If you’re reading this, you’re probably thinking about starting Invisalign. Congrats! Having beautiful teeth has boosted my self-confidence tremendously and I am SO happy that I finally took the plunge.
I started Invisalign in August 2019 and boy, has it been a journey…but my teeth have never looked better! If you’re considering Invisalign, hopefully you’ll find this information helpful. Here are some of the things that I wish I had known before I started Invisalign:
1. It takes months after your first consultation to actually get your aligners.
My main reason for wanting Invisalign was to straighten my teeth out as much as possible before my wedding. My wedding was in October 2019 and I went to my first Invisalign consultation in May 2019. I figured that 5 months would be enough time to improve the look of my smile before my wedding. What I didn’t know was that it would take 3 months to get my first set of aligners! After your first consultation, you’ll have a 2nd appointment to have your teeth scanned. From there, it can take anywhere from 4-12 weeks for your doctor to outline a treatment plan and for your trays to be delivered to your orthodontist’s office. Then, you’ll have to schedule another appointment to pick up your trays and have attachments put on your teeth. Depending on how busy your orthodontist’s office is, this could add up to many extra weeks of waiting!!
2. Attachments.
Attachments are small, clear (or tooth-colored) dots that are bonded to your teeth to help your aligners move teeth. Unfortunately for me, no one mentioned this to me UNTIL IT CAME TIME TO PUT THEM ON (granted this is partially my fault for not not doing enough research beforehand). Thankfully they are really small and don’t show up in pictures unless they’re really close up, but it was still an unpleasant surprise.
3. You literally have to wear your aligners ALL . THE . TIME .
My orthodontist recommended wearing them for 22 hours a day. Which literally means you will have 2 hours to eat and IMMEDIATELY brush your teeth and put them back in. I followed this guidance to the letter at first, but got a little lazy as time went on. Some days I would only wear them for ~16 hours and while it didn’t mess up my treatment plan at all, I could definitely feel that the aligners were tight when I put them back in (I do NOT recommend this btw). But on the bright side, this helped me cut back on snacking!
4. Say goodbye to red wine & coffee (kinda).
Pre-Invisalign, it was common for me to have a cup of coffee and sip on it over the course of a couple hours. But with Invisalign, you shouldn’t drink dark colored drinks (i.e. coffee and red wine) with your aligners in as it can stain the aligners (and worse, stain your teeth). So I had to get used to drinking my cup of coffee in a shorter period of time so that my aligners weren’t out for too long. Similarly with wine, I ended up switching to white so that I wouldn’t have to worry about it staining my aligners if I wanted to sip on a glass while hanging out or watching a movie.
Also, those attachments we talked about earlier? Yeah, those will stain just like your teeth will. So in general, use extra caution and brush shortly after eating/drinking things that would stain your teeth.
5. Learn to carry a toothbrush, toothpaste, and your case EVERYWHERE.
This may seem like a no-brainer, but it really takes time to get into the habit of always being prepared to brush your teeth. Even if you’re going somewhere and you don’t expect to eat, I promise someone will offer you a bite or a coffee and you’ll end up with your aligners wrapped up in a napkin in your purse (ew) and no way to brush your teeth to put them back in. It’s happened to me on countless occasions and eventually I just learned to carry a makeup bag in my purse containing toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, and my case.
I hope this advice helps you in some way. I know Invisalign can be annoying at times, but for me it was 100% worth it. The 18 month inconvenience helped me to have more confidence in my smile that will hopefully last a lifetime.
Tell my why you’re thinking about starting Invisalign in the comments below!
**Disclaimer: this in no way constitutes professional advice. I am not a dental professional, simply sharing my experiences.
