Braces versus Retainers: A Comprehensive Overveiw

3 Tips To Ensure Your Beverage Choices Do Not Affect Your Invisalign

10 January 2022 by Lonnie Bryant

Invisalign aligners are popular for teeth adjustments due to their almost invisible appearance. However, these aligners may quickly become damaged or stained through your daily choices. As part of these choices, your drinking habits affect the appearance of your Invisalign, so consider these three tips before you open that next beverage can or bottle.

Alcohol

An alcoholic drink at the end of each day is a choice enjoyed by 5% of Australians, but your choice of alcohol affects your Invisalign. Love a glass of red wine? This alcohol choice turns teeth into a rainbow of colours, including purple, blue, brown or grey. Red wine contains tannin and natural dyes from grapes that stain teeth. These two substances also colour the polyurethane material of the aligners. Choose white wine or clear spirits for your evening tipple to avoid alcohol staining issues.

Milk

Milk may seem harmless for a non-alcoholic drink choice, but is it? Milk contains natural sugar in the lactose component of this beverage. Milk sugars trapped between your teeth and the Invisalign create cavities. Even worse, if you prefer flavoured milk, this causes cavities and aligner stains when trapped on the teeth. If you feel the urge for a tall, cold glass of milk, one non-staining option is to drink it through a straw. A straw moves the milk past the teeth without causing issues.

Coffee Or Tea

Hot drinks such as coffee or tea have a double whammy effect on your aligners. Firstly, these drinks both contain tannins that stain the teeth over time, in a similar vein to how red wine does. Secondly, the heat of the drinks melts the aligner mould, which changes the aligner's shape, making them less effective for moving teeth. If you cannot live without tea or coffee, consider drinking these cold rather than hot.

Outside of these tips, there are two things you can do to reduce the chance of your beverage choices affecting your Invisalign:

1. Remove your Invisalign each time you drink a beverage that is not water. However, remember that 20 to 22 hours a day is the recommended wear time for Invisalign to be effective, so be aware of how long the aligner is out of the mouth when drinking.
2. Before putting your aligner back in, rinse your mouth with cold water to remove all sugar and other chemicals from the teeth. This rinsing process stops particles trapped between the teeth and the Invisalign.

Using these tips and advice from your dentist helps make your Invisalign perform at its most effective.

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