I’ve been wearing my Invisalign about six months now, and I think I’ve build up enough “cred” as an Invisalign patient to speak with a bit of authority on the process of living with aligners.
Entering the Invisalign process, I was worried least about the pain. I knew it was going to hurt sometimes; if my teeth are moving, they’re going to be sore. Having worn Invisalign through 15 aligner cycles, I can say that the pain is about what I expected, and most of the time even less. In 15 cycles I’ve had to pop Advil maybe twice, three times at the most. I find actually like a little soreness. Sore teeth tell me that my aligners are working when the visual evidence is often frustratingly incremental.
The aligners hurt most (if at all) during the first couple days of a new cycle. Makes sense, right? A new set of aligners means new tooth movement. Usually the soreness lasts a day or two, but each aligner is different. Some hurt more than others, some don’t hurt much at all. With set 14, I experienced residual soreness for almost a whole week, but with 15, my teeth are pain-free only two days after the new aligner.
Using my powers of observation, I’ve managed to come up with some strategies to minimize the pain of a new aligner set. The most painful set was, oddly enough, the first. That was because I got it on in the morning before work and had to take it out for lunch only a few hours later. In my experience, the new aligner set doesn’t hurt going on, but rather, it hurts the most the first time you take it off. The sooner you remove a new aligner for the first time, the more your teeth will hurt… especially when you put the set back on.
In order to minimize the pain of the new aligner set, my very successful strategy has been leaving the new set on as long as possible. Once, I even left a new set on almost 24 hours before taking it off for the first time (I was on vacation). Ordinarily, though, I can manage to wear a new set 14 to 16 hours before taking it off the first time. My job is second shift, so my hours are a little skewed, but the same strategy could easily be mapped to a 9-to-5 schedule.
When I get home from work, I make dinner, I take my aligners out and I clean them in a Polident bath with the new aligner set while I eat. I get home around 10:45pm, so I’m usually done with dinner and ready to put the new set in by midnight. I pop in the new set, gnaw on my aligner chewies awhile to make sure it’s good and tight (a note on chewies below), I go to bed and then I endeavor to leave them on as long as possible. Yes, this means eating no breakfast. I’m not a big breakfast fan to begin with, though I do enjoy coffee most mornings. I skip it the morning of my new aligners and drink hot water instead. This strategy also means I can’t brush my teeth in the morning. Oh the humanity! Actually, it’s not really a problem. I do an extended rinse with hydrogen peroxide (with the aligners still in) to kill bacteria and then do a light brush over the aligners with a wet toothbrush. If I need to get close to people during the morning and early afternoon (e.g. if I have a lesson or meeting), I pop a mint and get no complaints.
I’m usually ready for lunch (remember, my schedule is second shift) around 3:00pm or 4:00pm. I take out my aligners for the first time, and while my teeth are usually a little sore, it’s much better than if I had taken them out earlier (I once removed a new set for my morning coffee and regretted it). As I said earlier, I’ve only taken two or three doses of Advil over 15 sets. Once was the very first aligner, once was on the first day of the aforementioned aligner 14, and once was… well, I don’t remember specifically, but I’m allowing for the possibility of a third just for the sake of over-estimation.
Otherwise, the aligners are comfortable… okay, I’ve said that before, but after adjusting to them as a way of life, I think it bears repeating. If asked about the precise sensation of wearing Invisalign on a daily basis, I would be most inclined to compare the wearing of aligners to the wearing of shoes. Wearing shoes is comfortable, but noticeable (unlike, say, the wearing of soft contacts). If we’re not thinking about the fact that we are wearing shoes, then it’s not in the front of our brains, but if we stop to think about it, then we can definitely feel our shoes. They’re not uncomfortable, but they’re there. Same with the aligners. They don’t disappear onto my teeth like contact do onto my eyes, but they’re comfortable.
