Safest alcohol to drink with invisalign

[bpp]

Every few weeks I'll have alcohol. Been going with gin and tonics and avoiding beer. I make sure to take the Aligners off and rinse after every drink. If you had to pick the safest alcoholic beverage to drink what would it be? Obviously not drinking wit them on is the best idea ... But let's say you drank with them in..

[thegoodfight]

I dont know how you do it, my mouth just feels like its decomposing after even a bit of sugery / acidic drinks, trying to find the best balance between wearing them enough and drinking what i want because i cant stand it.

[Sunny]

The only thing safe to drink is water. Anything else and you risk ruining your teeth permanently ... which is a huge shame when you're paying good money to have them aligned.

[GoofyGG]

Every few weeks???? LOL - I drink white wine 3 times a week. I'll have a glass then take the trays out to let nature do it's job for 15 mins then put them back in.

In my defence I do brush, floss and mouth wash several times a day.

I'll let you know how many cavities I end up with...

[Salz]

Just take them out when you go drinking for a few hours. I go drinking 2-3 times a week and leave them out sometimes 4-5 hours each time and my orthodontist said I'm making excellent progress. It's not worth risking damage to your enamel.

[bpp]

Just take them out when you go drinking for a few hours. I go drinking 2-3 times a week and leave them out sometimes 4-5 hours each time and my orthodontist said I'm making excellent progress. It's not worth risking damage to your enamel.

how do you get your 22 hours a day?!

[Salz]

I don't. I cheat a few times a week but on the days when I don't go out they're probably on 23 hours a day. I don't lose out on much.

[thegoodfight]

One thing that doesn't make much sense to me with this whole 22 hours thing and potential relapse of teeth is at the end of your treatment and you move to 12 hours a day, what stops potential relapse then ? why are they less likely to move in there final position than at any other point ? plenty of people seem to complain about teeth still moving / retainers been tight at that point.

[Sunny]

I'm not totally sure I understand your question thegoodfight, but I hope this helps.

The 22 hours a day is the best way to have your teeth move. This is the active stage when move is required to happen due to pressure, then bone is encouraged to rebuild during less movement in preparation for the next movement. This is what's recommended for the health of the roots of your teeth. Aslo healthy is wearing the aligners for longer than the recommended time, of you've been short of the 22 hours per day for a few days.

When active treatment is completed teeth need to be retained for the rest of your life. Following the active treatment, is a period where the bone around the teeth becomes more stable. For this to happen retainers need to be worn full time, maybe for three months, six months or a year. This is similar to the 22 hours a day, but instead of teeth having to go through active movement, they're not being encouraged to move at all.

Next comes a period of reduced retainer wear. By this stage, the bone should have rebuilt and your teeth should be stable. Of course there are still outside risks ... eg your bite, eating hard foods, the way your drink, your tongue, your cheeks etc. These 'outside risks' can also cause your teeth to move over time ... another reason for retainers for life. When the teeth are stable, it's about stopping movement that can occur due to the natural progress of teeth and also these outside risks. Good alignment for most people can be kept by wearing retainers two or three nights are week, although ome people will require nightly wear.

Teeth are less likely to move in their final position, due to the bone around them being stable ... as long as the roots are in a good position and there 'outside risks' are minimal.

I hope this helps thegoodfight.

[ChicagoJohn]

Great explanation Sunny!

I have had the occasional glass of white wine or beer with my aligners in, but I make it a point to get to a sink asap and take them out and rinse as often as possible if I'm drinking something with them on. Although lately, since I'm on my last couple of refinement trays, I've been just relaxing the wear time a slight bit if I'm somewhere that involves social drinking rather than drinking with them in. That's because my final appointment with the dentist is scheduled for several weeks after I'm done with the last refinement tray. So, instead of the two weeks wear time, by my own choice I've been wearing my final 2 trays for 3 weeks just to make up for the extra bit of socializing that I will be doing over the Holidays.