Is There a High Risk Of Cavities With Invisalign?

One of the advantages of invisalign, besides cosmetic, is abiltiy to remove the aligners and brush and floss teeth.  Braces makes this process difficult since they are not removable. All you have to do is remove the trays if you eat or drink anything except water. Do not eat or drink acidic drinks with the aligners in.  As an addendum to this....alginers make it easy to maintain good oral health, but you must brush and floss after eating or the particles from food left in the mouth will turn into bacteria under the aligners, leading eventually to decay.  So Brush, Floss and Rinse after you eat and also remember to clean your aligners.

One of the main advantages and selling points of invisalign over traditional braces is exactly this issue of oral hygiene. All you do is take the trays out and brush and floss as normal.Many patients are thrilled since taking care of your teeth with braces is much more difficult. 

One of the main advantages and selling points of invisalign over traditional braces is exactly this issue of oral hygiene.  All you do is take the trays out and brush and floss as normal.

The cavity occurrance rate during Invisalign or ClearCorrect treatments is completely controlled by the patient.  It is imperative that you do not eat or drink anything other than water with the trays in your mouth.  Otherwise, you will be more susceptible to cavities.

I instruct my patients to remove their aligners prior to eating or drinking anything other than water. If the patient cannot brush following a meal or snack, I recommend leaving the aligners out of the mouth until proper brushing and flossing can be done.

One major advantage of the Invisalign system is that you can keep your mouth as clean as if you didn't have braces.  They are completely removable and you can brush and clean as you normally would.  The system cannot accomplish everything that brackets can, but it is good for most minor cases of crowding.  Invisalign has 10 percent of the market and they are hoping to increase it to 25%.  In each set of aligners there is about $500 dollars worth of cost they spend on marketing!  

Generally speaking, it is easier to brush with Invisalign so cavities are less common.  However, if one doesn't brush after a meal or swish with water after an acidic drink, the Invisalign aligners will trap the acids, food or bacteria.  This WOULD lead to a higher risk of decay.