5 Top Tips to Make Your Invisalign Treatment Epic!
Invisalign treatment will change your life.
You’re about to embark on your Invisalign journey of a lifetime. You’ve spent good money and are about to invest considerable time in getting your perfect smile. So, what you want is for this experience to go as smoothly as possible.
Luckily, we’ve seen the mishaps that people make during their Invisalign treatment and the good news is these are easily avoidable! Let us save you a lot of time and energy with our top tips and tricks to make sure you don’t make these mistakes.
Follow these 5 simple steps and have an EPIC Invisalign treatment:
1. Always keep your case with you
You’re going to be wearing your Invisalign aligners for 22 hours per day throughout your treatment. This leaves you with 40 minutes, three times per day to eat and put the aligners back in.
But where do you put your aligners when you’re not wearing them?
In their case of course…ALWAYS!
This is what happens if you don’t…. Your dog bites them, the waiter takes away the napkin with them in, they are stood on, lost behind the back of the sofa, thrown in the bin, fall out of your pocket, bent when you’ve sat on them…. You get the idea.
Don’t be the patient who comes back to the surgery and tells your dentist you’ve lost them. You’ll make them cry tears of sadness.
2. Don’t throw away your last aligners
And this follows beautifully from our last point.
Occasionally an aligner gets lost or broken and a patient rings me panicking that their teeth will move back.
This can and will happen but we have a solution.
Put your previous aligner in straight away and calmly call us. We’ll simply order the new aligner and it’ll be with us in a few days.
Wearing your last aligner could be the difference between losing a week or month of your Invisalign treatment!
3. Use your ‘Chewies’
Chewies are your best friend during your journey.
Here’s why they’re important:
The Invisalign aligners aren’t designed to fit perfectly when first inserted. They’re a little “off” as your teeth will move into the position of the new aligner.
So when you first change aligners they’ll feel tight and achy, but by the end of the week feel a lot looser. Following?
Every time you put an aligner in, especially at the beginning of the week it may not seat perfectly, therefore not work properly.
This is where chewies come in…
Once your aligner is inserted you’ll hear that click. After that, grab a chewie and bite on it between the back right teeth. Move and then bite the chewie along every single tooth until you get all the way to the back left side.
This will ensure the aligners are exactly where they should be and we get optimal results with your Invisalign treatment.
4. Invest in a nail file
Invisalign aligners are manufactured with precision accuracy.
However, very occasionally there may be a sharp edge or rough area that can dig in your tongue or gum.
With a nail file, you can gently smooth these edges and easily relieve any uncomfortable areas. It will save you an unnecessary trip to the dentist.
5. Brush your teeth after every meal
The aligners can act as a food reservoir. After you’ve eaten food can become lodged on the biting surfaces of your teeth.
If you’re not wearing aligners, this isn’t a problem as saliva will generally wash it away.
However, your aligners will stop the food from being washed away and there’s a risk it will sit on your teeth for many hours. This can then cause cavities.
After a meal brushes your teeth. Simple.
For more information about Invisalign Bournemouth, Poole or the Dorset area please follow the link.
AUTHOR
Dr Gareth Edwards BDS (Hons) MFDS RCPS (Glasg) is a Poole & Bournemouth-based dentist who qualified with honours. He has a keen interest in aesthetic dentistry and orthodontics. For more information click here.