It would be counterproductive, an inconvenience and downright annoying for orthodontic treatment to actually make your teeth worse. Sure, your treatment will be efficiently moving your teeth into the optimum alignment, but this could seem pointless if the teeth aren't in such a great condition by the time they reach their final destination. If you're about to receive Invisalign braces, you might be wondering if they can somehow damage your teeth or perhaps even contribute to tooth decay?
Being Aware
It's an easy question to answer, and no—your Invisalign treatment will not cause tooth decay. However, it's possible for you to get so used to the Invisalign aligners that you overlook certain factors that can, in fact, contribute to tooth decay, ultimately damaging your teeth. It's a matter of being aware of this and knowing how to overcome it (which isn't the slightest bit difficult).
Open Plan Design
It's almost like traditional dental braces have an open plan design and are made of numerous different components. Your Invisalign is a thermoplastic aligner consisting of a solid unit, which slots snugly over your upper or lower dental arch, and this is where some people can encounter problems (if they're not careful).
A Brief Period
You're only supposed to take your Invisalign aligners out of your mouth for a brief period each day, or essentially how long it takes you to eat three meals per day. Once you've finished eating, your aligners should go back into your mouth. That being said, there's an important step you shouldn't overlook before putting them back.
Clean Your Teeth
Before your aligners are put back into position, you must thoroughly clean your teeth. Failure to do so can leave food particles and harmful biofilm (oral bacteria) on the surfaces of your teeth. Once the aligners are reinserted, these troublemakers can get trapped against your dental enamel since saliva cannot flow freely beneath the necessarily snug fit of your aligners.
Saliva
Your saliva acts as an irrigation system of sorts, although saliva movement is largely impossible beneath the aligners. This means that bacteria and food particles will not be circulated and can begin to attack your teeth. If putting your aligners into your mouth without cleaning your teeth becomes a habit, it's theoretically possible for these agents to compromise the quality of your teeth.
Your Invisalign certainly won't contribute to tooth decay, however, neglecting to brush your teeth before putting the aligners back into your mouth has the potential to put your teeth at risk.
Contact a local orthodontist to learn more about Invisalign braces.
Share5 April 2021
When I had my first child, I was a nervous wreck. Every book I read gave different advice, and I just wanted to be right! By the time I had my third child, some of the stress had abated. I now realised, there were tons of different perspectives on everything related to raising children including dentistry. To help parents, I have created this blog dedicated to unraveling dental myths about children. I am including posts that weigh both sides of issues such as thumb sucking, dental caries, breastfeeding, flossing and any other topic I can think of. I hope you find the information you need to unravel dental myths, but most importantly, I hope you find some peace of mind. With kids and dentistry, there can be more than one right answer, and I want you to be able to relax and go with the answer that's right for you.
