A Guide for Clear Aligner Patients

1. Aligners must be worn at least 22 hours every day in order for the treatment to be successful. This means full-time (day and night!), except for eating, drinking, and brushing your teeth.
2. The number of days that each set of aligners should be worn is typically 1-2 weeks. The exact number of days depends on the difficulty of tooth movements. Please follow the number of days recommended by the orthodontist. When in doubt continue to wear the current tray until seeing your orthodontist before progressing to the next aligner.
3. Do NOT move to the next aligner if the aligners are not fitting properly. Be sure that the aligners are completely seated on your teeth. The aligners should fit snug to your teeth where no space is visible between the plastic aligner and the tooth. Using ‘chewies’ to help seat the aligners allows the plastic to grip the tooth better.
4. Should I throw away old aligners? PLEASE KEEP THE PREVIOUS ALIGNER. For example, if you are moving on to the 4th set of aligners, please keep the 3rd set of aligners. The doctor may need you to go back to those aligners if the current aligners are not tracking as anticipated or if you lose the current set. 
5. ALWAYS brush before placing the aligners in! The aligners completely cover all of your teeth. Poor oral hygiene may result in cavities, gingivitis, and poor oral health. If unable to maintain good oral hygiene, treatment may need to be paused for the health of the patient.
6. Do NOT bite the aligners into place. This may crack the aligners and require additional aligners to be fabricated. This requires additional costs and extended treatment time. Seat the aligners with your fingers and take them out with your fingers or the prescribed aligner removing tool.
7. When removing the aligners be sure to place them in the cases dispensed to you at the start of treatment. Very often patients lose aligners in napkins that are thrown away at places like restaurants. If you have pets certainly do not leave them out of the case; pupperinos love to chew them up!

Each set of aligners are meant to be worn for 1-2 weeks before progressing to the next set. Despite this change, the aligners may discolor or develop an odor if patients do not take care of the aligner.

We recommend rinsing the aligners under water when possible and brushing your teeth as well as the aligners, especially if any food debris is noticed on the aligners.

The aligners may be soaked in a cleaning solution for 10-15 minutes as needed.