me for many years to come. In the meantime with my current aligners that i'm changing every three weeks i've been cleaning them with soap and water, it's been very hard not to clean them with toothpaste as i feel that this would give them a better clean but i was strictly told not to do this and that i can scratch my aligners which i definitely don't want. I clean my aligners in the morning after breakfast, after lunch and then after dinner before i go to bed. 

Since having the clear aligners i've noticed at certain points of the treatment my teeth have been feeling rather sensitive especially when i move onto the next aligners and i've found Sensodyne Pronamel toothpaste really good. I can definitely notice the difference in terms of sensitivity after i use the toothpaste. 

I hope this posts helps a few of you out there with clear aligners especially if you are new to the system.

Smilelign Aligner Number 4 - Update

So it's been a few weeks since I last posted on here. I've since finished aligner number 4, visited the dentists for a check up and moved onto aligner number 5.

When I last posted I mentioned I was having problems with my upper aligner. My upper aligner actually broke in half so I made a call to my dentist who made a call to Smilelign and asked them to make me a replace aligner. I waited just over a week for the new aligner to be delivered so for that week I wore a broken aligner which I thought wearing a broken aligner was better then no aligner at all. 

When I went to the dentist to collect my new aligner he suggested that i carry on wearing my upper aligner 4 for a few weeks seems as it was my last aligner and my front teeth haven't completely finished moving. He also looked at the progress of my lowers. My lowers haven't been moving as much as I wanted but he assured me that this does happen and decided to file in between my lower front teeth to help them move. It felt slightly strange but it wasn't uncomfortable. My lowers are also slightly smaller in comparison to my other lowers so he explained once I've finished my treatment that he is going to build my two front lowers up so they are all the same size. 

I've been wearing my upper aligner 4 and lower aligner 5 for a week now and have noticed a slight movement with my lowers. My upper aligner however has already cracked, I'm keeping an eye on it and still can feel pressure on my upper teeth so I don't think i need to call the dentist yet but I will if it breaks in half. 

My next post will hopefully be one of the last one's regarding my treatment if all goes to plan as in two week time i will move onto my final lower aligner. He did suggest to carry on wearing my upper aligner 4 until I go back to see him in just under 5 weeks time. 

I've attached some photos below of the current progress. 

Smilelign - Three weeks with aligners one.

I've just finished my first three weeks with aligner number one. The first few days were hard, my teeth felt very sensitive and the aligner felt very tight. The pain wasn't a painful pain ( if that makes sense ) it was just a dull ache. I knew the pain was good in a strange way as I knew that the pain meant that the aligners were moving my teeth.

My treatment plan meant that i would move onto the next aligner every third Thursday but I decided that I would move onto the next aligner every third Friday as it would give me the weekend off of work to get use to the new aligners & a few days for the soreness to subside before I go back to work on the Monday. 

Wearing the aligners for 23 hours a day was harder than I thought, I didn't even realise how much I snack during the day and a lot of the time especially at work! I just can't be bothered to go to the toilet, take my aligners out go back to my desk, eat and then go back to the toilet to brush my teeth and put my aligners back in so I've definitely cut down on my snacking which is a good thing! 

I've also found it difficult to brush my teeth when I'm out in public places like restaurants which has put me off of eating out which is a shame but it means I'm saving my pennies! 

I haven't noticed that much of a change with my teeth yet. I guess I won't notice that much of a difference as I look at my teeth daily. Everyone around me said they've noticed a difference already especially with my upper front teeth which is nice to hear! 

I've just finished aligner one and have just had a weekend of aligner two. I will update in three weeks time to let you all know how I'm getting on and the progress my teeth are making! 

Smilelign - Getting the moulds taken & going for a fitting of mypre-aligners.

After the 10 minute chat with my dentist i decided to go ahead with the treatment and he booked me in for a half hour appointment to have the moulds taken of my teeth. These moulds would then be sent off to the Smilelign laboratory and 3D images are produced. These 3D images are very important as they help make up a treatment plan that is suited to your teeth. It helps determined how serve your case is, how many aligners you will need and it is a nice touch to see these 3D images of how your teeth are going to move over the next few months.

I was slightly nervous about getting the moulds done at first because i wasn't sure what to expect but my dentist is fantastic and explained to me what to expect and the process before he started. Firstly he took a mould of my upper teeth, he made this paste which felt a bit like chewing gum been placed on my teeth, i had to keep my mouth open for about 5 minutes until the paste became hard and the dentist then popped this mould out of my teeth. He then repeated this process on my bottom teeth and then made up some more paste and placed this in the moulds he had just taken and then placed the moulds back in my mouth to make a more precise mould. He then made another paste and placed this on my bottom teeth and made me bite my teeth together which gave him a mould of my bite. I then left him with the moulds and he sent them away and i went back in two weeks time to get a fitting of my pre-alligners. I had to pay £250 for this appointment as it covered the cost of the moulds but it  was a commitment that i wanted to go ahead with the treatment before they made all the aligners and i said i didn't want to go ahead with the treatment.