The only significant trouble I’ve had with comfort is my own bad habit of grinding the aligners when I’m tense. It’s not bad for my teeth (the aligners are protecting them, after all), and it’s not bad for my aligners (some doctors online even say grinding your aligners helps the Invisalign process), but it’s not a picnic for my jaw. I don’t realize when I start doing it, but once I start it’s hard to stop until I have an opportunity to take them out and start over. I’ve trained myself not to grind so much, but on occasion I still do. It’s a bigger problem toward the end of the aligner cycle when the aligners aren’t so tight. I don’t grind when the aligners are new and the fit is hard (i.e. the aligners feel “hard” on my teeth because they are tight), but as my teeth move and adjust to the new set, the aligners feel “softer” and I am more prone to grinding them.
Otherwise, my Invisalign process has been smooth sailing. After 15 aligners, I have really experienced no problems, save for my own grinding and an occasional rough edge (which can just be filed down).
One note about new aligners, however. I remember when I was first researching Invisalign, one blogger said that from one aligner set to the next, they just stopped fitting. One aligner fit, the next one didn’t. In this instance, the orthodontist has to retool his/her strategy, take new impressions and order a new set of aligners. I know this can happen, and I’m not worried about it, except insomuch that it may add additional time to my overall treatment schedule.
That said, I can’t help but wonder if such retoolings can be avoided with the avid use of chewies. For at least the last four aligners, they have not fit my teeth when I first put on a new set. I pop them on as best I can, but with my fingers alone, I can’t get them to sit snug to my teeth and snap to my attachments. Perhaps an Invisalign retool is on the horizon for me, but for now, I have had great success simply chewing the aligners in place with my aligner chewies. I say once again, I’m not sure how people go through Invisalign without the chewies. If it weren’t for chewies, I would probably not be able to get my new sets for fit right away. So, hooray for chewies once more!
My ortho was a lot more generous with the trays (he gave me 80) and my treatment is to last 2 years. And yes! It hurts a lot when you switch trays and I grind my teeth too. It hurts the most when I take them off and forget to put them on for a few hours.
I been wearing my aligner for almost a year; I’m on #23 out of 25. I wasn’t wearing them the way I should so I had to get fitted for new top sets. Not sure how the top got out of line and not the bottom. It is important to wear them the 22 hours a day. Because I didn’t wear them correctly I have to wear the top longer. There is pain and soreness, it the price of beauty. I would recommend the aligner; the benefit out weights the pain. I am happy with the process. It takes discipline but when you think of how much it cost, its not hard to be discipline. I have before and after pictures and once I’m finish I will post on FB.
This artilce helped me immensely. I just got my aligners yesterday and my teeth are very sore. I am going to follow the advice about not taking them out so frequently. I’m really going to have to change my eating schedule. I may just try juicing.
Thank you. I wear them 20 -22 hours a day. But I will try more for 22. I will try your suggestion on chewies. Wasn’t sure what to do with them. I never ground my teeth before invisilgn but I am doing it now. So that is where the jaw pain is from. I do try not to do that. I will try your suggestion of not taking them out for 20 - 24 hours with the new ones. Fast that day - I guess.
My suggestion wasn’t for leaving them in 20 hours straight. Just put the new ones in right after dinner, maybe skip breakfast if you can the next day, and then take them out before lunch. Do you have the SmartTrack aligners?
Thank you, this article has been really helpful. Just got my aligners on yesterday. My front teeth have felt quite sore since. Kind of like a tingly pressure pain in my gums. To be expected I guess. Have found them comfortable enough sleeping at night. But struggling to speak clearly, definitely have a bit of a lisp going on! Have been told this may last 2 weeks. Has anyone else experienced this? Mildly embarrassing.
