While there are no dietary restrictions with Invisalign, there are a few factors you should take into considering when eating during your treatment.
With braces, there are a variety of food restrictions, by dint of the fact that mental braces can be damaged quite easily. This means that, with braces, you can’t eat very hard or brittle foods, or anything especially gooey or sticky.
Invisalign treatment does not require the same restrictions, because the aligners are removable and must be taken out when you eat. This mean you can essentially eat anything you like, and your diet will not change much, if at all.
That said, there are a few ways that your eating routines will change during Invisalign treatment.
You need to take your aligners out to consume anything other than water.
Your aligners can become damaged, scratched, discoloured or foul-smelling when exposed to food, and any drinks other than water. That means that you must take your aligners out before you consume anything.
You will need to plan ahead.
During your Invisalign treatment, you must wear your aligners for 22 hours a day for treatment to go according to plan. And since you must take your aligners out to brush and floss your teeth, each time you eat or drink anything other than water, that two-hour time slot when you can have your aligners out disappears pretty quickly!
It’s not impossible, and with a little time management, two hours are more than generous, but does require some extra planning each day.
You’ll need to brush and floss after each and every meal and snack.
Each time you eat, you’ll need to clean your teeth off before putting your aligners back in. If you don’t do this, food particles can get trapped in the tight spaces between your teeth and aligners.
This creates an ideal breeding ground for bacteria, and can result in bad breath, smelly or discoloured aligners, and even tooth decay.
This means that it will be a good idea to keep a toothbrush, floss and toothpaste with you at all times, so you don’t get caught having to insert your aligners over less-than-clean teeth!