When does invisalign get easier?!

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I should preface this by saying I suffer with anxiety, often health anxiety so I think part of this may be that, but I'm really struggling after starting on my first tray for invisalign on Thur evening!

I felt almost claustrophobic having these trays in my mouth, hate not being able to put my teeth together and all of that but thankfully that panicky feeling is mainly subsiding now and it's just unusual/discomfort etc and a bit of weirdness having the trays plus the aches!

My teeth ache, and I feel like I can't relax my jaw (might be an anxiety thing where I'm super fixated on it!) or I feel like I'm clenching my jaw. Is this all in my head or is it real to have this jaw ache? I know the teeth ache is real! I also have mild headaches but again I feel like anxiety/stress might be causing this.

It's obviously only been 4 days but I've read online it's meant to have gotten easier by now? I have this tray for 10 days and then another for 10 days and then I have to go back and get attachments added to my teeth and I understand those trays onward will be more pressure..

Please tell me this gets easier?! I've never even had braces so this is all new to me and I'm hating it :(

I am on an invisalign lite package with 14 trays so hoping it's going to be about 6 months of treatment so I do keep trying to tell myself I can manage that and I can also take them out when I get panicky but right not I'm regretting spending all this money on them - my teeth werent even that bad to begin with, just want them a bit straighter and a small gap closed!

It definitely gets easier. I’m on tray six now and don’t notice it at all. When I wake up in the morning, I sometimes have to doublecheck it is actually in my mouth because I’m so used to it! Hold on in there, the first two weeks are the worst bit.

It def gets easier!

I also would check to see if they were in after a few weeks.

I struggled so much with mine initially-thought they made me feel claustrophobic in the beginning but honestly you stop even noticing and the end result so so worth it. I had a particular picture that I hated and used that for motivation.

So worth it!!

Oh you’ll be fine after a week or so , it is an odd sensation to start with!

I have nearly finished a year long treatment. Whilst they don’t bother me, I am pretty much always aware they are there (except whilst sleeping). I did think that I would forget about them at some point but that hasn’t really happened. They aren’t painful or anything (well, maybe a bit of added pressure when each new tray goes in) but I’ve remained aware of them and I’m looking forward to finishing treatment soon. Teeth look so much better though, so worth it in my opinion!

I'm 4 years in with my Invisalign. It does hurt, 4 days with your first tray isn't long enough to adapt to how they feel/get used to them. Even now the first couple of days with a new tray can be horrible. I have the attachments they don't really make it any worse so don't panic! If they're particularly sore I do take them out for 20 minutes, or swill with ice cold water a few times with them in your mouth it helps a little bit!

One of my DC complained for 3-4 days and the other (more sensitive, with sensory issues) took about a week.

Have you taken some painkillers?

It took me a week to get used to it, and for it to not hurt when I took them out.

The first few days I really thought I'd made an awful mistake, and trying to take it out for the first time was awful, but after that first week I just got used to them.

It's definitely worth it, I promise it will get better soon!

If this is your first tray then, yep, that takes a good 4 days to stop really hurting and 7 to 10 to start forgetting they are there and then every time you change you’ll get a day or two where it’s niggling pain, but totally bearable.

They are defo a. ‘How bad do you want it’ thing, but now I am done and have the retaining bars on my teeth I wouldn’t go back, my smile is 1000% better!

Four years? 😱

thank you all so much for the reassurance .. I'm praying you're all right ha! I just read 1-3 days for it to be better and worried as it was more than that.

I already feel like it's better in the mornings waking up, like I can semi forget and get back to sleep if I wake up early but def can still feel them there..

Do you/ did you stick to the 22 hrs a day? I've read online 20-22 is OK?

I did Invisalign about 20 years ago. I still wear the retainers every other night and now really like having them in - it's a bit like sucking my thumb (which I never did!)

I do remember the first few weeks being either sore, or faffy, or sometimes panicking that I wasn't ever going to be able to get a particular tray out. But it's definitely something that you get used to. It feels odd when you don't need them any more! Which is probably why I'm so fond of the retainers.

You definitely get used to them and it's worth it at the end! I think after a couple of weeks I was used to mine. I was sticking to 22 hours for the first few weeks but usually ended up around 16-18 hours a day and my teeth still moved where they were meant to 😁

You’ll be popping them in and out without thinking about it before you know it. The subsequent trays get easier. It’s worth it

Yes 😭 my bottom teeth are done, they were finished ages ago but my top teeth were like a stage 2 of something or other (he did tell me but it was ages ago) and im also 36 my teeth have moved extremely slowly unfortunately, I'm not too bothered I paid up front and it's covered for another year yet 😂 they are nearly finished it's just my 4 front top teeth now. I had train tracks when I was a teenager but never got a retainer or all of this could have been avoided 😭

The first few are the worst as the teeth are having to move the most.
By the end I actually liked getting a new tray and the tight feeling as it meant it was working!! I miss that 😭.

Thanks for all the advice. I wish I could stop noticing the bloody trays and sort of biting them or moving my tongue around my mouth.. I'm sure most other people wouldn't be as fixated on this but maybe my anxiety is keeping me from forgetting about it!! I've also got really dry mouth despite drinking water literally non stop all day...I've ALWAYS got a glass on the go! Ugh just praying it gets better!!