Has anyone you interact with in your daily life commented on the lisp? It may be that you notice it, but no one else does. When I first got my aligners, I could tell when it limited my speech, but no one else noticed. I even asked my co-workers to be brutally honest (I have a job when I have to talk A LOT) so that I could be on top of the situation, but they said they heard no lisp at all. If people are noticing and commenting on your lisp, I’d advise just acknowledging the Invisalign and moving on. “Oh, yeah, that’s just because I’m doing Invisalign.” For me, the aesthetic advantage of the Invisalign was that it’s attractive, not that it’s a secret. Very few people noticed my aligners during the treatment, but when they did, I just said it was Invisalign and maybe even chatted about the process a little if they were interested. It’s only embarrassing if we feel like we’re trying to hide something.
My most serious worry is actually about the speech lisp! Would it go away fast? I have to talk quite a lot at work, and it annoys me and is embarrassing when I can’t pronounce certain consonants (e.g. the “s”) properly or talk too fast. Anyone has experience in this respect?
I’ve gathered that different people have different degrees of lisp with the Invisalign. I never had too much of a lisp. When I first had them, my co-workers said that they did not hear a lisp (though, they did catch me grinding the aligners, saying I had a very serious jaw-setting look about me). I’ve actually had more trouble getting used to speaking WITHOUT the aligners now that I don’t wear them anymore. I have had to become more careful and deliberate in my speech or else I’ll “trip” over certain words.
If you have to speak a lot at work (I’m a teacher, so I have to speak all day to my students, both one-on-one in private lessons, and publically in group classes), and nobody ever said anything. It may sound worse to you than to other people. I think the key is just not to be embarrassed. I know that sounds easier said than done, but I would say just pretend it isn’t happening. If people notice it enough to comment on it, just say “Oh, that’s just my Invisalign” and keep talking about whatever you were talking about before. If people care that much about your speech, it’s their problem, not yours.
The lisp doesn’t last long at all, honestly mine was gone by the next day, I was in highschool so there was a lot of talking to get used to it. Just a tip for anyone just finishing them, don’t stop wearing them when you’re done. continue to wear the trays at night, I continued wearing them on the occasion that I thought they were moving back and eventually stopped entirely. The dentist has suggested to try and fit in the last try and wear it until the teeth move back and it is absolutely terrible. My top and bottom teeth can’t even touch without pain. Just make sure you keep to it even after you’re finished.
Meagan, I’m surprised your Invisalign provider didn’t make you a retainer? My orthodontist made me a retainer out of much tougher stuff than the aligners (they would be pulverized by now if I had been wearing them every night!), and even two years after completion, he advises me to continue wearing them every night. He doesn’t have to convince me it’s necessary — if I skip even one night by accident, those retainers are mighty tight! Every good treatment plan should include at least 18 months of retention to follow, maybe more. If I stopped wearing my aligners now, I have no doubt my teeth would try their darnedest to go back to their old crooked ways.
Great post! Just got mine yesterday. Really feeling that sore tingle. Don’t mind it at all but for some reason I keep biting my tongue! They feel perfectly tight so wonder why that is?!
Anyway, I don’t need attatchments until my 3rd aligner. I’m really worrying about them! My top lip doesn’t naturally close so my front two teeth are always on show and I’ve got to have attatchments on those. Has anyone had experience with them? Are they massively obvious?! Interested in whether they are really obvious with aligners off too.
I had two attachments on one of my front teeth during the first set of refinements. I had attachments on my front incisors for the initial course of treatment. They are visible if you look, yes. But what I discovered is that most people aren’t paying enough attention to notice. We all scrutinize our own looks to the Nth degree, but most people just aren’t paying that much attention to us so to notice some bumps on our teeth. I had very few people notice over the course of time I was in treatment, but keep in mind, even when they do notice, they are noticing a teeth-straightening system that’s a hell of a lot more attractive than braces. In fact, when people did ask me about them, I welcomed the opportunity to talk about the Invisalign. Most people who knew about it congratulated me on making the decision to straighten; I heard a lot of “good for you!” Even if they are a bit noticeable, it’s not a bad thing. Invisalign isn’t about straightening your teeth in a super secret way, but rather, it’s about informed adults making the decision to fix their teeth in a super cool “space age” way that is also the most aesthetically un-intrusive way of doing so.