Invisible Tourist: September 2007

Friday, 21 September 2007

Off topic : Be there or be square

I've got a bit bored of the guys over at Pestiside not using all the lovely stories I keep sending them in favour of endless reviews of burgers, so I am going to post them here instead even though they won't be about my teeth.

HUNGARY TO HOST FOURTH RUBIK'S CUBE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
2007-09-20 11:27 (New York)
Budapest (dpa) - Some 25 years after the first ever Rubik's Cube World Championship the fourth such tournament will be held in Budapest this October, organizers said on Thursday.

More than 300 people from 32 different countries are expected to attend the tournament, where they will compete in variety of different categories including solving the cube blindfolded or with one hand. The Rubik's cube - in its standard form a multicoloured cube with nine tiles on each side that must be rotated to make all six sides the same colour - was invented in 1974 by Hungarian Erno Rubik, but did not become popular until the early 1980s. Over 100 million cubes were sold between 1980 and 1982 as kids and adults everywhere became obsessed with solving the puzzle. The craze was so intense that in 1981 a book on how to solve the cube, written by 12-year-old Patrick Bossert, sold over 1.5 million copies.

The United States is expected to send some 39 competitors to vie with 50 from Hungary and 22 from Japan for a total of 20,000 euros (20,168 dollars) in prize money. (You might want to double-check that exchange rate, bucko.) Competitors from Lithuania, Indonesia and Mexico are also expected to make the journey. The current fastest time on record is 9.86 seconds, set by France's Thibaut Jacquinot in the second round of the 2007 Spanish Open.

Invisalign Do"s and Don"ts

Don't eat with the aligners in Eating with alingers in is possible but not pleasant. I never realised before how much of "tasting" is actually experiencing the texture of food through the teeth, and wearing aligners removes this sense. Plus food will get stuck under the aligners and they will become really dirty really quickly. Don't drink with aligners in Drinking dark fluids with the aligners in will result visible pockets of coloured fluid inside the aligners. Somehow, the space between the teeth and alingers seems to fill with concentrated saliva which largely prevents that happening. But drinking with aligners will get the aligners dirty more quickly. . . . . . . . . . . . . Don't ever chew gum with alingers You will be amazed how quickly fragments of gum get stuck behind the alingers. They are highly visible and are a real pain to remove. . . . . . . . . . . . . Smoking There doesn't seem to be a problem with smoking with aligners apart from the oral pleasure being reduced, just as in eating. Invisalign warn that heavy smoking may discolour the aligners which seems very likely but I can't comment on that. . . . . . . . . After Eating and Drinking To get the best results, it is important that you put the aligners back in as soon as possible after eating and drinking. Ideally you will want to brush and perhaps floss, but we know that's not always realistic. Vigorously chewing gum and pushing the gum around the teeth can be pretty effective at cleaning before replacing the aligners, so always try to carry chewing gum. Putting the Alingers in My prefered method is to push the aligners on with my fingers starting from the front teeth and then to bite my jaws together to push them fully over the teeth. If you find it difficult to get the alingers on, try running them under warm water to soften them slightly. . . . . . . . . Removing the Aligners My prefered method is to use both index fingers to loosen the aligner from the back teeth and then the side teeth. I think it's a good sign if the alingers are difficult to get off - if they come off too easily, you may be straying from the treatment plan and you may be headed for trouble. There are special tools like plastic hooks to remove aligners. I use a metal crochet needle but I am very careful to avoid damaging the tooth enamel with it. . . . . . . . . Changing to a New Set of Aligners A new of aligners can be quite uncomfortable and there is a strong temptation to take them out several times a day. I have a pet theory that taking aligners in and out weakens them. I avoid this problem by wearing a new set of aligners at night and the old set during the day for the first three days. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . When to Change Aligners Officially every 2.5 weeks. You will feel when an old set is no longer applying much force and when it is time to change to a new set. Sometimes that happens sooner, sometimes later. A word of warning - I went away with friends (who don't know I wear alingers) over New Year's Eve and decided not to wear the aligners for 48 hours. I was amazed how much my teeth relapsed in that short time - it put the treatment back by at least a week - so it is really not recommended. . . . . . . . . . Cleaning A dirty film will build up on the inside and outside of the aligners. Cleaning with a toothbrush is possible but it is difficult to get the insides clean. Ultrasonic appliance cleaners with cleaning tablets are inexpensive and get the aligners really clean. I am experimenting to see if ordinary denture cleaning tablets will work as well as the proprietary tablets.

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Friday, 21 September 2007

Off topic : Be there or be square

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Invisalign Do"s and Don"ts