Caring for your aligners

Brushing and hygiene

Oral hygiene when wearing aligners is very important. The primary way of cleaning your aligners is by placing them under cold running water and brushing them using a toothbrush (either manual or electric). It is better not to use toothpaste to clean your aligners (please still use toothpaste to clean your teeth), soap can be used as an alternative and the aligner cleaning crystals supplied in your aligner pack can also be used. A travel toothbrush can be helpful to have to hand when out of the house as it is helpful to brush your teeth following eating as food can otherwise become stuck in/around your aligners when you replace them after eating. Various products such as small ultrasonic cleaning baths are available to purchase as well as a range of different aligner cleaning tablets and crystals. Whilst these products might be of aid the simplest and primary way in which to clean your aligners is with regular and diligent tooth brushing both for your teeth and for your aligners.

Breakages or loss of aligners

Occasionally, usually when biting on something hard, one of your attachments might break. If this happens it is best to contact the clinic, and if possible send a picture of the area where the attachment has broken, as an additional appointment may be necessary to have a new attachment placed reattached. Upon fitting of your aligners an aligner storage box will be provided alongside your aligners, on occasions when you are not wearing your aligners they should be placed in this box for safekeeping. If you are to misplace your aligners then you should move on to wearing the next set of aligners in you aligner sequence. This set of aligners should be worn for twice the usual time however (for example, two weeks rather than one week) before progressing with further aligners. If possible you should wear the most recent set of aligners which you have available to hold your current tooth positions whilst awaiting advice.

Hours of wear

It is important to wear your aligners as much as is possible to ensure efficient and effective tooth movement. Aligners should be worn both at day time and night time, for a minimum of 22 hours in every 24 hour period. Aligners should be taken out for brush your teeth, for eating and for drinking anything other than plain water. Aligners should also be removed if playing contact sports or swimming. When aligners are not being worn they should be kept in your aligner box for safe keeping. Assuming full time wear of your aligners you should change to a new set of aligners as advised by your orthodontist (usually this will be every one to two weeks).

chewies

As you progress with your treatment and move through your sequence of aligners you might find that each new aligner in sequence begin to fit less well against the surfaces of some teeth. This might particularly be the case when a lot of movement is required for individual teeth or if you have been wearing your aligners less than the prescribed 22 hours per day. In this scenario use of Aligner Chewies can be helpful to improve the fit of your aligners. Chewies are small rubbery plastic pellets which are placed into your mouth and chewed on for 1-2 minutes each time you place your aligners into your mouth which thus helps in full seating the aligners against the teeth. Regular use of chewies as well as diligent wear of your aligners can greatly increase the efficiency of tooth movement with aligners.