If you dont brush your teeth and wear your Invisalign …
Thu, May 22, 2008
This was another phrase searched for by one of our visitors. For the Invisalign users brushing those teeth all the time they eat can sometimes be a pain. Invisalign requires DISCIPLINE more than anything else from a patient. As you could already read in the previous articles (First 2 days with INVISALIGN, Straight talk – an article about Invisalign and Invisalign – the invisible braces) the Invisalign system bring something totally new to the orthodontics world: an easier treatment and some less pain. And still Invisalign does come with a price: we need to be careful with our teeth and brush often.
When starting an orthodontic treatment, one has to understand that the time of careless oral hygiene is over. In order for the teeth to not start new cavities, the brushing/flossing/mouthwash ritual has to be taken care of.
In my previous treatment (Damon braces), I didn’t have to watch my brushing that closely since I could wait for some minutes to brush after a meal. In the end the braces were on. When it comes to Invisalign the most important aspect is WEARING THE ALIGNERS AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE.
Some say over 22 hours a day, others claim than 20 are Ok too. The advice would be to have the trays in your mouth for as much as humanly possible. Again, from my experience: I eat something and then I go straight to the bathroom to brush. I have several “sets” of tooth brushes and paste: in my laptop’s case (for when I take it to the radio station), in my bag, in my smaller purse .. and I am considering having this in my car too so that the set is complete. I know it sounds crazy, but I do want to eat between my home meals too.
In some cases I have to be away almost all day long. This would mean eating in the morning and in the evening. So I snack at work too. If I want to eat anything, I have to take my aligners off, eat, brush teeth, clean aligners and place them back. So that I can still wear them as much as possible.
This is pretty hard since most of the time I just feel like tasting something. I stopped driking coke or I drink it only in my small “lunch breaks”. I don’t eat anything with my aligners on, I don’t drink anything but mineral water with the “braces” on my teeth. Some say mineral water is not that good either, but at least it doesn’t stain them (as soda would or anything else) and it doesn’t leave my mouth filled with all kinds of sugar and other “goddies’ that would “rot” till I brush again.
Getting back to the question at hand: If you dont brush your teeth and wear your Invisalign … I think it would be “yuky”. Think about this: you ate something and you have some hours till you get back home to brush. You can’t leave your trays off for that long (remember you do have to wear the aligners as much as you can) so you’d have to put the plastic on the dirty teeth. Personally I would either not eat or go fast and get myself the toothbrush and toothpaste (most cases this happened to me too, this led to me having 4-5 sets in all possible locations).
When you go from home, just check again if you have these too. You do change an aligner after 2 weeks, so it’s not the end of the world, but still it would be a good idea to not get to placing Invisalign aligners over not brushed teeth. Have you ever done this? How was it?
Popularity: 13% [?]
Tags: Invisalign
October 29th, 2008 at 4:12 am
I never had the issue with invisalign, but I did have braces and wore a retainer. I can tell you that not brushing your teeth frequently, and cleaning a retainer often is a sure recipe for bad breath!
Veneers Denvers last blog post..Porcelain Veneers Denver Experts are Here to Help!
December 16th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
a very good advice. thanks
eddys last blog post..Surveying the Sex Lives of Medical Students
December 28th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
A bit off-topic, but I bought one of the electronic brushing systems last month.
Wow! It made a big difference. As someone said, I feel like I just came from the dentist’s office every morning.
Ed Harris
January 8th, 2009 at 4:43 am
I never had the issue with invisalign,
January 15th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
a very good advice. thanks
January 16th, 2009 at 12:11 am
Great post. The best thing about Invisalign is that you can brush and floss well then put them back on. I agree that you must wear them as much as humanly possible.
Remember that if you don’t wear them they won’t work.
Greg, RDH (A.K.A. The Male Hygienist)
Greg, RDHs last blog post..Jan 12, Dental Health Advisor, Be an Educated Consumer
March 18th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
Helpful. I actually have put them back in without brushing…but i wash my mouth with cool water really hard. You don’t really feel “nasty” as you put it, but some spots on the aligners have bits of food that are easy to get out with a toothbrush and water. You can’t feel them while they’re in, though. As long as you wash your mouth to get the big stuff out, you should be fine.
September 3rd, 2009 at 7:10 am
Tidy house tidy mind, that is what I was told when I was growing up. Your Oral hygiene can reflect on what type of a person you are but then again this applies to all matters of hygiene. The hygiene of your body and your .bathroom reflect your personality whether you like it or not. The difference with oral hygiene is that you can possibly get away with it for a period of time but when it catches up with you it may be too late.
September 7th, 2009 at 2:59 am
We should take care of our teeth wearing an invisalign will give an easier treatment and less pain. When wearing invisalign we should take good care of our teeth while brushing. When we are wearing invisalign and if we do not brush, our teeth than it will give bad smell and the braces will not be able to use for longer days. We should be careful while eating something and take good care to hygienic the mouth. If it is a mobile braces like invisible than we can take out while eating.
I prefer an invisible brace that is good and easy to handle while wearing and others are hardly recognized. We must clean the braces often to use it for longer days.
September 8th, 2009 at 2:04 am
We should take care of our teeth wearing an invisalign will give an easier treatment and less pain. When wearing invisalign we should take good care of our teeth while brushing. When we are wearing invisalign and if we do not brush, our teeth than it will give bad smell and the braces will not be able to use for longer days. We should be careful while eating something and take good care to hygienic the mouth. If it is a mobile braces like invisible than we can take out while eating.
I prefer an invisible brace that is good and easy to handle while wearing and others are hardly recognized. We must clean the braces often to use it for longer days.
October 25th, 2009 at 8:54 pm
Hi Veneer Denver!I also don’t have issue with invisalign and I absolutely agree with you that not brushing the teeth frequently will result to bad breath, oooohh, no to this ever.
October 27th, 2009 at 12:22 am
Probably the biggest advantage of Invisalign over others of its kind (aside from the transparent feature) is how it can be removed whenever you need to. Of course, it has to be worn for as much time as the treatment requires for it to work.
November 3rd, 2009 at 5:19 am
If we don’t brush our teeth regularly when we are wearing an invisalign than we will have bad problem in our mouth and the invisalign will be destroy as all the junk food which is stuck into the invisalign will make the color change and it won’t look nice. So we should brush regularly and rinse our mouth whenever we eat anything.
December 19th, 2009 at 1:32 am
This is getting a bit more subjective, but I much prefer the braun electric toothbrush
December 27th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
What do you think about natural Teeth whitening do they actually work or no? I’ve read about a few but I have never tried them.