I recently got Invisalign braces, which are basically plastic sheaths that fit over your teeth to help align them.
The orthodontist gave me a box full of them and told me I’m supposed to change to the next numbered one in the sequence once per week for the next 14-months.
Okay, but…what if I did that every 6 days instead of 7? What about 5 days?
Judging by the last time I had a faceful of metal braces back in high school, more change just means more discomfort. But I’m a big boy now, and that doesn’t scare me. Plus, it’s one of those completely reversible decisions that I think I’ll just try and see what happens.
14-months is 60 weeks of even seven-day increments, each with a new set of these plastic thingies in my mouth.
But that same 60 cycles in six-day increments comes to 360 days instead of 420.
And 60 cycles times five-days each is 300 days.
Maybe that’s too aggressive, time and teeth will tell. But it looks to me like I could be done well inside of a year.
Yeah, I like that better. Now I’m going to try for it and see how it goes.
Here’s the plan:- Day 1: wear new set 23hrs of the day
- Days 2-5: continue to wear 23hrs/day
- Day 6: try on next set for 4hrs, go back to old one if pain is significantly distracting, otherwise keep and reset as Day 1
- Day 7: repeat 4hr trial swap, decide if resetting to Day 1
- Day 8: whether I like it or not, reset to Day 1
Has anyone documented doing this before? Any risks I should be considering here?