My Invisalign Blog

My Invisalign Braces Experience

What It’s Like To Wear Invisalign Braces- A day In The life

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I thought it might be interesting to keep a diary for a single day of my braces; how often I remove them, number of times I floss, brush etc. Of course, having written it I can see that it really isn’t that interesting at all- yes, my life really is this boring!

However, it might be useful for people considering braces to see what it’s like to wear Invisalign – how often you have to remove them etc.  It has also been useful to me, in showing me that I am really not achieving the twenty two hours a day wear that I should. I would love to tell you that ordinarily I am much more compliant but the sad truth is I think this is probably fairly indicative of the amount of hours that I manage to wear these things. Must do better…..

What It's Like to Wear Invisalign - clock

What It’s Like To Wear Invisalign – A Day In the Life

  • 6am Alarm, get up and shower. Braces stay in.
  • 6.30 Go downstairs. Remove Invisalign and toss them on the kitchen bench on paper towel-yick! Have breakfast then spend 40 minutes chivvying children and brushing hair.
  • 7.30 Children leave for school and husband and I grab a quick coffee on our back deck.
  • 7.50 Brush teeth, floss and give braces quick clean before putting them back in. Yikes. 1 hr 20 minutes out. I think I would have convinced myself it was about 30 minutes if I hadn’t checked.
  • 8.10 Check emails and do some work on my computer.
  • 9.15 Get peckish and remember box of Cadbury’s Favourites in the pantry. Braces out and on the kitchen bench (new paper towel!)
  • 10.15 Box of chocolates almost finished and braces still out. Realise and panic. Dash upstairs to brush/floss and put braces back in. Another hour. Whoops. Total time out so far 2hrs 20 minutes
  • 10.40 Glass of water- Aligners can stay in.Yay!
  • 12.20 Lunchtime. Sandwich, crackers and a banana. Eat it on my deck in front of my laptop. Brush, but don’t floss.
  • 12.37 Aligners back in. Total time out so far 2 hrs 37 minutes
  • 4.00 Arrive home from kids after school activities. Remove aligners and throw them on the kitchen bench. Grab a snack.
  • 4.24 Realise aligners still out, swear loudly, do rudimentary brush and throw them back in. Total time out of mouth 3 hrs 1 minute. Gulp
  • 5.54 Husband arrives home and I serve dinner. Take aligners out- you guessed it, paper towel on the kitchen bench. Eat dinner fast as have to go out.
  • 6.27 Brush and put aligners back in. Total time out. 3 hrs 35 minutes

  • What It's Like to Wear Invisalign

    What It’s Like To Wear Invisalign – A Quick Stop For Champagne

  • 9.00 Out watching Midsummer Night’s Dream. Grab a glass of champagne in the interval. Hide in a corner of the room and remove my aligners. Put them in case in my handbag.
  • 9.15 Queue for the toilets too long so can’t brush or would miss second act. Put aligners back in. Total time out of mouth 3 hrs 50 minutes.
  • 10.45 At home. Take aligners out and put them in Steradent solution whilst I brush and floss.
  • 10.52 Aligners back in. Go to Bed. Total time out of mouth during whole day. 3 hours 57 minutes.

 

As a quick summary what I can see is that I brushed 6 times during the day but only flossed 3 times. Whoops. That my aligners were in my mouth for 20 hours and 10 minutes. Just. Also that I really, really need to wear my aligners more. But you knew that already.

Cleaning Invisalign Aligners

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I am happy to endure a lot in pursuit of my Hollywood smile, but one thing that I’m not prepared to suffer is bad breath. I have begged my husband to tell me if he smells even the slightest whiff, but honestly, I think he is too kind to bring it up. My daughters, however, are another story and would gleefully revel in letting me know, so it’s them I am relying on as an early warning system. Nonetheless I’m absolutely pedantic about keeping my aligners clean and have scoured the internet for tips on cleaning Invisalign.

Cleaning Invisalign - toothbrushes

Cleaning Invisalign – Use A Soft Toothbrush

My orthodontist’s suggestions for cleaning Invisalign involved cleaning them with a soft toothbrush and water (but no toothpaste) and soaking them daily in a solution of 1/10 parts bleach and water. However, I am squeamish about chemicals, and more importantly I suffer from Crohn’s disease, so the last thing I would ever do is put something in my mouth that might trigger a flare up of my illness. Not only that, I think the bleachy smell alone is enough to put me off- I don’t want to give myself excuses not to wear them.

Consequently, I have developed my own little Invisalign cleaning system, and am happy to report that three weeks in, both sets of aligners have stayed crystal clear and odour free.

Firstly, and I think this is crucial, I don’t ever eat or drink anything except water whilst wearing my aligners. I am also absolutely fastidious about rinsing them under running water after I remove them from my mouth. Believe me, this is important -if you forget to do it by the time you come to reinsert them they are less than fragrant.

Cleaning Invisalign - a glass of water

Cleaning Invisalign – Never eat or drink anything other than water whilst wearing Invisalign

Secondly, before I put them back in I do the full brush, floss, rinse routine, almost without exception. The only times I haven’t been able to do this because I have forgotten my toothbrush I have at least flushed my mouth thoroughly with water before putting them back in, and then taken them out and brushed as soon as I get the chance. I do notice when I do this that they have a very slight smell- personally, I don’t think it is ideal, even though my ortho’s assistant says she does it all the time. As well as brushing and flossing my teeth I also give the aligners a quick going over with the toothbrush before I re-insert them. There’s nothing worse than not cleaning Invisalign before you put them in your mouth. I have read of people using pre-pasted disposable toothbrushes for when they are out and about. I haven’t tried them, but you can find them here. 

Cleaning Invisalign - polident

Cleaning Invisalign – Regularly use a cleaning product like steradent or polident to keep your aligners clean.

Lastly, when I clean and floss for the last time at night I soak them in a denture bath (a small plastic tub) with water and a Polident tablet. This gives them a slight pinky tinge, which rinses off under running water, but definitely makes them seem fresher. I should point out that Invisalign expressly recommend against this, although it was suggested to me by my orthodontist’s assistant as the way she cleans hers.. I wouldn’t want to lead anyone astray…