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Top Ten Tips For How To Remove Invisalign Braces

June 29, 2010 by admin 71 Comments

Need help on how to remove Invisalign braces? Read on:

I used to have beautiful fingernails before I started wearing Invisalign. They weren’t long and glamorous exactly, but they were long enough, healthy enough and manicured enough to look feminine and as if I at least took a little care of myself.

No more. Since I transferred back to full time wear of Invisalign removing my Invisalign braces has transformed my previously healthy looking nails into broken, torn, ragged shadows of their former selves. It ain’t pretty.

I must confess that over the last week things have become easier, but my first week back in full time aligners reminded me just how difficult it can be to remove aligners at the beginning of Invisalign. I remember the claustrophobic feeling of terror as I clawed at my mouth in a restaurant bathroom the very first week I ever wore them.

Fortunately, having been through all of this before I know that in a couple of weeks removing these things will be as easy as taking off a T shirt, so there isn’t quite the same level of fear this time around. However, I thought it might be helpful to new users to compile a list of tips for how to remove Invisalign. Please, please feel free to add more tips via the comments form. Alternatively, if you think I’ve got them wrong, please set me straight!

How To Remove Invisalign Braces – Top Tips:

  1. Make sure your mouth is warm.
    How To Remove Invisalign - glass of water with ice

    Make Sure Your Mouth Is Warm

    Trying to remove Invisalign after a very cold drink is harder. Don’t ask me why, but it’s true! Somehow the plastic feels less pliable. It also helps if your fingers and the inside of your mouth are drier. If possible, open your mouth for a few seconds before attempting to remove them. Yes you’ll look odd, but it’s worth it. (Don’t drink a warm drink with your aligners in to help though- it can distort them.)

  2. Start at the back.

    Start at the back and work forward

    Lift the aligners off the molars on each side first, then gradually work towards the front. Alternatively some people find that it is easier to work from one side of the mouth to the other. The wonkier the tooth, the harder that section of Invisalign are to remove. Start by lifting off the easier bits and get to those bits last. The same is true of areas with a lot of attachments. Tackle those bits last. In those areas hook your fingernails under the edge of the aligner and lift it up and over the attachment or difficult area.

  3. Try a paper towel.
    How To Remove Invisalign- pile of paper towels

    How To Remove Invisalign – Tip 3 Try A Paper Towel

    Lots of people find that thick paper towels increase the grip on the aligner. Taking either a paper towel or a piece of kitchen paper in your hand place it over the tooth, grasp the aligner firmly and pull off the molars. Do this also for the opposite side and finally the front section. Replace the towel as it gets damp. The increase in grip can sometimes make a huge difference.

  4. Try surgical gloves.
    How To Remove Invisalign - Image of latex gloves

    Image wikimedia

    Many Invisalign patients report that surgical gloves work the same way as paper towels to increase grip on aligners. Many dental assistants also swear by them apparently. In this case the thick rubber gloves that you use for cleaning your house won’t do the trick (urgh!) what you need is the very fine type that you buy in boxes of 50 or 100. These allow you to feel what you are doing, but still increase grip.

  5. Use an aligner hook.
    How To Remove Invisalign- image of an aligner hook

    An Aligner Hook

    Some lucky patients get these given to them by their Invisalign provider for removing Invisalign braces. However they are also available on Amazon here and here.  Looking similar to a crochet hook but designed specifically for removing clear braces they hook under the edge of the aligner and lift it away from the tooth. They are especially helpful for people with attachments when they are first fitted.

  6. Another implement:
    How to remove invisalign - an implement like tweezers can help. image of tweezers

    Not authorised by Invisalign!

    Before I even get started in this one I would like to point out that it is certainly not Invisalign approved and might well result in damage to your aligners. Other Invisalign users have however reported success with other implements such as crochet hooks and even the edge of a pair of tweezers. Bearing in mind that your Invisalign are expensive I would personally probably skip this method, but each to their own.

  7. Give it time:
    How To Remove Invisalign - Give It Time

    Wait Before Trying To Remove Invisalign

    One thing that people tell you constantly when you first get Invisalign is that removing Invisalign braces gets easier with time. Of course, when people told me this I used to secretly believe that I would be the one exception to this and my aligners would be difficult to remove forever. Of course, what I soon realised is that quite literally every hour counts. If you try to remove your new aligners very soon after they are inserted for the first time it will be very difficult. Waiting even an additional hour could make it much easier. If you are ravenous and desperate to eat I can understand that you may be cursing me on reading this tip, but if there is any way that you can, stopping and waiting a while could make your aligners much easier to remove.

  8. Change aligners in the evening:
    How to remove Invisalign - image of woman sleeping

    Change aligners last thing at night

    Similar to tip 7 for how to remove Invisalign, inserting your new aligners at night has two benefits. Firstly it means that you get to sleep through the stage when they feel tightest and most uncomfortable. Secondly, by morning your teeth will already have shifted and the aligners will therefore be easier to move. Popping them in last thing at night, accompanied by a mild painkiller is probably the way to go if you think they will cause you trouble.

