The Chris Gonyea Project

As of yesterday, I have braces. Well, kinda.

No no, my mouth isn’t full of enough metal to set off a metal detector. In fact, there is no metal at all.

For the next 48 weeks, I am wearing Invisalign. Think of them as an adult version of braces, but that are clear aligners that I put on my upper and lower teeth. Almost like a mouthguard.

Every two weeks, I get a new set of aligners as my teeth slowly move to where they are supposed to be. For my upper teeth, I need 24 aligners (48 weeks), while for my bottom teeth I just need 12 aligners (24 weeks).

I have to wear the aligners for about 23 hours a day, taking them off only when I eat. No more snacking (since it is just enough of a hassle to take them on and off) and I can only drink water with these on. No more soda or junk!

The real cool part about these is that no one notices that I am wearing them. I have had them for 24 hours and I already can speak like normal (I had a slight lisp yesterday). People have to get real close to even notice them on there.

While I definitely feel the aligners when they are on, I don’t feel any pain wearing them on. In fact, I am sore when I have them off. Getting my lower aligner on and off is no problem, very simple. My top one is a little harder, thanks to some crooked teeth. Sometimes it hurts when I take that one on and off, but the pain leaves in a second.

Way too early to tell if these work or not (I will probably know by the halfway point), but so far I am pleased with them. Considering the alternatives, this is so much better.