My Candid aligners arrived after about five weeks. My honest first thoughts when I put the first set on was, “Oh no, these feel SO weird. Have I made a terrible mistake? Am I going to be able to handle wearing these?” I have been wanting to try invisible aligners for a while to fix some twisted bottom teeth before they get worse. I did a lot of research and went for a couple consultations at different places first. You can click here to read about my search and why I chose Candid aligners.

They certainly feel weird. They feel tight, but not painfully so. They look pretty good at least. Nice and clear so you can’t really tell I’ve got them on. But I can certainly feel it.

Trying to think positive- I won’t be biting my nails or chewing cuticles with these on! Also, I’m sure my brushing and flossing will be improving, along with cutting down on random snack time.

But OMG, am I really going to be able to wear these?? I hope I get used to them quickly!

This is all within the first hour of wearing them. Now I’ve got to figure out how to load the app on my phone and do my first scan!

First Scan with the Candid ScanBox

The first thing I had to do was download and set up the Candid app. That was all very easy. Then I watched a video on how to set up the ScanBox and attach my phone. That was all pretty simple as well.

Next, I viewed the videos of how to take a scan. There’s audio that walks you through the scanning process as well. The challenge came when I had to insert my mouth over the cheek retractors, and I started to get worried it wasn’t going to fit! I have small mouth and my lips were feeling a bit overstretched, but it wasn’t so bad after I finally got it in and settled.

You double tap the screen to go to each new step and they walk you through the process. It wasn’t bad once I got the hang of it and went pretty quickly. After you are done, you can review your scans and re-do them if necessary. Then you just press the submit button and they are sent to the dentist.

I am hoping I did them right! I’ll get notified if I need to do new ones. I’ll also get a reminder to send in a new scan about every 14 days.

Overall First Impression of Candid Aligners

The box and set-up were all very nice, and the instructions were easy to follow. They included a free whitening foam, which I didn’t try yet because I wanted to see how the aligners felt without it first.

Putting them in was easy but taking them off was a little hard. They are snug! They do include a little hook type tool to help you with removal, and “chewies” to chew on to help settle the aligners into place if they feel like they need to be tighter.

I do have some concerns that they are going to bug me or rub my tongue or gums. Or make my teeth ache. They haven’t done anything yet except feel weird, but I haven’t even had them on an hour! I really hope I can keep up with this. I better be able to for what I paid, which was $3,500. That’s enough to make me keep at it. When I was doing my research, I kept running across articles quoting the price more like $2500, so I don’t know if they cost more now, or I just got charged too much. I’d be interested to hear what other people paid.

That’s all I’ve got for now! This is going to be an interesting adjustment. Wish me luck 🙂