Invisalign experience?

Francl27
Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm getting Invisalign in a couple weeks and I'm dreading it a bit... I'm a big snacker. It's going to be really odd not to have snacks anymore. Mostly going to miss sipping on my tea for an hour at a time though. It will be nice though to just brush my teeth, put them back in, and just not be able to eat anything until the next meal... I'm guessing I'll have way more calories available at dinner :laugh:

Has anyone else got them and how did it impact your diet?

Replies

  • christineellis
    christineellis Posts: 296 Member
    I got Invisalign on February 19th of this year, just a week after I re-dedicated myself to losing weight. Yes, it is a hassle not being able to luxuriously sip your coffee or tea all day. But, I find it nice to have the added benefit of not being able to snack at will! That was one of the reasons for my timing of this.

    I am scheduled to continue with the Invisalign trays through October of this year. By then I should be finished with my weightloss phase and into maintenance. My eating habits should be well established and I am hoping it will help me keep the weight off!

    It has certainly helped with the losing phase. :smile:

    Good luck on your decision!
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Yeah I'm hoping that after months of it, I'll be used to just eating 3 meals a day. Just going to be weird because I've never done that... but at the same time I won't have to worry about too much snacking and not being able to eat much for dinner anymore.

    Kinda looking forward to it.
  • ninav1980
    ninav1980 Posts: 514 Member
    be thankful. I have full on braces and it sucks. At least you can take them on and off to eat. Its a whole ordeal when I want to snack on something, the flossing, brushing.... ughhh

    by the way, it wont make you lose weight if thats what you are thinking, yeah its a hassle, but where there is a will there is a way. You will eat as needed, lol. It is way to easy for you especially since all you have to do is take them out, and bam, you can eat freely.
  • karmasays
    karmasays Posts: 82 Member
    I had Invisalign back in 2008/2009. It really wasn't that much of a hassel at all, it'll stop you from mindless snacking tho! I still had snacks between my meals, I would just rinse my mouth out and avoid snacks that could get a lot of particles between your teeth. I would brush after my main meals (you could also just floss beween meals and snacks).

    I recommend putting in your new aligners at night time, so the vast majority of teeth movement is done overnight.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    I'll definitely do that, thanks for the tip.
  • janine2355
    janine2355 Posts: 628 Member
    I'm getting Invisalign in a couple weeks and I'm dreading it a bit... I'm a big snacker. It's going to be really odd not to have snacks anymore. Mostly going to miss sipping on my tea for an hour at a time though. It will be nice though to just brush my teeth, put them back in, and just not be able to eat anything until the next meal... I'm guessing I'll have way more calories available at dinner :laugh:

    Has anyone else got them and how did it impact your diet?
    What's invisalign? Do tell...
  • One2Run
    One2Run Posts: 63 Member
    I just graduated this past Tuesday, and am on night retainers only. What was supposed to be "16-20 mos" was 30 mos. the orthos don't mention the refinements. Oh, and the 6 mos of 20/7 retainer wear after you are done to "set" the teeth in their new place. :P I also had regular braces for 3 mos on top, and can say without a doubt that for as much as Invisalign is a PITA, it's way better than the alternative.

    See my ticker, that was my Invisalign experience. I gave up caffeine a month before getting Invisalign so I wouldn't need to deal with my morning tea. I also cut out all snacking. I had a good sized breakfast with lots of fibre to keep me full, then a solid lunch and dinner. I was pretty religious about brushing after every meal and snack.

    I am not sure what they will give you for cleaners, but I found a polident tablet once a day (I used the five minute ones in the morning) in a bowl of warm water keeps the gunk from building up. If you just brush with toothpaste, residue builds up, and also it leaves micro scratches that trap bacteria, and grow more gunk.

    I loved Invisalign as it curbed snacking at work, especially when people start passing around the crap at holidays or birthdays.

