I'm hungry

I'm about a day and a half into my first set of Invisalign aligners. The aligners aren't painful, but I do feel some pressure slowly building up in my mouth over a few hours, and it's maddening, to say the least. This is supposed to subside within the next day or two as my teeth settle into set one, but it will start all over again with set two. (Under the invisalign program, you change sets every two weeks.)

Taking the aligners in and out has not been the huge problem that I thought it would be, but it does risk fingernail breakage and lots of awkward tugging before they come off. The biggest adjustment is being unable to snack, chew gum and drink colored liquids for most of the day because it just isn't worth running into the bathroom, wrestling these things off, putting them in the case, eating/drinking for a few minutes, then going back to the bathroom to brush my teeth and clean the aligners before popping them back in. I am starving. STARVING! Breakfast, lunch and dinnertime have been my total obsession for the last two days because (1) I can eat and (2) they are my daily breaks from wearing these things.

Leisurely meals (like the half-day cattle-grazing we do at Nana's) will also have to be curtailed because I have to wear the braces for at least 22 hours a day. Boo.

Discomfort and hunger notwithstanding, the benefits are that no one has noticed the aligners, I'm not worried about wearing my food on my teeth (like I was with metal braces), and with all the constant brushing and flossing I'm doing, my mouth will be cleaner than it ever has been.

Only 11 months, three weeks, and five more days to go!