8 Things I Wish I Knew Before Getting Invisalign
18 February 2021
Congratulations! You’ve made the decision to get Invisalign and have committed to bettering your smile. It’s a process that’ll take time and patience but at the end of your Invisalign journey, you’ll be able to smile widely and take pride in all your effort!
However, there are a few things that you need to know before getting Invisalign just so you can be doubly sure that you’d like to embark on this teeth straightening journey.
1) Lisping
In the beginning, while you’re still getting adjusted to your aligners, you might have a lisp for a while. However, as long as you keep wearing your aligners – the recommended wear time for Invisalign aligners is 22 hours – you’ll be able to overcome this temporary speech impediment in no time.
2) Discomfort & pressure
Although Invisalign is known to cause less pain and pressure than traditional braces, there is still some discomfort to be expected. After all, this treatment journey requires the physical movement of your teeth.
A great tip to help with the discomfort is changing to your new aligners before going to sleep. New aligners will feel tight an hour or two after changing but since you’re sleeping, you won’t really feel anything. The most important thing is to keep wearing your aligners as per your dentist’s orders.
3) Extra brushing & flossing
You will need to allocate more time for brushing and flossing with Invisalign. After every meal, you are advised to brush your teeth and clean your aligners before putting them back in. Leaving your teeth unclean could lead to plaque and food particle build-up which could lead to cavities, and also bad breath.
Tips: Keep a cleaning kit handy with travel-sized toothpaste and a toothbrush so that you can brush your aligners and teeth when you are out and about or at the office.
4) Invisalign attachments
For some people, attachments may need to be bonded on their teeth to ensure a more predicted tooth movement is achieved. These attachments are tooth coloured bumps placed at a specific location of the tooth. For those who are conscious of your looks, do note that even though these attachments are tooth coloured, if someone is within an arm-length, they can still see these bumps. After putting on these attachments, you will also realize it is more difficult to take out your aligners and experience greater discomfort when you change into a new set of aligners.
5) Changes in social situations
After you get Invisalign, going out with your friends don’t need to stop but you’ll need to adjust your habits. You will have to excuse yourself to go to the washroom before meals to remove your aligners. It’s the same after meals because you should brush your teeth to remove food particles and prevent staining of your aligners.
For work functions or a wedding, it’s better to leave your aligners at home but take note of the time you’re not wearing them for. If you were out for 4 hours, make up for it the next day. However, to ensure your treatment goes as planned, do try to minimise periods of not wearing your aligners.
Also, don’t feel shy about telling people about undergoing Invisalign as what’s a better way to strike a conversation than sharing your Invisalign journey!
6) Be careful of breaking your manicured nails
Taking off the Invisalign aligners is definitely a challenge for ladies with beautifully manicured nails. If you are wearing normal nail polish, it is possible that it may be chipped off if you are using your fingers to remove the aligners. Do use the pultool provided (plastic hook) to remove your aligners if you want to keep your fingernails intact.
Tips: Click here to watch Dr Elstan showing you how to remove your aligners using a pultool.
7) Lipsticks stain
If you are a lover of glossy lipsticks with bold colours, be careful that the colour might smudge onto your clear aligners. Try to stick to matt or long-wearing lipsticks to reduce the chance of smudging from occurring.
8) Retainer is for life
Typically, Invisalign treatment may take around 1.5 to 2 years and when you’re done, there’s some aftercare needed. At the end of your treatment, the temporary attachments will be removed, and your teeth are given a good cleaning. Then, a final scan will be done to make your post-treatment retainers. To protect your investment in your new and improved smile, and to ensure that your teeth stay in their position, these retainers need to be worn every night.
If you do encounter any issues during your Invisalign journey, feel free to reach out to us. Our doctors have some awesome tips which would help to make your Invisalign journey a smoother one 🙂