Your orthodontist or dentist starts by taking a mold of your mouth and teeth. Most Invisalign providers offer a digital experience with an intraoral scanner for the mold-taking process, while other companies, such as SmileDirectClub, send you an impression kit in the mail so you can make a mold from home. With this option, you receive the majority of your treatment, including the aligners, by mail.
If you’re working directly with your dentist or orthodontist, they will likely create a digital visualization of your post-treatment smile and develop a treatment plan for reaching your goal.
Pittsburgh cosmetic dentist Dr. Andy Shieh urges anyone considering treatment by mail to ask themselves one question: "Do you want a licensed dentist or orthodontist guiding and supporting your treatment journey?”
Experts agree that even if you’re going with a mail-order solution, you should still have your dental health evaluated beforehand, and then have regular orthodontic or dental appointments, to monitor your progress.
Each set of aligners applies a small amount of pressure to the teeth, creating gradual tooth movement. For the first few days after you switch to a new set (usually every two weeks), they may feel uncomfortable, like your teeth are being squeezed.
Over time, the pressure lessens, meaning your mouth is ready for a new set. Changing trays is like tightening braces: It needs to be done to make sure your teeth keep moving.
It’s important to wear your clear aligners as much as possible. Dentists recommend wearing them for at least 20 hours per day—ideally, 22 hours. You can take them out to eat, drink or brush your teeth, but the more you wear the aligners, the better and quicker results you’ll see.
Light, continuous force is most effective when moving teeth, so an interruption in wear will disturb the natural progression in movement and cause your teeth to shift back to their original position. Dentists on RealSelf report that patients who tried to wear their aligners for just 10–15 hours a day experienced slow, unpredictable tooth movement.
Be careful not to wear them while eating or drinking anything other than water or other cool, clear liquids. Food and colored drinks can stain the aligners and may stain your teeth. You’ll also need to regularly clean your aligners, using a special cleanser and gentle toothbrush.
If you have several teeth that need repositioning, misalignment in your bite, or not enough space to move your teeth, you might need a longer treatment period, with arch widening or tooth filing to create more space.
Dr. Megan Shelton, a dentist in Carlsbad, California, explains that “sometimes, it’s necessary to ‘file’ or slim a tooth or teeth to create space to rotate or align the teeth, which is called interproximal reduction [IPR]. The reason for doing this is that the teeth are larger than the space allotted for them, so space needs to be created by making the teeth slimmer or broadening your arch.”
If you have back tooth problems, require tooth rotation or vertical movement of teeth, or have existing bridgework, this may not even be an option.
