My dentist gave me whitening gel to use with invisalign trays - I have about 3 months left in my initial trays. However, I have a number of attachments and assume all those teeth would have uneven whitening, and due to one tooth not quite moving down as far as predicted, there is some space on one of my teeth that isn't covered by the tray at all now. Should I forget about whitening until I get attachment removed and new trays or retainer or do it now and let dentist touch-up afterwards?
Whitening with Invisalign Tray and Attachments?
Doctor Answers 9
Hi. . I would not recommend bleaching with attachments on your teeth. The area of the attachment is a composite and will not lighten, and thus your teeth will be 2 different shades. If you want to lighten your teeth during your course of invisalign, ask the doctor to remove the attachments for a short time while you whiten your teeth.
Just recently a new study came out showing the attachments do not affect the effectiveness of the bleach. However, you do say there is a cut out on your aligner that is not covering the tooth. For sure, in that case, the bleach will not reach that area. That area not covered by the try may be insignificant. Still, it is possible to bleach more later to cover that area.
You will probably find that you want to bleach more in the future anyway.
In my experience, the attachments do not affect the ability of the gel to whiten at all. Go ahead and whiten during Invisalign treatment. You've already got the trays in all day, so use that time to get the color right while you're at it!
JW
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One of the great things abouth invisalign is that you can use your aligners or trays to whiten your teeth. It has been proven that it will look evenly even with attachments on. Go ahead and enjoy a brighter smile!
I have whitened teeth while using Invisalign trays on my patients. I try to pick an attachment shade that will match the final shade we are striving for, and have the patient use a gentle whitening gel, because we are not going for speed. I always seem to find that the small spots left over after removing the attachments are much smaller than the surface size of the attachments themselves, most likely due to leeching of the gel under the attachment. These spots are easily and quickly remedied with another short whitening session.
If you want to whiten while wearing Invisalign with attachments you may do so with bleaching solution worn in the trays. The trays themselves may visually mask some of the whitening achieved by the bleaching, so if you are wearing the trays as recommended (22 hours per day) some of the effect of whitening might be lost. You could also wait until you are finished with Invisalign. There seems to be some variation of opinion about whether bleaching works under bonded attachments ... but if you notice any uneven bleaching once the attachments are removed it would be a simple matter to touch up the tooth color with an episode of bleaching once you have finished with active Invisalign.
strange as it sounds, studies have shown that the teeth will bleach evenly, even under the attachments so it should be possible to bleach with the attachments on...of course you can also wait until you are in retainers
We usually recommend that whitening be
completed after treatment when the attachments are removed so that the
attachments do not interfere with the bleaching solution reaching the teeth.
Using Invisalign aligners to bleach teeth is an advantage of Invisalign over conventional braces. It works great. You don't have to worry about attachments interfering with the bleaching process as the bleaching process is an internal process and consequently won't be adversly affected by the attachments.
Good luck!
These answers are for educational purposes and should not be relied upon as a substitute for medical advice you may receive from your physician. If you have a medical emergency, please call 911. These answers do not constitute or initiate a patient/doctor relationship.
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