I am tossing up between lingual braces and invisalign. My ortho told me you only take the aligners out to eat and brush. I forgot to ask about swimming.
My question is can you swim and snorkel with them in? I train in a swim squad 2-4 hours a day, so if I took my aligners out to swim as well as eat I probably wouldnt be wearing them long enough each day.
Actually, my ortho told me not to swim with them in, as any bacteria in the pool get trapped in your mouth. Also, if you are anywhere near sand when you are snorkelling you need to take them out. I have tried this and it was an absolute nightmare, sand gets between your aligners and your teeth which I have been told is very bad for them.
Check with your own ortho though as they all seem to give different advice.
Seriously tho, i think this is a bit silly. If you're swimming in water it's going to get everywhere anyway. You'd clean your aligners when done, so i fail to see how aligners would cause any problem at all.
I doubt any study has been conducted in to the dangerous of wearing aligners and swimming, it's a none issue.
You might be right, I genuinely have no idea. I think the reason that my ortho would mention it here is because I live in Queensland Australia. It is very hot here, and almost everyone has a pool and spends a lot of time in the water.
It might therefore be more of an issue here, than elsewhere.
Greetings fellow queenslander my hollywoodsmile! I'm on the sunshine coast and spend hours each day in the water so I figured this was a sensible question.
I asked my ortho who said they hadnt really thought about it but it should be fine.
Thanks for that- good to know. I'll swim with them in then- perhaps my ortho is just a little overcautious. It will make it easier to stick to my 22 hours. Too cold for swimming this week anyway.. Only 29 degrees today here!
Being a Brit, i think you'll find i have just as much if not more experience with being in the water with my aligners. Of course, it's not a pool but a puddle. Thanks!
I didnt like swimming with them in on holiday - esp in the salt water, the water gets in to the trays and satses yucky, usually you'd spit the salt water out but with the trays was impossible to do. Guess pool water isnt so horrid. At the waterpark I never wore them either though just incase as I knew i'd get a mouthfull down each ride.
I snorkeled in them for the main reason i was neck deep in the ocean before i ever thought about it. Wasnt a problem for me at all. I was just very careful putting the snorkle in, teeth were a tad sore later.