I went back excited to this appointment to see what he had to say and try my pre-aligners. He explained that my case wasn't severe and that i would need 5 aligners for my upper teeth and 8 aligners for my bottom teeth, each aligner should be worn for a minimum of three weeks before moving onto the next aligner. Smilelign believe that before they make all the aligners and realise that they don't fit that it best to make a pre- aligner, you go for a fitting to make sure that it fits correctly and then your dentist lets them know if there are any changes that need to be made before they make the full set.  It also gives you time to get use to wearing the actual aligners before you get the aligners that start moving your teeth.

When i went for the fitting he put them in my mouth and they fitted fine but were very tight on my teeth even though the pre-aligners are just moulds of your teeth as they are already. I didn't quite expect them to feel like they did when he first put them in for me. My mouth felt really big and i started to think what had i done! I then spoke and discovered i had a slight lisp, which defiantly shocked me as i wasn't expecting that. He told me that it was perfectly normal as it was where my tongue was hitting the plastic aligner, he told me to talk all the time, when i was driving on my own, having a shower or just in my bedroom. He told me that my lisp would get better the more i spoke and that i would hardly notice it in my voice when i was talking. The first few days of my pre- aligners were hard, i took paracetamol to help cope with the tightness and pain which helped. My teeth became very sensitive so i went to Boots and got some sensodyne toothpaste which really helped with the sensitivity. I have to wear my pre-alligners for about two weeks until my real aligners arrive and then i will go back for a fitting of my first aligner.

I'm going to insert a few pictures below of what the pre-aligners look like and what my teeth looked like before the treatment.

I will update you on how i'm getting on with my first aligners once i have had them in for a few days.

Smilelign - The invisible aligner system.

Firstly sorry it's been so long since i've last written on here, i've been so busy with moving jobs and just life in general.

I'm a few weeks into my treatment now but i wanted to document my progress with Smilelign a clear brace company in the UK and let you know how i have been getting on.

For a long time i've been considering getting invisible braces as i've always been self conscious about my teeth especially the top two which have a slight overlap.  I was desperate to get braces when i was younger but unfortunately my dentist said that my teeth weren't considered bad enough for me to get braces on funded on the NHS. At the time i was still in school and defiantly couldn't afford it and i couldn't expect my parents to pay for the treatment so i waited for years until i was in a steady job and i knew i could pay for the treatment on my own 

I finally plucked up enough courage and i have done a lot of research so i decided now was the best time for me in my life to undergo the treatment. I finally decided on Smilelign as i have worked with a few colleagues who have had the treatment done and are more than happy with the results, this helped me make my decision by having someone i could personally talk to and as them about their experiences. I did do my research online before making the big decision but i couldn't find much online about Smilelign nor could i find anyone's personal experiences. 


Let me tell you a bit about Smilelign and why i decided to choose them over invisalign or any other clear brace company. Smilelign is an invisible aligner system that gives you a straight smile without having to have fixed metal braces and wires. The invisible aligners are designed to fit comfortably in your mouth 23 hours a day. You are only aloud to take out the aligners when you are eating and brushing your teeth. Once you have finished the course of treatment you are then given your final aligner which is to be worn every night to stop your teeth from moving. The prices are much more affordable which makes it a popular choice these days as a pose to other invisible aligner systems which can be pricey depending on how serve your case is. My case is a mild case as i only have an overlapping on my front tooth and my two bottom teeth are pointed in. My case has cost me £2,000 which includes a course of whitening and slight filling of my teeth at the end of the treatment. This is much more affordable as a pose to when i got a quote for invisalign which is another clear aligner competitive, they assessed my teeth and told me i was on the serve side and gave me the price of £4,000.

I'm going ahead with the treatment and have had a 10 minute chat with a dentist in Basingstoke that my colleagues have recommended and he spoke to me about the treatment, what to expect and answered any questions i had. I will let you know how my next appoitnment goes in my next post, the next step is to go and have impression moulds done which he will send off to the Smilelign Labatorary. They will then go ahead and make my pre aligners which i will wear for 2 weeks before getting my real aligners. 

If you have any questions please don't hesistate to comment below and i will answer them, I'm actually one week into my first set of aligners so i will write about how i'm getting on with them in a few posts time.