One of the key reasons patients are drawn to Invisalign instead of traditional braces is that you can eat whatever you want while receiving orthodontic treatment. Because Invisalign is removable, no foods are off-limits. However, eating, chewing gum, or drinking anything other than water while wearing your alignment trays is prohibited as food can damage the trays, and beverages can stain the trays. Read on to learn more about living with Invisalign.
The Freedom to Eat the Foods You Love With Invisalign
With metal braces or clear bracket braces, foods such as hard pretzels, popcorn, crusty pieces of bread such as sourdough, and chewy/ sticky foods risk damaging your brackets or the archwire running through them. That’s to say nothing of the many foods that tend to get stuck in metal or clear brackets.
By contrast, there are no restrictions on what you may eat while undergoing Invisalign treatment. You can eat anything you want, any time you want, by removing your trays. After your morning coffee, lunch, or dinner, just brush your teeth and your trays, and pop the trays back in. If you don’t have a toothbrush with you, it’s best to rinse your mouth and your trays before putting them back in.
Invisalign: It’s Your Responsibility to Wear as Directed
Invisalign gives you the freedom to enjoy your favorite foods, but in exchange for that freedom, you’ll need to be responsible for your treatment.
For your treatment to be completed on time, you must wear your Invisalign for at least 21-22 hours per day. Failing to wear your trays as prescribed can significantly lengthen the time it takes to align your teeth or correct a bite issue.
Because some adolescents can be less than responsible about keeping their trays in as prescribed, Invisalign Teen offers compliance indicators. Compliance indicators are blue marks that gradually fade as the trays are worn as directed. If the compliance indicators remain blue, that means the patient isn’t wearing them as frequently as necessary.
Invisalign Treatment: Six Steps to a New Smile
Irrespective of the specific alignment or bite issue that needs to be corrected, the Invisalign process will follow the same steps.
- Smile Scan
During your initial consultation, your orthodontist will examine your teeth and bite. Assuming you are approved for Invisalign treatment, your next step will be to have photos, necessary xrays, and a digital scan of your teeth taken. - Designing Your Treatment
Your orthodontist will then custom-design your treatment plan using advanced software. - Preview Your New Smile
If you choose, you can come back and preview a simulation of how your teeth will move and what they will look like after treatment. - Making Your Alignment Trays
Your digital impressions and the doctor’s design will be sent to the lab to create your trays. Most people have between 20-40 series of trays. Each set of trays in the series is generally worn for one to two weeks. - Begin Wearing Your Trays
Once your alignment trays have arrived from the lab, you’ll begin treatment immediately. You’ll follow up with your orthodontist periodically throughout treatment to ensure that your treatment is proceeding as planned. - Maintaining Your New Smile
Once you’ve completed wearing all of your trays, you’ll begin wearing a retainer to maintain the results. At first, you’ll wear the retainers most hours of the day. Over time, you may reduce your retainer wear to only at night.
Book an Invisalign or Invisalign Teen Appointment in Andover, MA
If you or your child are ready to transform your smile, book a consultation at Andover Orthodontics. To accommodate busy teens and adults, we begin seeing patients as early as 7:30 am Monday - Thursday. Call 978-475-0450, or send a message to request an appointment.
