This past week I learned two very interesting things about Invisalign aligners:

1. Be gentle when you take your Invisalign aligners out. I was apparently a little too vigorous in removing my lower aligner one evening, and that resulted in a vertical crack in the aligner. That crack, which was along the front, started rubbing on the inside of my mouth. Ouch.

2. If need be (such as, oh, if you are too vigorous in removing an aligner, and damage it) you can move on to the next set of aligners a little early.

Now, you shouldn’t decide on your own to switch to your next set of aligners early. Even should you find yourself in a situation which you think warrants it, such as damaging one of your current aligners, or maybe losing an aligner, you should definitely consult with your dentist or orthodontist before moving on to the next set early.

But still, it’s nice to know that if something comes up which makes continuing with your current set of aligners unfeasible, you may be able to move on to the next ones.

Interestingly, it’s really only noticeable when I have the Invisalign aligners out (for example I noticed it tonight when I was brushing my teeth). And seeing as I have the aligners in nearly all the time (you are supposed to wear them at least 20 hours a day – I wear them about 23 1/2 hour a day), it’s simply not a problem.

But it was..interesting.

It’s really not surprising, because the area where my teeth are tender is the lower front, which are the teeth that are most crowded, and which need the most re-aligning – here’s a picture, in case you don’t remember what they look like:

My son asked to see my teeth tonight, and he said that he could see a difference already. I’m not so sure that I can, but hey, I’ll take it!

As with the last set, when I first put this new set in, it was pretty uncomfortable – for all of about a minute – maybe 90 whole seconds, tops. That’s it! And then it wasn’t uncomfortable any more! Amazing!

Don’t get me wrong – I can definitely tell that it’s a new set; it feels… it’s hard to explain, but sort of tighter. But it’s not uncomfortable, I’m just a bit more aware of the Invisaligns.

And I will take “just a bit more aware” over the pain and agony of traditional metal braces any day.

In addition creating the hard models (like statues of your teeth – think plaster casts), the Invisalign lab creates a computer-generated modeling animation, showing over the course of all of the steps how your teeth will be moved, incrementally, until they are at the final destination – straight!

Through the initiative and kindness of my awesome orthodontist, Denver Invisalign dentist and orthodontist Robert Rudman, DDS, I have the movie of the modeling of my teeth from the Invisalign lab (he offered to contact them, and got the movie from them so that I could put it up here!)

So, here it is – cool, eh?

Some people may tell you that all you have to do is rinse your Invisaligns under running water. But Invisaligns have lots of nooks and crannies, in which food can get trapped, and you sure don’t want that food crammed up against your teeth while you are wearing your Invisaligns, especially, for example, overnight.

What I do is, at night, while I’m flossing and brushing my teeth, I also brush my Invisaligns all over, using a cheapie regular toothbrush that I bought specifically to use on my Invisaligns, and some liquid toothpaste.

The toothbrush is one that I got at Target, and is their own private label brand. And by “liquid toothpaste”, I mean the toothpaste that comes in a squeeze bottle, instead of a tube. It looks like this:

The reason for using the liquid toothpaste is that it isn’t as thick as regular tube toothpaste, so a) you can drizzle it into your Invisalign, and b) it’s much easier to get it all rinsed out than it is with thick toothpaste.

That’s all there is to it!

Remember, take care of your Invisaligns, and your Invisaligns will take care of you.

Here are a couple of tips to help make removing your Invisalign braces even easier for you.

First, it is generally much easier to remove your Invisaligns by starting at the back of your mouth, at your very back molars, and hooking your fingernails just under the bottom in the back, and then working them off from the back forward. You’ll probably want to start at just one end, and work your way around (i.e. don’t try starting at both ends and working your way toward the middle).

Second – and this really does help – if you are finding your Invisaligns particularly snug (say, after switching to a new set), swish some lukewarm water around in your mouth before starting to remove your Invisaligns. I have found that this can really help to lubricate your Invisaligns just enough to make the difference between an easy removal, and having to wrestle with them.

It feels like a real milestone, and it’s amazing to think that when I switch out of this second set, in two weeks time, I will already be 1/12th of the way done with my Invisalign treatment!

During my second appointment, when they gave me my first set of Invisalign aligners, they also gave me the next three sets of aligners. That meant that I left the orthodontist’s office with a total of four sets of aligners: the first set which was in my mouth, and the three next sets. At the end of the 8th week (the last week for the 4th set) I have an appointment to go back so they can see how I’m doing, at which time (assuming all is well) they will give me some more sets of aligners to take home with me.

The Invisalign aligners come packed in a strip of packages, rather like a strip of moist towelettes or, well, yes, condoms.

This keeps them clean and safe (unless you misplace the whole strip when you first get them home, like I did, and nothing I did could turn them up until I called my orthodontist’s office and thoroughly debased and embarrased myself by admitting that I’d lost them – and then, of course, they instantly turned up).

Anyways, to get at the next set of aligners, tear off the next section, with the next set of aligners, and tear open the top.

To the untrained eye (read as ‘mine’), each successive set of aligners looks just the same as the previous set of aligners. But I know, even without seeing it, that these new aligners are different from the previous ones, even if visually imperceptibly so.

For one thing, they don’t slip on and off nearly as easily as did the previous set toward the end of their two weeks. This makes sense, as my teeth have now moved, ever so slightly, so that my “old” set of aligners (i.e. the one I’ve been wearing for the past two weeks) now fit like a glove – a loose glove, that is – rather than a somewhat snug, binding glove like they had when I first put them on.

