I’m not sure whether I have been living under a rock all my life, or whether I just don’t watch enough TV but it seems that I have missed out on something fairly important when it comes to this braces thing.
Since I had children I have got rid of almost all the vices in my life- smoking, staying out all night partying, you know the kind of stuff. So much so, that lately I have been considering the possibility of cultivating some new ones… One habit that I haven’t managed to kick though, is a serious diet coke habit. Before you say it, yes I know it is the devil’s drink and probably carcinogenic and all that stuff, I understand and appreciate all of it, but the problem is…it tastes gooooood. So, Invisalign braces or not, I have kept to my several glasses a day routine, taking my aligners out, glugging down a quick hit, brushing (not always flossing because it is only a drink, right?) and then putting my aligners straight back in. Bad. Bad. Bad.
Every child is proffered dire warnings by their parents and holds forever in their mind the urban myth of a tooth dissolving in a glass of coke overnight, so I can believe that drinking it could soften the enamel- it sounds plausible. So what happens if I don’t brush for half an hour? Should I put my aligners back in and effectively create the glass/tooth circumstances within my aligners? Should I keep the aligners out for half an hour after every drink? Should I just. Gulp. Give it up?
So, what to do? I think, on balance, my crohns disease in mind, I’m just going to have to bite the bullet and go cold turkey, or at the VERY least limit my consumption to meal times. Having recently given up coffee the lack of caffeine is going to be a serious problem, but I’ll ease myself in with a gentle weaning program and let you know how I go…
If anybody has any alternative suggestions that might allow me to keep drinking the bad stuff please let me know…I don’t have much fun left!
On a brighter note, it was also suggested to me that I should use a flouride rinse whilst using Invisalign. I have bought one, and will use it for the next month until I see my orthodontist, when I will question him on the pros and cons. He certainly didn’t suggest it, but it seems other people’s ortho’s have, so I’m willing to give it a go.
As a quick post script, there is an interesting table on drinks that eat teeth here:
