I started Invisalign treatment in December 2024 without a whole lot of foresight, and it was only after I was fully committed and paid (up front, in full) that I realized the magnitude of the decision and how disruptive it would be to my life. Most of the information I found online about it was unhelpful; either it’s from orthodontists who have a vested interest in underplaying the disruption, or it’s from blogger/influencer-types who don’t have the same pressures of work-life that I do. In the interests of helping anyone else thinking about this, here’s what my experience has been like.
The basics
Even though my teeth weren’t very crooked, I got a “comprehensive” plan which involved:
- 40 trays over 18 months: I started with wearing trays for 14 days, but after tray 19, I was told I could reduce to replacing trays every 10 days. This cut a few months off.
- IPR (Interproximal Reduction): Fancy term for using sand paper to create gaps between your teeth. My initial reason to get Invisalign was to make flossing easier, but it turns out IPR fixed that (and then some) for me on the very first day.
- Buttons and power chains: I had metal buttons installed on three teeth which were accompanied by heavy-duty rubber bands to help rotate my teeth. These went on a few months into my treatment.
- Attachments: These are tooth-colored spikes that are attached to your teeth that the Invisaligns grip on to. You never see attachments in Invisalign marketing material because their models always have perfect teeth. But they’re a part of it, and they’re annoying.
The rules are that I was supposed to wear them between 20-22 hours a day (but nobody could tell me what the difference between 20 and 22 hours per day was). I could only drink tepid water with them in, and I had to take them out whenever I ate or drank anything else.
As of writing, I am about halfway into my treatment. The progression went like this:
- On day one, I had a bunch of attachments put on my teeth, and the aligners snapped on top. The first week was extremely painful because the aligners and attachments tore up the inside of my mouth. Filing them down didn’t help, but eventually my cheeks and tongue got calloused. I just now bite the inside of my cheek more often now.
- About three months in, I had metal buttons and elastics put in. This was a surprise, and they are very difficult to replace and keep clean. They’re not meant to be patient-replaceable (I think), and I received differing instructions about whether I should attempt to replace one or both of my elastics myself. I wound up replacing one of them every two weeks, but the other one was impossible for me to replace myself. These are very uncomfortable.
- About eight months in, I had another attachment installed on a lower-front tooth. This makes it hard to bite down and chew, because my incisor now hits this attachment when I don’t have the aligners in. A consolation prize was being told to switch trays every ten days instead of fourteen; this took three months off my treatment plan.
Practical tips
I use the TrayMinder app to track my time. The official Invisalign app is not good.
Aligners tend to fray if you grind your teeth with them in. This can happen in as little as a day or two, and it makes the aligners less effective (i.e., it’ll hurt a lot more when changing to new aligners if the old ones were damaged early).
Eating/drink with aligners
- I am no longer afraid to drink beer and whisky with my aligners in, but I do a light rinse with water as I am drinking.
- Foods with turmeric (Indian, Iranian) stain aligners badly. Always rinse and wait 15-30 minutes after finishing a meal before putting aligners back in or they will turn yellow.
- I always rinse thoroughly after drinking coffee but before putting my aligners back in. This is less about aligners and more about the coffee staining teeth much worse with aligners.
Conferences and work travel
Conferences are not fun with Invisalign.
- Coffee and snack breaks are not worth the hassle, so I skip them and just drink still/sparkling water while chatting in hallways.
- Cocktail receptions are manageable. I leave my aligners in and stick to beer or spirits and alternate with water. I don’t touch wine or anything with sugar. I also don’t eat.
- I tend to go big on breakfast and dinner, because those are the meals I can control.
- I also accept that some days I just might have my aligners out for 6+ hours. I try avoid doing this for too many days per aligner (e.g., 2-3 days is OK, but I don’t do it for 4+).
Travel
Day to day, I usually just bring my aligner case and floss with me when I go out. When I go to the office, I bring mouthwash and floss+rinse after lunch. If I’m going out just to eat, I’m less likely to do this out of convenience and just take care of my teeth when I get home.
Intercontinental travel is not fun with Invisalign. I manage by doing the following:
- Getting an aisle seat. Makes it easier to get to/from the bathroom around meals.
- Bring a large (32 oz) water bottle and continually fill it with whatever water is handed out. NEVER turn down a chance to get potable water. Lavatory water is NOT potable.
- When meals arrive, I pop out aligners at my seat and then rinse with water in my mouth, then put them in the case and eat.
- When meals are cleared, I bring floss, mouthwash, and my water bottle to the bathroom to floss and rinse. I do not brush. I also try to get there as soon as meals are cleared to avoid being stuck in a long line.
- As snacks come out, I keep them until meal time. This minimizes the hassle of taking aligners out.
- I am no longer afraid to drink spirits with aligners in, so I usually get a whisky and a water, then rinse between sips. No wine, no soda.
Truths and falsehoods
There’s a bunch of things I’ve learned the hard way.
- The lisp never goes away. I am eight months in, and my speech is still impacted. The good news is that others don’t really notice this, either at the beginning or as you get used to it.
- You never get used to the feeling of the aligners. Although they stopped tearing open the soft tissues of my mouth after the first week or two, I always feel them, and my mouth doesn’t feel like my own. Never a day has gone by where I haven’t cursed my aligners and the discomfort/inconvenience they cause me.