Life with Invisalign®

The best way to keep your clear aligners clean and clear is by rinsing them out each time you take them out of your mouth, soaking your clear aligners weekly, and sanitizing your Invisalign carrying case regularly.

Tips for cleaning your clear aligners:

• Gently loosen the clear aligner by using a clean pointer finger to hook the edge of the clear aligner toward the back inner surface of your teeth.
• Gently pull the clear aligner downward (or upward on your bottom clear aligner) and loosen both sides to ease it off carefully. 
• Can I brush my Invisalign with toothpaste? Yes! Gently brush your clear aligner with a soft toothbrush and non-abrasive, non-whitening toothpaste or mild soap and lukewarm water after every meal, or 2 to 3 times a day. 
• Clean your aligners as soon as you take them out of your mouth! It’s easiest to remove plaque from a clear aligner while it’s still soft. Hardened plaque can be difficult to remove.

Yes! It’s essential that you soak your aligners regularly to prevent plaque build-up. You can mix mild soap and lukewarm water to soak your retainer for 20 minutes. You can also use a retainer cleaning solution, like Retainer Brite. 

The soaking process eliminates odors, calcium and mineral deposits that can be stored in your aligners.  

How often to clean Invisalign: To keep your clear aligners clean and bacteria-free, brush your clear aligners after every meal and soak your clear aligners once daily, or three to four times a week.

You won’t have any dietary restrictions with Invisalign! You can eat anything your heart desires. There’s no risk of damaging your orthodontic treatment, because you remove your aligners to eat. 

Eating with Invisalign is simple: 

1. Remove your aligners. 
2. Eat whatever you want.
3. Give your teeth a quick brush. 
4. Rinse out your aligners with lukewarm water. 
5. Place your aligners back in your mouth. 

While your aligners are in place, you should not eat any food or drink any liquids (besides water). The dyes and sugars in food and beverages can stain your clear aligners. They can also lead to bacteria buildup, bad breath and poor oral hygiene. Drinking hot beverages with your aligners in place can warp the material and damage your treatment.

No, it’s not a good idea to chew gum with aligners in your mouth. Gum will stick to your aligners; the sugars can cause bacteria buildup in your aligners and plaque buildup in your teeth. 

We won’t know whether you require rubber bands until you visit us for your complimentary consultation. Some patients need rubber bands to align their bite, while other patients don’t. It all depends on your unique case.

Elastics, or rubber bands, are one of the most common appliances used during orthodontic treatment. They can be used with braces and Invisalign!

Elastics are hooked around an Invisalign attachment or hook on the top teeth and a hook or attachment on the bottom teeth to exert persistent (but gentle) force. Over time, this force aligns the teeth and jaw bones and treats malocclusions (poor bite conditions), like overbites, underbites, cross bites, and open bites.

If you misplace your clear aligners, please give us a call as soon as possible! We’ll advise you on the best course of action. We want to start the process of getting you replacement clear aligners right away to prevent your teeth from moving out of place. We don’t want to lose all of the hard work you put into your treatment!

Invisalign attachments are small, clear buttons attached to certain teeth to increase the effectiveness of Invisalign treatment. These appliances reduce the amount of space between the tooth and clear aligner to apply more pressure to teeth that need a little extra help. Attachments move teeth quicker on an individual basis. 

We won’t know if your personalized treatment plan will include Invisalign attachments until you visit us for your complimentary consultation. Once we examine your smile, we’ll know if any special appliances will be needed to produce the best results!