Invisalign® aligner care
For anyone in Invisalign® treatment or wearing clear retainers.
Call us if…
- You lose or break a tray — go back to the previous one and call us. Do not skip ahead to the next.
- An attachment comes off a tooth.
- A tray no longer fits, or there is a visible gap over a tooth.
- An edge is cutting your tongue or cheek — we can smooth it in a couple of minutes.
Wearing them
- Twenty to twenty-two hours a day. In while you sleep, in at work, out only to eat and clean.
- Change to the next set on the schedule we gave you, in the evening — you will sleep through the tightest part.
- Pressure and tenderness for a day after a new tray is the treatment working.
- Use your chewies, if we gave you some, to seat the tray fully. A tray that is not fully seated does not move the tooth.
Eating and drinking
- Take them out for everything except water. Hot drinks warp the plastic.
- Coffee, tea and cola will stain the trays and hold the color against your teeth.
- Rinse your mouth and, ideally, brush before putting them back in. Sugar trapped under an aligner sits against the tooth for hours.
Keeping it clean
- Rinse them every time they come out, and brush them gently with a soft brush and cool water.
- Do not use hot water or put them in a dishwasher — they will distort.
- Do not use whitening toothpaste on them; it scratches the plastic and makes it cloudy.
- Keep them in their case, not in a napkin. Aligners in napkins get thrown away, and it is the most common way people lose one.