Eating with Invisalign in?

[SeaNile]

Not looking to eat a full meal but is there anything that can be eaten with the trays in?

[DrJasonKTam]

There are some orthodontists that ask patients to wear their aligners when they eat. They feel that it allows the aligners to seat well when biting, similar to how chewies work.

The key is that the aligners and teeth still need to be cleaned after food is eaten to prevent issues with decay and staining. Therefore, if you're looking to find a way to sneak in a snack with aligners on, it isn't going to save you much time. In fact, it's entirely possible that it will be more difficult to clean the aligners and teeth with food lodged in them. Hope this helps!

[SeaNile]

Good points! Might be easier to just take them out after all.

--JK

[Bellalalala]

I eat with mine in all the time

[myhollywoodsmile]

Wow, my orthodontist told me that I should never ever eat with them in, or drink anything other than water.
What happens after you eat? Aren't your aligners full of food?
It is interesting how different the instructions given by different orthodontists are!

[johnnyk]

Only once for me.. I tried to eat some biscuits when I was at a training course, I was starving! I went to have a look in the bathroom mirror after I finished eating and my aligners were full of crumbs! It wasnt pretty.

never again

[KUMonkeyMomma]

Mine told me only water or clear/light colored sugar free liquid such as lemonade crystal ice (brand name in the US) and other sugar free drink mixes that are light in color as well as diet ginger ale or lemon/lime soda, etc.

I tried to eat once or twice with them (nothing hard - I think it was yogurt) but it was all in the aligner too, so I still had to go brush and such so really didn't save me any time other than the 5 mins it took me to eat it. I suppose if you ate a small snack like yogurt or pudding, etc a bunch of times a day where it causes you to have your aligner out way too much then it might be a way to wear it longer and only have it out for a few mins for the cleaning. I can't imagine the average person snacks so much that it would cause them to not wear the aligner the recommended amount of time most days.

[TinySmiley]

Once, I had a yogurt drink with my aligners on and it was a weird, it felt like the yogurt drink was all in my aligners, so I never did it again. Since then, I only have water.

[Robin8]

I just had my first appt yesterday and asked the ortho about this.

He said that I should leave the aligners in when I eat & drink and only take them out for cleaning. It's even ok to have them in for my couple of hot coffee in the morning.

It's not about saving time/effort on removal the aligners, but rather have them in as much as possible. In my case, I'm a slow eater so I take about 3 hours a day to do all the eating, drinking, sipping, snacking, night-cap, etc. This means at least 10% more time wearing the aligners.

I have to now wait for the aligners to come in & then try eating/drinking with them in. Hopefully, it won't be too difficult & messy. My ortho is a premier provider elite & he teaches other orthos about Invisalign.

[stickytiff]

I eat with mine in all the time

are you able to bite apples, or meat? can you chew meat well enough to swallow? just curious, tried it once and seemed impossible

[louw27]

My ortho said it's ok to eat with them in but to be honest I can't manage all that well with anything other than porridge / banana etc.
I usually take them out to eat but drink pretty mich anything with them in.

[newsazzysmile15]

i started out following the rules very strictly, but as I get used to them I have started to relapse!

I lost half a stone the first few weeks and people kept asking if i was ok as I was looking a bit thin and they never saw me eat, and as I didn't want to say to everyone why I was no longer snacking it got a bit hard. So I now tend to eat little snacks with them in during the day when i'm in the office and out with friends as it helps retain the normality of it all. I can easily eat all fruit, cereal, yoghurt, biscuits and sweets with them in and it causes no problems at all! Doesnt even leave any obvious food under the aligner. I obviously brush them as soon as i can though just to make sure i'm not damaging my teeth. I think if you practise, it is really easy to eat with them in as they are very strong. It also means you have them out less time and the biting down actually seems to help them fit better!

As for drinking....that was far too difficult to give up so I drink white wine, gin, vodka etc with ease and just wash the aligners thoroughly at the end of the evening.

I think that when this involves changing routines for 18+months it is really hard to not keep some of the normalities of life going if it seems to not affect the treatment....in my case it certainly was otherwise causing my friends some concerns as to why I only ever drank water and never seemed to eat!!!

[iSimple]

How about drinking tea? Wouldn't the aligners (plastic) will expand with heat? I'm a newbie (2nd day); so I have no idea what to expect lol

[newsazzysmile15]

I can't say I've ever had a hot drink/food as I think it might warp the aligner as you say, so just stick with cold things

[myhollywoodsmile]

If you are eating for 3 hours a day I would be worried about decay. During that time the food will get trapped between the aligner and your teeth and your saliva won't flush it away like it normally would without Invisalign.

Of course, you should go with what your ortho says so if they say it's ok I'm sure it is. My ortho was categoric though, no food whilst your aligners are in.