What to Buy When You Receive Invisalign
Let’s say you need to fix your wobbly teeth as an adult and your orthodontist has assigned you Invisalign (or its competitors ClearCorrect or Orthoclear). They’ll give you some clear plastic aligners, a pair of cases, and maybe some Retainer-Brite. But you must also buy this:
Go
Every time you eat, you take out the aligners and then brush your teeth before putting them back in. You will brush your teeth in restaurants, in the workplace, maybe even in bars. You will need a portable dental kit that will fit in your purse or coat pocket.
Compact Toothbrush: You can use a regular toothbrush, but it will double the size of your carry bag. Get a foldable toothbrush or whatever these brushes are . Use soft bristles to avoid brushing too much.
Small Toothpaste: Get some airport-sized toothpastes. I buy Sensodyne 6 each .
Cleaning wipes: for disinfecting aligners. Most of the time I don’t use them, I just rinse the aligners, maybe it’s disgusting. Buy a box .
Lip balm: Your lips will dry out.
Carrying Bag: You can get this ugly plastic case or an inconspicuous cloth bag. A pencil case is too narrow for your aligner, and most cosmetic cases are too large. I use the perfect but discontinued MUJI cotton pouch. The best alternatives I’ve found are the MUJInylon pouch or this HaloVa cotton pouch .
Ask your orthodontist to purchase all dental supplies for free. You pay about two thousand dollars, they honestly have to give you a complete ready-made travel kit.
Houses
Floss: You should always floss, but with Invisalign, you really should floss . You cover your teeth all day, isolating them from natural cleansing saliva, so you really need to cleanse those suction cups. You can also get tiny travel strands for your purse to carry, but who has time to floss twice a day?
Extra Alignment Case: Your Invisalign comes with two cases: one for your current set of aligners, and one for your last set (in case you lose or break your current ones). But you will be using one of these cases in your travel kit, so grab the third one for your bathroom cabinet. They come in a variety of colors.
Retainer Brite: to keep your Invisalign invisible. (It is. No one will notice your aligners. They will just notice that you carry in your bathroom purse all the time.) You can use them every night or once a week. Buy a box.
Cleaning Case : Gives your aligners more room to absorb Retainer Brite. Optional. Sold as a prosthetic bath .
Aligner Saddles: Presumably chewing on these rubber tubes, also known as “gum”, helps to fit snugly against the aligners. Use them the first couple of nights after each new set of aligners. Buy only odorless .
Tylenol: Your teeth may hurt the first day after each new aligner. Do not take Ibuprofen (Advil or Motrin) or Naproxen (Aleve). These are anti-inflammatory drugs that slow down the process of changing teeth . However, acetaminophen (Tylenol) works great. Put in new aligners before bed, take two Tylenol tablets and let the first pain go away at night.
If you are thinking of Invisalign, don’t be intimidated! Invisalign is just a small and constant pain in the butt, and it’s still easier and more enjoyable than braces (not to mention a chronic condition). I’ll cover everything in a later post.