Metal Mouth Message Board

I assumed that everyone just had the standard 14 day cycle with each new set of trays-- but I've been noticing while reading here that some people have as few as 10 days in their cycles.

Can anyone tell me what determines this? Does it just vary depending on what your dentist's or ortho's preferences are?

I assume it depends on the type of movements and how the teeth respond to the treatment.
I was on a 14 day plan during my initial treatment but for my refinement process I actually was allowed to change every 7 days, because my teeth easily moved and heeled during the initial treatment.
This is a guess though...

Hi Everyone,

I was about to ask about this myself. I went to see my orthodontist last week to collect my next sets of aligners (6-10). He had mentioned the possibility of moving from a 14 day cycle to a 12 day one when I saw him for attachments at aligner set 1. For me, this change would mean that I'd be at my penultimate pair of aligners on my wedding day as opposed to 3-4 away. He gave me the go ahead to try the 12 day cycle but he clearly thought carefully about this - it wasn't an automatic thing. He told me to give it a bit more time with the previous ones if the new ones just seem too tight. What are other peoples' experience of this?

I am feeling positive about it because 1) my teeth do feel like they stop moving after 10-11 days and 2) when I was a teenager and had fixed metal braces, I was told it would take 18 months to move my teeth and it actually took only 11 months so I have may have fast-moving pegs. Not that it lasted though, hence why I'm here

After doing a bit more reading on here, there seem to be a few factors involved.

Peggy, I think you're right that some orthos may recommend shortening the cycles if teeth are moving quickly.

It looks like compliance is also a factor. Someone on here mentioned in previous thread that their ortho wanted them to wear each set of aligners for 280 hours altogether. If a person was wearing their aligners for 22 hours a day, this would come to approximately 12 days of wear-- whereas if a person was wearing their aligners for 20 hours per day, it would be about 14 days.

I'm hoping one of the doctors who post on this site can provide us with some more clarification and insight.

I have a 3 week cycle - at least until we see how my teeth move. So far it takes the whole 3 weeks for them to move the proper amount for the next tray to fit. I have a bit more complex case tho I think. I have an overbite, which I know they can't totally correct with invisalign, but along with the overbite my front teeth are bucked and there are crooked teeth and gaps - so at the very least they would be straight and no gaps even if there is still a bit of an overbite.

I think it all depends on how fast your teeth move and the complexity of your case and what they're trying to do.

The amount of time required per aligner is going to depend on a variety of factors. Some of them include hours of compliance per day, type of movement required, individual biological and physical variation, and amount of movement requested by the doctor for each stage. Keep in mind that tooth movement requires a continuous amount of wear time, not just a total number of hours of wear (eg, it is not ok to wear the aligners half time for 4 weeks).

Only your doctor knows how much movement is supposed to occur with each aligner. He/she should also be monitoring the tracking of the aligners for a few appointments before making any modifications to the aligner-wear schedule.

Invisalign is a technique, not a product that is cookie-cutter for all people. An experienced provider can help determine what is best for each individual person.

Good luck!

My orthodontist told me if I ate meals with my aligner in, I could wear each aligner for 10 days. If I wanted to take it out to eat, it would be 14 days each. I went with the first option. I am now on aligner 29 of 33 and my ortho is delighted with my results. I wear each aligner for 23.5 hours a day.
(I do, of course, take my aligner out and clean it and my teeth immediately after eating.)

I'll be moving to a 10 day cycle at some point. Don't remember exactly but I think around the halfway point.

So 8 x 14 = 112, and 8 x 10 = 80. The 10 day cycle in the second half would take a month off the initial treatment.