Much like with the first set, this second set has not, at least so far, caused any pain or any serious discomfort. However there is some mild discomfort, and I can definitely tell that this is a new set.

But I hasten to add, again, that the discomfort is mild, and nothing like the pain that I experienced with traditional, metal braces.

I mean, it hasn’t kept me from eating or anything.

Speaking of eating, I have noticed, with this second set of aligners, that eating is slightly more comfortable when I have the aligners in than when I have them off, and I don’t mean because of the attachments. My theory is that the aligners actually protect the teeth a bit, and distribute the pressure of chewing so that no one tooth is getting the full impact of chewing.

Again, this is all relative – even with the aligners off, the discomfort is so mild as to be almost negligible. As with the first set, it’s hard to believe they are even really doing any serious tooth realignment. However, as I mentioned, even within 24 hours of having the very first set, I noticed a difference in how floss slipped between my teeth (much more easily in some instances, even in just 24 hours)!

In the next few days, I plan to write more about eating with Invisaligns, and also about how to care for the aligners.

And if there’s anything in particular you would like to know, be sure to ask!

Now, that said, I will say that when you have the Invisaligns out of your mouth, the attachments can feel a bit sharp against the inside of your mouth, but you have to wear the aligners for at least 20 hours a day, so the only time you are going to have them out is when you are brushing your teeth, or when you are eating, or rinsing your teeth and the Invisaligns after eating and before putting them back in.

Or, if you are like me, you may find that it’s actually more comfortable to leave the upper or lower aligner in (or even to leave both aligners in) while you’re eating, than it is to have them out and have the attachments rubbing on the inside of your mouth. It all will completely depend on where your attachments are, and the physiology of your mouth (and to some extent what you’re eating).

Here I am, with my Invisaligns in!

Can you see the attachments?

Here they are!:

Here is the most amazing thing – I haven’t even worn these for a full day, and already I notice a difference in the alignment of my teeth. While I can’t see the difference, when I flossed my teeth tonight, I noticed that the floss slipped in and out between my teeth much more easily than it has in years.

So here is how the entire appointment went.

First, Dr. Rudman’s office called me – and emailed me (how cool is that?) to let me know that my aligners had arrived. Yay! They asked if I could come in the same afternoon – could I?? You bet I could!

When I arrived, they brought me right into the exam room – and there they were! All 25 sets of Invisalign aligners (remember, you wear one set of aligners for two weeks, then go on to the next, until you’ve gone through all of the sets they create for you – although there can be some adjusting as you get close to the end, if your orthodontist feels you need slightly different aligners, or a couple of more sets, or, whatever may be the case).

Here is how your Inivalign aligners arrive from the lab to your Invisalign dentist or Invisalign orthodontist:

But before they can give you the Invisaligners, it turns out that they have to do a little prep work on your teeth. This is something that a lot of people don’t tell you about (although of course all decent Invisalign orthdontists and dentists will go over all of this with you during your consultation).

Primarily, the prep work involves using a small amount of dental composite material (that is the tooth-colored stuff they use to make tooth-colored fillings) to creat “attachment points”, or “attachments” on the cheek-facing surfaces of some of your teeth.

These attachments help to keep the Invisalign aligners on and in place..they are just little bumps on the surface of your tooth, that help the aligners to line up just right, and to stay exactly where they should (and in some cases to add a little extra torque on the tooth if, for example, it needs to be turned a little).

When you first see the materials and instruments that they will use to create and attach the attachments to your teeth, laid out on a tray, they may fill your heart with dread – they do look a bit like implements of torture. But, fear not, the process is painless, and pretty quick.

Invisalign Implements of Torture:

Once they mix up the composite material, they just squeeze a little bit of it into each of the designated places in a set of pre-made molds which come from the lab, slide them onto your teeth, wait a few moments, and voila – you now have the attachments bonded to your teeth in just the right places.

Here are the attachments, attached to my teeth:

At that point, you’re essentially done! You’ll get instructions for putting on, taking off, and caring for your Invisalign aligners, and they may have you put them in and take them out once before you leave, just so that they are sure that you can do it.

Check ‘em out!

As we discussed here, during your first Invisalign appointment they took pictures, took x-rays, and made impressions (molds) of your teeth.

All of this information is used to create your set of Invisalign aligners. The Invisalign aligners are the actual ‘invisible braces’ that fit over your teeth – they’re called “aligners” because, well, they align your teeth – they look like very thin, semi-rigid mouth guards.

The Invisalign lab will be creating many sets of aligners for you – each set is worn for two weeks, and each set incrementally moves your teeth, a teensy bit at a time, to where you want them to be.

Part of the process for creating your aligners is modeling the process through computer animation, going step at a time, so that when the movie plays it shows what your teeth look like at the start of the process, and how they will move through to the end.

Now, that movie is for the Invisalign dentist or Invisalign orthodontist, and the lab – it’s part of the communication between them to make sure that your treatment is planned out exactly as it should be.

But my awesome Invisalign orthodontist, Dr. Robert Rudman was so cool about my blogging my whole Invisalign experience that he arranged to get a copy of the movie file for me from the lab so that I could show it to you!

So here it is – this is the actual computer-generated modeling of my teeth, and the positions they will move through, from start to finish, using 25 sets of aligners (one every two weeks, so that’s 50 weeks – just about a year). The teeth on the left are my upper teeth, and the teeth on the right are my lower teeth. Pay particular attention to the far lower right… those are my front bottom teeth, which will show the most dramatic change:

Pretty neat, huh?

I have to tell you that I am so excited to get my Invisalign aligners – I can’t wait!