Safety of Plastic Used in Invisalign Devices?

Hi Sam

In my practice I have alot of patients who want to know about the relative safety of products. The main material in the trays is:

Polyurethane from methylene diphenyl diisocyanate and 1,6-hexanediol   and there are additives that aren't disclosed. Your dentist can print out the MSDS from the Invisalign website.   Most of us would rather drink out of a glass cup than a plastic one so no plastic aligner material is perfect. In general, it is a long chain polymer and factory made so the degree of curing is very high and thus little leaching of material would occur. For people with chemical sensitivity, skin patch testing is not showing up any reaction. For people that are concerned about potential chemicals, I suggest they store the aligner they are going to wear next for a few days in tap water - it can't hurt and might help.

I have had other patients inquire about this and I am also not a fan of plastics in general. However, in the years of using Invisalign as a safe and effective treatment with my patients, I have never had an adverse reaction to the material. It is factory-produced long chain polymer material (BPA-free) and i have not experienced any adverse reactions by patients in their use. I always advise patients to avoid wearing the aligners with hot liquids and they should always wash their new aligners prior to insertion in the mouth.

There has never bneen a report of any harm from the plastic. It is FDA approved non reactive plastic making it safe for the patient.