Hygiene benefits of Invisalign
Improved aesthetics should not be your only goal when making the decision to straighten your teeth. The notable benefits to your oral and overall health should also be considered.
From experience, some of us know how difficult it can be to maintain optimum oral health with crowded or crooked teeth.
Overcrowding, as well as spacing, can make brushing and flossing a challenge – and this can be disheartening as you may still be prone to plaque build-up and staining, no matter how diligent you are with your hygiene routine. Excessive plaque – and the calculus that develops from it – may increase the risk of periodontal disease and tooth decay, which can affect your overall health and wellbeing.
Using Invisalign to straighten your teeth will improve your ability to clean effectively, even during treatment (since the aligners are removable).
The only fixed components to Invisalign are tooth-coloured attachments bonded to certain teeth to allow greater movement in some areas. These attachments, which look like a small addition to your natural tooth surface and are removed at the end of treatment, are extremely east to clean and barely visible.
Anecdotal evidence suggest that people become more aware of their oral hygiene when they begin a course of treatment with Invisalign and they are more interested in improving and maintaining their oral health because it is so easy to do so. In addition, the visibility afforded by the clear aligners encourages the user to keep their teeth looking sparkly and clean.
Invisalign’s custom-made, removable aligners also allow you more freedom, as you can take them out to eat, drink, brush and floss. Fixed orthodontics, such as braces, do not permit this, often making eating and cleaning more difficult, and the choice of what to eat can be problematic, as particular foods tend to disturb the fixed components.
We encourage our patients to complete any outstanding dental treatment before they begin with Invisalign. But should the need for a filling arise, it can be completed during the Invisalign process, as long as the dentist performing the procedure makes sure the filling does not affect the fit of the custom-made aligners.
As far as regular scale-and-clean appointments are concerned, Invisalign makes these more convenient than they are with traditional braces as the aligners can be removed for the duration of the appointment.
And finally, your dentist can perform a thorough check-up while you are wearing Invisalign. As there are no metal components involved, routine x-rays can be taken and produced normally and accurately.
So, if you are somebody who has trouble cleaning their teeth due to crowding or spacing, or if you are concerned about the difficulty of eating and of cleaning your teeth during orthodontic treatment, Invisalign is likely to be the most practical, aesthetic and effective method of teeth straightening for you
Virtually the only complaint we hear from our Invisalign clients is that they wish they had started their treatment sooner.