Lifestyle Tips with Clear Aligners: Drinking, Social Events & Travel Hacks
Invisalign and other clear aligners systems are often touted as the stress-free alternative to fixed braces. This orthodontic treatment plan is designed to fit around your lifestyle, so you don’t have to make adjustments such as avoiding certain foods or missing out of your favourite sports.
While clear aligners might offer some benefits, there are still adjustments you might need to make. The most important thing about this treatment plan is that you make sure you wear your aligners for at least 20-22 hours per day. The longer the better, so avoiding instances where you have to take them out is ideal.
If you are unable to stick to this treatment plan, your teeth won’t respond to the treatment as intended. This means that you won’t see the progress you would like, and the treatment could even fail entirely.
To help you stay on track with your treatment plan, we’ve compiled this helpful guide that covers everything from drinking, social events and travel hacks to help you keep going with treatment without impacting your treatment.
Always keep an aligner case with you
The first trick we would like to share is to always keep a spare aligner case with you. This is helpful as it means you’ll always have a clean and hygienic place to store your aligners when you take them out.
If you don’t have your case with you, you might resort to hiding them in a napkin, and this will increase your risk of losing them. You might pop them in a pocket in your bag, but this increases the risk of warping the aligner and making them ineffective.
To keep your aligners safe from damage and free from pocket lint, we recommend keeping an aligner case with you at all times when you leave the house. Which leads us nicely into our next Invisalign life hack…
Make an Invisalign travel pack
Your spare Invisalign aligner case can be kept with your travel pack. This can include everything you might need to care for your teeth and aligners on the go. Imagine you go out for dinner and have a particularly onion or garlic heavy dish. You don’t want to put your aligners back in because your breath smells terrible. The solution?
If you have a travel Invisalign case with you, you can quickly brush your teeth and use mouthwash before you replace your aligners.
Your travel pack might include:
Mini toothpaste and travel toothbrush
Mini mouthwash
Dental floss and toothpick
Aligner case
Aligner cleaning tablet
Chewies
Paracetamol
Your previous aligner
Why would you want to carry your previous aligner with you, you might be wondering? That’s all explained in our next hack…
Carry your previous and next aligner when travelling
Picture this: you’re travelling and you accidentally take a drink of hot coffee while wearing your aligner. You feel the plastic warp out of shape and then it sticks into your cheek. Or you remember to take your aligners out before you drink your coffee, but then you leave them in a napkin on the tray and leave them behind.
If you break or lose an aligner, the best course of action would be to either wear your previous aligner until you can secure a replacement, or move on to the next aligner in the case.
By carrying these with you when you travel, you can be sure you have a solution with you if the worst should happen when you’re away from your usual dentist.
Use specialist cleaning tablets
One of the biggest benefits of choosing Invisalign is that the treatment is nearly invisible. This can help those who might feel self conscious in social settings. To keep the nearly invisible qualities of the aligners, you need to make sure you’re cleaning them using the right materials.
Brushing your aligners with toothpaste can leave small scratches on the surface that will allow stains to accumulate. Blue and green mouthwash can also leave stains on your aligners, making the plastic look slightly opaque, or coloured.
By only using specialist cleaning tablets to keep your aligners clean, you can avoid stains and deposits, so you can feel more confident in your smile. If you’re someone who might avoid wearing your aligners around others if they are visibly stained, then this simple change can help to keep your treatment on track.
Never wear your aligners while drinking
If you’re having a lovely time with friends and splitting a bottle of wine, it can be tempting to leave your aligners in while you enjoy a little tipple. Even with clear drinks like sprite or vodka and soda, you run the risk of exposing your teeth to a highly acidic environment by drinking while wearing your aligners.
You might be weighing up the pros and cons of taking your aligners out versus keeping them in to ensure you wear them often enough. In this case, it’s better to take them out while you enjoy a drink rather than risk damaging the enamel.
Provided you wear your aligners the majority of the time, you should have no issue taking them out to enjoy an occasional drink. If you’re worried about how long you are wearing your aligners for, speak to your dentist. They can check the wear indicators to see if you’re wearing them for long enough.
Final thoughts on Invisalign life hacks
The key to a successful Invisalign treatment is in the preparation. As long as you are prepared for anything, you can be confident you won’t be caught off guard. Following this advice should help you to avoid derailing your treatment or damaging your teeth.
You should also follow your dentist’s advice and make sure you are attending the regular checkups to ensure your treatment is on track. This approach will help to ensure your treatment is successful and stress-free, so you can continue to enjoy social events and travel without worrying about how it might impact your orthodontic treatment.
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