  9. Speak to your orthodontist:
    How To Remove Invisalign Image of doctor or orthodontist

    Speak to your orthodontist or dentist

    Some orthodontists don’t put on the attachments until the third aligner. This allows you four weeks of perfecting your removal technique before the attachments are fitted. Once they go on it does become a lot harder, so this period of practice can be really helpful. Also, when your attachments go on ask whether you can wear the template for a day or two to get used to removing it before changing to the proper aligners. The template is softer and much, much easier to remove than a normal aligner. Also, I thought that it shifted the teeth a tiny bit too, so that also helps to make it easier when it comes to time to remove the actual aligners.

  10. Relax:
    How to remove invisalign - image of woman relaxing on a bed

    It’s easier if you relax!

    Remembering my first day in Invisalign I know that relaxing was a long way down a very long list of things that I wanted to do; a list that started with ‘Get these aligners out of my mouth and never, ever put them in again’. The truth is though that the feelings of panic and claustrophobia make the aligners much, much harder to remove. Taking a deep breath and trying to relax, even giving up and taking ten minutes before starting again can be the difference between success and failure.

Hopefully these tips will be helpful to someone else having difficulty removing Invisalign braces. As I said above if you have any other tips on how to remove Invisalign please feel free to share them via the comments section and I’ll update this page as and when necessary- thanks.



Filed Under: aligners, attachments, clear braces, invisible braces, removing invisalign Tagged With: aligner hooks, aligners, clear braces, invisalign, invisalign removal, invisible braces, paper towels, removing invisalign

The Invisalign Diet

June 16, 2010 by admin 6 Comments

Here’s the thing. I loved my time of wearing Invisalign only at night. Loved it. I didn’t miss them one bit in the day, and would trot happily from my computer to the cookie jar and back without a single thought about brushing or flossing or flouride mouthwashes.

The only problem was that I got just a little too friendly with the cookie jar. Whilst in my last post I called this extra weight that I’m currently humping around my “Christmas weight” the truth is that I started putting a bit extra on at Christmas and then piled a WHOLE lot more on during my break from Invisalign. Nine pounds extra to be exact, and a nine pounds that I need to lose if I want to get my jeans back on before winter is over. (Australian winter is June, July and August)

The good news is that now I am back in invisalign and on the Invisalign diet that that entails I have a feeling that that weight will come off reasonably quickly. The bad news is that the reason I think that is because I am starving. There hasn’t been a moment in the last week since I got these new trays that I haven’t been sat at my desk, watching the clock and counting the hours until my next meal.

Invisalign Diet

The Invisalign Diet!

There was a point last year when my mum came over to visit from the UK and I remember her declaring that I looked thin and that I had lost loads of weight. At the time I thought it was because of some medication I had been taking for my crohns disease, it didn’t occur to me until I stopped wearing the Invisalign that it was my braces that were keeping my weight down.

In past years I have tried Atkins, CSIRO, low GI; you name a diet, I’ve tried it. What I hadn’t tried before last year was the Invisalign diet. The funny thing is, that long term it’s turned out to be the most effective one of all of them. (Until you stop wearing them and make friends with the cookie jar!)

In three months my brother is getting married in the UK and every relative and friend that I have known since childhood will be there. Vain though it is, I would really like it if I could be both slim(ish) and have great teeth for that day. Let’s hope Invisalign can deliver on both fronts!

Other than the near starvation, the aligners aren’t giving me too many problems. The lower ones are very hard to get in and out because of the area with the gap and the wonky tooth. (see pic below) I am terrified of breaking my trays again so I now have to remove the lower ones very gingerly. I was contemplating an aligner hook, but as they aren’t readily available in Australia I’m not sure whether it is worth actually importing one all the way from the US. My fingernails are capable of doing the job, it just takes a little while.

Other than that everything is going well. I keep forgetting to take my little washbag with toothbrush, paste and case out with me, but that just means I can’t eat whilst I’m out so is almost certainly a good thing.

I also keep forgetting to put them back in quickly enough after eating- something I need to improve upon if I am to keep up the 22 hours a day wear. I expected difficulties with Invisalign – all of the cleaning and brushing and having to remove them to eat. Whilst all of those have actually turned out to be easier than anticipated it is the compliance that has been the hardest thing. For people thinking about Invisalign that is probably the thing that you should consider. I would never be put off by fear of pain or how they look- I haven’t found these things to be issues at all. I would, however, say to think very carefully before getting Invisalign if you don’t trust yourself to wear them properly, because although that isn’t such a problem at the beginning, it gets harder and harder to discipline yourself as time goes on. As the potential world record holder for the most aligners ever that is something I am really struggling with.

Still, the Invisalign Diet-it’s worth it for great teeth and a skinny butt, right?!



Filed Under: clear braces, invisalign braces, invisalign diet Tagged With: clear braces, invisalign braces, invisalign diet, invisible braces, weight loss

About Me

Ex model, mother, English & Australian. 2 daughters, 1 dog, 2 cats, 2 rabbits, a horribly expensive beauty habit and an obsession with straight teeth.

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