Can Invisalign Cause Cavaties Due to the Teeth Being Covered, Not Exposed to Saliva?

While saliva is essential to buffer and remineralize teeth, Invisalign shouldn't affect you.  Invisalign must be removed to eat and pts need to brush after every meal, otherwise your fear is true.  If a person ate and immediately replaced their aligners, then the teeth would bathe in the acidic meal or acidic drink.  This is bad.  But if the debris and acid residue from meals and drinks are washed/brushed away, there is no need for the buffering of the saliva, you did it all mechanically.

When patients follow directions and don't snack between meals, only drink water while wearing the aligners and brush after every meal, they not only have no decay, but many lose a little weight (no snacks and only water between meals).

I am an Elite Provider, and have treated almost 500 cases, none of my patients have ever gotten a cavity during treatment.

There are many reason you could get a cavity during treatment. One of which could be the missing buffer of your saliva on the teeth. This is easily overcome by increasing your water intake while wearing your trays.

The most important thing to do is brush your teeth after you eat each meal with toothpaste and clean your trays well so there is no plaque or bacteria on them either.

Other good ideas include fluoride mouth rinses before bedtime or leaving a little toothpaste in your tray after brushing-also helps with bad breath and stinky trays.

There has been found no statistically significant increase in decay or stains under Invisalign aligners.  Only water should be consumed with aligners in and also no smoking.  Aligners should be taken out, whenever any other foods or drinks are consumed and then the teeth need to be brushed before aligners are replaced and the aligner should also be bushed.  Flossing at least once a day and the use of fluoride mouth rinses are important.

In fact, I find the opposite.  Most of my patients wearing invisalign are so excited about the entire experience there is a noticeable improvement in their oral hygiene.  Yes, saliva is an important part of oral health, but the reason people get cavities is because they eat too much of the "wrong" foods and do not brush & floss enough.  When you are wearing your aligners you are not snacking, eating as much, and as I mentioned you usually brush/floss more.  Although I have never seen it, I suppose you could get more cavities while wearing aligners, if you don't brush/floss and eat a lot of sticky, sugary sweets.  When you are considering Invisalign treatment, you are evaluated by a Dentist,.  During this initial visit, your Dentist is checking to see if you are a good candidate for treatment; will you be compliant with eating, brushing, flossing, cleaning appointments?  Ideally, you will not even start Invisalign unless you demonstrate great oral habits and commitment.  Good Luck.

With proper oral hygiene Invisalign should not cause an increase in tooth decay.  In fact, we find that patients who are being treated with invisalign are more aware of their need for oral hygiene and are less prone to indulge in snacks/ sweets. This in turn decrease their chances of developing tooth decay.  I hope this helps.  All the best!