If you want a gorgeous smile and straight teeth, but don’t want the show of metal braces, invisalign is the way to go. Invisalign (commonly misspelled as invisaline) consists of a series of clear trays, called aligners, which are custom designed for your teeth and your teeth only. Barely visible, and less painful than traditional braces, it’s no wonder there have already been over a million people nationwide who completed treatment. Using advanced 3-D computer-imaging technology, Invisalign depicts your complete treatment plan, from the initial position of your teeth to the final desired position. Then a series of clear aligners are custom-made for your teeth. These ‘trays’ are made of thermoplastic material.
You change aligners every 2 weeks, so your teeth move little by little. Average treatment time is about a year but varies depending on the severity of your case. Mild cases might even wear invisalign for as little as six months! This is a major plus compared to metal braces, as metal braces typically take a lot longer to get the job done. This is because with metal braces, you have to come in to see your orthodontist about every 6 weeks to get the metal and wires tightened. With invisalign, you change trays every 2 weeks, so teeth are moving and adjusting more frequently. This also makes invisalign a lot less painful than traditional braces because since you’re changing trays so often, you can do smaller movements each time. Whereas with braces, they are tightened less frequently, so you will have a lot of tooth movement with each adjustment, causing much greater pain.
All You Need to Know About Invisalign is Right Here!
The Process
The invisalign process starts out with your first trip to the orthodontist. Once you decide to do it, your orthodontist will take some molds of your teeth. This is relatively painless but not the most pleasant feeling to have that gooey stuff in your mouth. The whole process takes under 10 minutes after which your orthodontist sends your molds to invisalign. Once they have your molds, they construct a customized video which you will be shown on your next appointment. This video will show how your teeth will move after each tray, and you will basically see the shifting of your teeth from beginning to end result. It’s very motivating to see what your teeth will look like upon completion. Once you approve the video, it could take up to around three weeks for your trays to arrive.
Invisalign ships your complete package of trays to your orthodontist, who will then schedule for you to come in so that they can teach you how to put on and remove your first tray. There are also 2 things that may need to happen before starting your invisalign. This is where the importance of having a really good orthodontist comes in.
1- Attachments – Some cases require attachments, which are little clear bumps that are glued to your teeth and hardened with a light. The purpose of them is to help the aligners shift certain teeth more than others. These are clean and usually unseen, and are removed once your invisalign treatment is complete.
2- Filing your teeth – In some cases, your orthodontist might need to file down your teeth from the sides a bit to create room for your teeth to shift (if your mouth is overcrowded). Invisalign will send them a chart of which specific teeth need to be filed and how much from each tooth.
Once You Begin
Will Invisalign Affect my Speech? Many people wonder if invisalign will impact their speech. Some people may temporarily experience a slight lisp for a day or two. Once the tongue gets used to having aligners in your mouth, speech will be normal again.
Is Invisalign Painful? Invisalign is generally much less painful than traditional braces. In fact, you mostly only experience some pain and discomfort for the first day or two of each tray, since each tray will be tighter and put more pressure for your teeth to move. It is recommended to put each of your new trays in at night and take an Advil if necessary. This way, your tray will loosen up a bit by the time you wake up.
After starting invisalign, you have to keep your tray on for at least 22 hours each day. That gives you 2 hours a day to have them off for meals and brushing. You CANNOT eat while wearing your tray. You are allowed to drink water. Make sure to never drink any hot beverages while wearing your trays, as this will melt the plastic. According to the invisalign site, you are allowed to have your trays off for 4 hours a day, but this is NOT recommended. When you were given your ‘estimated’ treatment time, it is estimated based on how well you follow your regimen. The closer you stick to your schedule of switching trays and the less you have them out, the sooner you will see results.
Caring for your Teeth and Invisalign Trays
You should be taking extra better care of your teeth while using invisalign! You should brush your teeth after every meal. In addition to that, make sure you brush the trays as well to prevent odor. Most invisalign users will notice an odor when they remove their invisalign, and this is normal but can be aided by brushing the inner and outer part of the trays with the remainder of your toothpaste after brushing. You should also floss every day! In addition to brushing and flossing, we recommend a cleaning agent for your retainer such as RetainerBrite. This will keep your trays clean and odorless. You must soak your invasalign in water with retainerbrite at least ONCE a day, or two if you can fit it in morning and night.
