The Refinement Stages

I don't know where the time goes but I am now wearing the 3rd set of aligners in this refinement stage of my Invisalign treatment. As I am now changing the aligners every week, they have been feeling a little tighter than previous ones. However, I've had the nurofen on standby each week and it hasn't been sore enough to take one yet! The headache of job hunting, and completing paperwork in preparation for emigration has been much worse! I thought emigration was the easy option. I thought, throughout college, that if I couldn't get a job in Ireland I would just get a cheap flight to the UK and get a job there. How naive of me! I've been told it will take at least 4 months before I'm even registered to work in the UK. For the moment, though, I'm not getting disheartened. I'm using this time to do everything I wanted to do when I was stuck in the books for the last 4 years. I went to Lisdoonvarna last week to visit my friend who is a resident musician in a hotel there for the summer.  Anyway, how could I not stay positive with this new smile!! :)

An update on travel, graduation and the final Invisalign phase

Firstly, sorry about the lack of updates here in the last month. Since my last post I have been to Thailand and back, I have graduated, started a new job and I have started into the last phase of my Invisalign journey.

I will spare you from hundreds of holiday photos but Thailand was truly amazing. You can't really go wrong with a bungalow on the beach, sun all day long, and amazing food and cocktails for a euro! When we were there we also went elephant trekking, zip-lining in the jungle and we learned how to cook like the Thai people. On our last day in Bangkok we visited a huge market, which spanned over 27 acres. I wish I had a picture of me trying to pack my backpack before home that night! Luckily they weren't as strict on the baggage allowance as Ryanair! 

 

 

2 days after I arrived home, I graduated from college. I am now officially a speech and language therapist! We had a lovely day and the sun shone all day, which is very unusual for Galway! I'm sad to say I won't get a job in Ireland for the forseeable future, which is a shame given the huge demand for therapy services here. However, I have applied for some jobs in the UK and I am hopeful that I will get work there soon. In the meantime, I have started a new waitressing job. I had forgotten how long and tiring the hours are but, at the same time, I'm grateful to have something to keep me busy for the moment. 

 

During this time I had been wearing my Invisalign aligners at night to keep my teeth in place as I waited for the next sets of aligners. Yesterday, I was back with the lovely people in Ace Braces to get started with my new aligners. I will have 16 more sets of aligners but I will now change them once a week, rather than every 2 weeks. This will speed up the process so I will be completely finished in no time. I got the attachments put on my teeth yesterday and I am wearing the first set of aligners. The attachments are slightly bigger this time but still very invisible. It will take me a couple of days to get used to taking them in and out when I'm eating and having hot drinks again. 

I'm off to work another 12 hour shift now so I better go and get a good strong cup of coffee into me! Enjoy the sunshine this week if it comes! 

Happy Birthday to me!

The celebrations continued this week as it was my birthday and I also found out I passed my final exams. Best birthday present I could have asked for!

My birthday meal

I also had my appointment with the lovely people in Ace Braces since my last post. I got the attachments taken off my teeth and I am absolutely thrilled with the results so far. Now, there are just a couple more refinements to be made to give me the absolute perfect smile. This will require wearing a couple more sets of Invisalign aligners. I got some more impressions taken and they have been sent off for the last few aligners to be made. In the interim, I am aligner free during the day and I just wear them at night to hold the teeth in place until I get the next aligners. I keep forgetting that I don't have any aligners to take out when I eat and drink now! I had become so used to it.


I am heading off on my travels to Thailand for 3 weeks in 10 days time. I will try to refrain from posting hundreds of holiday photos when I come home!!

Another reason to smile!

I have so much to smile about this weekend, apart from it being a bank holiday! Yesterday I handed in my thesis, which means no more college for me! I'm not really sure how I feel about this yet! While the exams and thesis have meant days of hibernation in my room, I've loved my time in Galway. Now, the daunting task of hunting for a job begins... But first, I am taking a well deserved break and I'm heading to Kinsale for the weekend with 9 girls from my class. To say I'm excited would be an understatement!

My Invisalign journey may also be coming to an end quite soon. It only seems like last week since I started! I am now wearing my 12th set of aligners and I'm loving the results so far. My classmates hadn't seen me for a while until yesterday and they couldn't stop complimenting my smile! I have an appointment in Ace Braces next Tuesday to assess my progress and decide if further aligners will be needed to make some extra refinements. Exciting times overall!

*Video* - Taking in and out my aligners

Below, I have attached a short video of me talking about my Invisalign experiences so far. I also show you how easy it is to take in and out the aligners. As I said before, the aligners must be taken out before drinking hot drinks.

When things go a little awry!!

I put in my 11th set of aligners last Friday but, as I took them out before dinner that night, one of the little attachments on my tooth fell off! Oops! I continued wearing the aligners as usual over the weekend. I was a little worried that having an attachment missing would slow down the process. This was the first time anything like this had happened since I started the treatment in October. 

Anyway, it turns out this was no big deal. First thing Monday morning, I rang Ace Braces and got an appointment to come in straight away. It only took 10 minutes for them to put the attachment back on - a very painless experience! 

Almost a week on now, and all attachments are still in place, and my teeth are really starting to move. I haven't stopped smiling all week! (This sunny weather is helping too of course!!). 

Pink hair, don't care!

So an update on my Invisalign journey and life in general...

I finished my final exams last Friday and the sense of relief is wonderful! I also moved on to my 10th set of aligners on the same day. The aligners felt tighter than any of the previous ones for the first couple of days. Nevertheless, I still went out to celebrate on Friday night and ate a sirloin steak with all the trimmings without any trouble!

On Sunday, I modelled for a hairdressing championship in Dublin, which was a great experience. For the competition I had to have some pink dye put in my hair, which I was a bit apprehensive about. Surprisingly though, I've grown to like it! Maybe I'll keep the new hair to go with the new smile! When I chose to begin my Invisalign treatment with Ace Braces I thought the main attraction for me was that I could take the aligners out for my modelling jobs. However, the aligners really are so discrete that I have never bothered taking them out for a photo. I'm wearing them in the photo from the competition below.

My new pink hair!