<p>I just started wearing them. I wonder if anyone here can tell me how strictly you have to follow the instructions, especially about drinking liquids while they are on. The instruction booklet says nothing but cool water.</p>
<p>You will stain them and mess up their invisible powers.
Or if you drink juices high in acid you will mess up the plastic.
Hot drinks will warp them.
ONLY cool water-not with lemon in the water.</p>
<p>^very good to know. S’14 wanted “teen invisalign” but now that I’m hearing about what you can and cannot drink, I don’t think he would have been that careful.</p>
<p>My daughter was shocked to discover that invisalign wasn’t that invisible – she had to have these little white hooks-thingies on the front of the teeth. And while it didn’t look as obvious as metal braces, these doo dads certainly were EASILY seen. Daughter whined so much, the orthodontist took off the ones right in front, making the braces somewhat less effective. But it was worth it (for all of us) not to have to listen to the teenage hysteria ;)</p>
<p>My retainer is made to be invisible. Yeah, only water is allowed. Also make sure to brush your teeth before you put them back on.</p>
<p>katliamom, were the little hook things on your D’s eye teeth? I had invisalign (one of my best decisions ever) and only toward the end did I have the attachments (mine were more like knobs) on my eye teeth top and bottom. I was told that it’s much harder to turn the eye teeth because they are rounded on the front. The flatter front teeth and molars are easier for the invisalign retainers to grab onto. The problem with not having the attachments is that treatment might take much longer or not even work entirely without them.
My tip for anyone who has invisalign is to never, ever let saliva dry on your retainers. If you do, it drys and hardens into the equivalent of plaque and it smells bad too. Yuck. You need to clean them with toothpaste when you take them out, not before you put them back in. If you absolutely cannot scrub them with a toothbrush, at least give them a good rinsing with water and rub with your fingers. If you take care of them, they won’t get gross. You can perhaps convince your teenager of this by telling her that otherwise she will get bad breath!!</p>
<p>My person said to clean them with antibacterial hand soap and a toothbrush.</p>
<p>I wasn’t told about the attachments either.</p>
<p>Two hours per day to eat any meals, snacks and drink anything besides water seems a little unrealistic. I was told about the eating, but not the drinking. In fact, I’m almost sure I was told before signing on that white wine was ok, but not red (because of stains).</p>
<p>I started Invisalign 10+ years ago and drank Diet Coke during the day with them on. Never had a problem with stains. </p>
<p>Cleaning them with antibacterial soap sounds disgusting. I would not put them back in my mouth after that. My orthodontist gave me the same cleansing tablets that my kids use for their retainers. </p>
<p>After 10 years, I still wear them to bed to help with my TMJ and keep my teeth straight.</p>
<p>nj2011mom–that’s a relief to hear! I don’t drink Coke, but I might want something besides cool water between meals. Since each set only needs to be worn for about 2 weeks, that isn’t much time to develop stains. They told me not to use denture cleaning tablets, which is what my kid used for his retainer. I’m going to call the office today for more input, but it’s nice to hear from people who have used the product.</p>
<p>i just talked to my technician, who is also using Invisalign and she says she does drink white wine and even coffee with them in, “though I guess that’s pushing it a bit”. No citrus drinks. So, I will experiment, but not with really hot drinks or really stain-y things like red wine. She said I could clean them with any liquid soap, so I’m going to try Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint Castile soap.</p>
<p>I just scrubbed them with toothpaste before & after taking them in/out. From my experience, the biggest cause of buildup on the aligners is food that remains in your teeth before you put them back in, so brushing your teeth is the best way to keep them from getting yucky. Since you replace them every 2 weeks, even if they get yucky, there is an end in sight. </p>
<p>You haven’t mentioned it, but the first 2-3 days of every set, I needed to pop Advil every 3 hours for the pain. If I let it go past 3 hours it hurt, so I took one on a schedule. That said, I love the outcome. My family could not afford orthodontia when I was a teen and I didn’t want a mouth of metal as an adult, so I was a very early Invisalign patient in 2001.</p>
<p>Oddly, I haven’t had any pain/soreness with this first set, though everyone told me to expect it. That probably suggests that not much correction is happening either, but I’ll take it. The other liquid restriction my technician noted was drinks with sugar because the sugar can get into the aligners and cause cavities. I just brushed the aligners with the Dr. Bronner’s peppermint soap, rinsed well and it worked.</p>
<p>I had them a few years ago, but I never had any “attachments”. I could only drink water, but I think sometimes I cheated and sucked through a straw.</p>
<p>I still sleep in mine and I put them in water with a tablet of denture cleaner periodically to remove any build up. They worked great, but I was really uncomfortable brushing my teeth in public restrooms. I would generally just leave them off til I could get home. </p>
<p>They worked great!!! Good luck.</p>
<p>I finished 9 months of Invisalign last November and currently am wearing the Vivera retainer full time. My dentist said after a year (this November) I can wear the retainer just at night. I always took out my aligners or retainer for anything except water. I clean them by brushing with toothpaste and soak them in a denture cleaner when they start to look bad. The attachments are a pain but those came off when I finished with the aligners.</p>
<p>This is only my second day and it is already a snap, literally, to put the aligners in, but still fairly difficult to get them out, especially the uppers. Can I expect this to get easier? I can’t imagine trying to do this in a restaurant restroom.</p>
<p>They WILL get easier to pop in and out but every time you get a new set it might be a little difficult for a day or two. D is pretty cafeful about taking them out with any drinks or food but tends to leave them on the kitchen counter! It’s only been 2 months but I can see a real difference so far.</p>
<p>Her concern right now is that she’s going to start cooking school and is already in a restaurant which will be training her on their cooking stations. She will have to taste things and will be working or in school more than 2 hours at a time.</p>
<p>That will be a challenge sseamom. Maybe her orthodontist can help her with a plan.</p>
<p>I had heard they have changed the rules and you could eat with them on. Guess that was bad info. Frankly, near the end, I would eat pureed food with them on, just nothing that needed chewing.</p>
<p>Just finished almost 18 mos of invisalign work. They were great…now I just wear them at nite during sleep, much like a retainer.</p>
<p>Cleaning: I just used a toothbrush and toothpaste and scrubbed them well. If I took them out to eat (never ate with them in), I always rinsed them with cool water and made sure I brushed and flossed before popping them in again.</p>
<p>Stains: None that I could tell and I drank coffee and cranberry juice. Not too many cokes or red wine, but can’t tell any staining.</p>
<p>Yes, I had the “bumps” on the eye teeth. The worst part about them was when it came time to have them removed. </p>
<p>My teeth look great and our son, who had the full metal jacket of braces as a teen, was very jealous that invisalign wasn’t available for his dental transformation.
He says the metal hurt!!</p>
<p>I would recommend invisalign to anyone!</p>