    Good luck, it will be over before you know it.
  • One2Run
    One2Run Posts: 63 Member
    I'm getting Invisalign in a couple weeks and I'm dreading it a bit... I'm a big snacker. It's going to be really odd not to have snacks anymore. Mostly going to miss sipping on my tea for an hour at a time though. It will be nice though to just brush my teeth, put them back in, and just not be able to eat anything until the next meal... I'm guessing I'll have way more calories available at dinner :laugh:

    Has anyone else got them and how did it impact your diet?
    What's invisalign? Do tell...

    Invisible braces in the form of moulded plastic (think night guard). You change them every 2 weeks, for *insert treatment length here* and voilà straighter teeth better smile.
  • Vune
    Vune Posts: 674 Member
    I did an express round of invisalign for 6 months (i had real braces for 5 years as a child), and what i remember most was that eating was pretty painful for a few days after getting a new tray. I was also active in theater at the time, and i would have to take it out during performances, so i had a built in tea time!
  • navyw1fe
    navyw1fe Posts: 313 Member
    I've been wearing invisalign since 11/23/13 and should be done mid Sept 2014..on tray 13 out of 21 top and bottom.. have 15 attachments in total but some teeth have more than 1. eat 3 meals a day and try to have my coffee with meals since I cant seen to give that up.. having 3 young kids I still need my coffee throughout the day lol.. I lost 20lbs 2 years ago and kept 90%of it off.. trying to loose 5-10 lbs by summer but since that's a month away im not sure how that's going to work!
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    I'm slowly trying to move to 3 meals a day but failing miserably, lol! I guess I'll need to have bigger everything. Going to be interesting. I should get my trays in less than 2 weeks, not sure how long I'll have to wear them though.
  • mc_hudd
    mc_hudd Posts: 47
    I had Invisalign for about a year & a half, about 5 years ago. I did find that I didn't snack as much as usual because of the hassle. However, I still drank whatever I wanted with my trays in, my dentist said it would be fine. I'm an all day "sipper" & always have some sort of drink with me. I would have probably had issues if I couldn't have drank while wearing my trays! It never caused any problems for me, teeth were whiter after treatment & trays didn't get stained. Good luck!
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    I just graduated this past Tuesday, and am on night retainers only. What was supposed to be "16-20 mos" was 30 mos. the orthos don't mention the refinements. Oh, and the 6 mos of 20/7 retainer wear after you are done to "set" the teeth in their new place. :P I also had regular braces for 3 mos on top, and can say without a doubt that for as much as Invisalign is a PITA, it's way better than the alternative.

    See my ticker, that was my Invisalign experience. I gave up caffeine a month before getting Invisalign so I wouldn't need to deal with my morning tea. I also cut out all snacking. I had a good sized breakfast with lots of fibre to keep me full, then a solid lunch and dinner. I was pretty religious about brushing after every meal and snack.

    I am not sure what they will give you for cleaners, but I found a polident tablet once a day (I used the five minute ones in the morning) in a bowl of warm water keeps the gunk from building up. If you just brush with toothpaste, residue builds up, and also it leaves micro scratches that trap bacteria, and grow more gunk.

    I loved Invisalign as it curbed snacking at work, especially when people start passing around the crap at holidays or birthdays.

    Good luck, it will be over before you know it.

    Actually it clearly specifies not to use tablets because it can damage them... so I'll just brush my teeth every time I put it back on and will brush it twice a day, we'll see.

    I had my first ones today. Ouch. It's not TOO bad when they are on, but when I take them off and put them back on, it really hurts for 15 minutes. Definitely going to stop the snacking for now... I actually wasn't that hungry today, might be all the extra saliva in my stomach or something... Already not too sure about that 'eating out' thing anymore though, it's going to be a drag, lol.

    It should last a year for me.
  • One2Run
    One2Run Posts: 63 Member
    It's because their product is the same and they want you to buy it. My ortho went to a seminar in Cali held by them and was told that pretty much. He gave it the thumbs up. You'd be surprised how quick gunk builds up, even with brushing.

    Do what works for you. I've had these retainers in for 9 mos now, and zero issues.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    What product? They're not asking me to buy anything, just to brush with toothpaste. We'll see.

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