You’re not alone if you’re feeling self-conscious about your crooked teeth. Every year, approximately one million people turn to Invisalign to straighten their teeth and improve their confidence in their looks.
Although the clear plastic is considered more comfortable than traditional braces, it’s normal to develop mild aches when you first start wearing your aligners and again when you switch to the next trays in your series. Continue reading to learn 3 tips to ease discomfort as your mouth adjusts!
Tip #1: Eat Soft Foods
Any treatment that exerts enough pressure on your teeth to move them has the potential to cause pain, and Invisalign is no exception. If your teeth and gums are already feeling tender, you might want to watch what you eat to avoid exacerbating your condition.
For example, you might avoid eating overly hard, crunchy, spicy, or hot foods and stick to soft foods instead. Popular choices include scrambled eggs, yogurt, applesauce, mashed potatoes, pudding, and cooked pasta. Then, as your mouth acclimates to your new trays, you can reintroduce more solid foods.
Tip #2: Switch to New Trays at Night
Your Invisalign trays are designed in advance and then provided to you at the appropriate time to stay on track with your treatment plan. You’ll wear each pair for 20 to 22 hours daily and then typically switch to a new set after about a week or two. This keeps your teeth from reverting to their previous positions while accounting for their ongoing movement.
It’s common to experience mild to moderate throbbing when you first insert your new trays, and the worst aches tend to strike in the first several hours of wearing them. If you make the switch at night, you can sleep through the initial discomfort so that when you wake in the morning, your teeth will already have acclimated.
Tip #3: Address Aches
There’s no real benefit in trying to “tough it out” when your mouth hurts. Sore teeth might keep you from wearing your aligners for the allotted time, allowing them to shift back to their starting places, which can potentially add weeks to your treatment.
Fortunately, taking over-the-counter medications like Tylenol or ibuprofen is usually safe to ease your discomfort. You can also pressing an ice pack to your cheeks for 15 minutes at a time, holding cold water in your mouth or sucking ice cubes for brief numbing reprieve.
If you experience prolonged or severe pain, contact your dentist to ensure that your Invisalign fits and is working as intended!
About the Practice
At Smile by Design of Virginia Beach, people of all ages benefit from a team of dentists eager to help them build and maintain a happy, healthy smile. They take the time to establish lasting relationships with patients so they can tailor treatment plans to meet even the most unique needs. Then, they combine a caring approach with state-of-the-art equipment to deliver accurate results intended to last. They can help with everything from basic preventive care to Invisalign to more complex procedures at one convenient location. You can request an appointment on the website or by calling (757) 499-9639.