As I mentioned in earlier posts, you cannot drink anything aside from water when you have your aligners on. You also need to wear them 20 to 22 hours a day, optimally 22 hours. For me my dentist said no less than 22 hours. I found that the amount of time I spend taking them off for eating, brushing, & my morning coffee comes very close to 2 hours a day (plus or minus a few minutes) ... and that's because I rush to eat and brush sometimes to meet my time regiment.
SO WHAT ABOUT THOSE SATURDAY NIGHTS OUT DRINKING?
You are suppose to take your aligners out to drink anything aside from water. But you need to wear them 22 hours a day. There is NO WAY both these objectives can be accomplished simultaneously. I went out with my friends one night and we're at a lounge. I had all three of my meals that day, a process that took up about 1 hour and 30 minutes. I had 30 minutes to drink and brush. So what does that mean, I can only have 1 drink? That's no fun! Especially for someone like me who has a huge APPETITE FOR LIFE. I ordered my Pinot Griggio and thought to myself:
Option 1: I could take them off, have 1 drink, brush my teeth, and hangout.
Option 2: I could drink with them on, and just take them off to brush when I'm done drinking for the night.
Either way, you're getting sugar on your teeth and you're going to brush it off at the end of the night anyway, so what's the harm? So I proceeded with option 2 and ever since then, I drink with my aligners on. After a few drinks, I brush my teeth, brush my aligners, rinse my mouth RIGHT AWAY. No harm so far ... but if my teeth start falling out, I'll let you guys know so that you don't make the same mistake lmao.
[UPDATE]
Thanks to Xtina [http://xtina81.blogspot.com/], I want to point out one thing. The only alcoholic beverage I drink is white whine. If you guys are vodka cranberry drinkers, this will stain your aligners. If you don't want to take your aligners off to drink, stick to non-colored or neutral colored beverages ... & have a great Saturday night out on the town.
I do occasionally drink with them in. (By that I mean maybe once a week.) Another reason you aren't supposed to drink anything with them in is so they don't stain. But I use a straw to prevent this and then brush my teeth when I'm done drinking. Anyway, if they do stain, you're only wearing them at most for 2 weeks, not a huge problem unless they're really a weird color! :)
ReplyDeletehaha ! The only thing i drink is white whine to i figured that wouldn't be too much damage as far as staining is concerned. I'd never have a vodka cranberry with the aligners on - wouldn't want to walk around with red aligners for 2 weeks! Thanks for pointing that out! I guess naturally I don't drink anything colored except coffee (which i take my aligners off to drink). By the way, your blog topics are so interesting. I really enjoyed reading them!
ReplyDeleteWell, thank you, so nice to hear :)
DeleteThe invisalign usa website now states you can drink a moderate amount of alcohol with them on and my ortho says you can have tea/coffee as long as the drinks luke warm to avoid it warping the aligners.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't want to take them off after drinking and brush right away though because the acid would have weakened your enamel. I take them off and rinse my mouth with water every drink or 2 then at the end of the night I leave them off for 30 mins while drinking a bottle of water before I brush.
Thanks Dan, thats great advice! Question though, the tea/coffee doesn't stain your aligners?
ReplyDeleteThat's the only reason I take it off because I have been drinking iced coffee most of the time so I wasn't too worried about warping the plastic. However now that winter is coming, I may start drinking more hot beverages lol
As far as drinking alcohol, I think I might start doing what you're doing and drink water with it. Great idea.