how many hours do you wear you trays

[momof1]

Hi all,

I started Invisalign a few months ago. I am on a 2 week schedule. Just wondering, how many hours do you wear your trays? A while back, my ortho. mentioned that the minimum no. of hours is 20. I asked him again yesterday and he said that I should try to stick to 22 hours. I try to stick to 22 hours, but I am a slow eater. Between eating and brushing my teeth, I am having a hard time hitting the 22 hour mark. Many times, I am at 20 hours. I do add a few extra days to my two week schedule to make sure I have enough hours in though.

[jeni]

I am having some trouble hitting 22 hours, too. I am still trying to get into the groove since I have only been through 3 work days with them. I take them out for breakfast at work and then I get sidetracked by something, someone asks me a question, or someone wants me to go check out their latest computer problem. Before I know it, it has been a half hour and I haven't even finished my banana!!! I am getting 20 hours in for sure but most days have probably only been hitting 21.5 hours instead of 22.

[scorpetteFL]

I think I'm at 20. I'm a slow mover in the morning and for two hours I have them off while I drink coffee and get ready. Usually off for an hour for lunch and then at night for dinner. I seem to be making good progress, but I know I should wear them for 22....

[Ewok2000]

I try to wear them 20 hours a day but I've been bad at it throughout my treatment. Right now I'm at the end of my initial treatment and my teeth have moved according to schedule thankfully!

[PIMPmyTEETH]

interesting...im on aligner 2 and, so far, i'd say i'm averaging at least 22 hours a day. and, that's eating 5 times a day. they're usually out 20 min in the morning for breakfast and coffee, 20 min at lunch, 15 min for pre-dinner after work, 20 min for dinner, and another 15 min for a quick snack before bed.

so, that adds up to an hour and 30 mins. of course, there are some days that i go out for a meal and could have them out for anywhere from 30 min to an hour. so, i think i've been a very good boy, in terms of invisalign wear, anyway.

[momof1]

Wow. How do you eat 5x a day and still get in 22 hours? You must be a quick eater. Do you spend enough time brushing and flossing? I must say I am very obsessive about brushing and flossing. I must spend about 15 minutes after every meal cleaning my teeth.

[jeni]

[quote]You must be a quick eater.[/quote]

No kidding!!!!

My husband is almost 28 and I am still trying to convince him to slow down and not shovel food in so fast. Our meal times are pretty quiet because of this! He said that he had to learn out to eat quickly in school because they only got 20 minutes to get to the cafeteria, get through line, eat, and then get to class! And the whole school ate at the same time. Since he had braces in high school, he would also had to get all of the miscellaneous gunk off of his teeth in this time. For comparison, in my high school we had enough time to go out to eat at a sit-down restaurant and my school was more than twice the size of his. My lunch time wasn't quite an hour but was at least 45 minutes. There were days that I thought that was too short!

Anyone whose school district was as ridiculous as my husband's about lunch times and is still in a habit of shoveling the food in at meal times would be a fabulous candidate for Invisalign!

[PIMPmyTEETH]

15 min brushing and flossing??? i spend about 2 min max. i usually only floss once a day, unless i can feel or see food in between my teeth. i've never had a cavity in my life, so i don't need to be too paranoid with my cleaning. also, i've gotten to be pretty efficient with my toothbrushing skills. also, i find that if i rinse my trays right after i take them out, they stay much cleaner and don't require very much brushing at all.

i guess i've picked up the pace a little when eating. but, i never rush. before invisalign, i'd probobly take about 20 min to eat because i'd be surfing the internet or watching tv while eating. now, i just make my food, pop the trays out, eat, brush, and pop em' back in. also, i live alone, so i don't waste any time chatting to anyone.

[Kris]

I have been in treatment since 1 Aug 06. Now on tray 17 out of 24, getting near the end - yippee! Anyway, when i first started i was paranoid anout how long the trays were out for and hardly ever snacked. Now i am less obsessive. The treatment has gone very well, im really pleased. On an average day i have the trays in for about 20 hours i would think. On very rare occasions, perhaps if out for a nice meal, long lunch etc I may have had them in for 18/19 hrs. This maybe happens once a week normaloly at weekends. Its funny, in teh beginning i really thougtht about how many hours but as things have progressed have become less concious. What i have noticed is that the main movement takes place in the first 24 hours of wearing a new tray. After this period teh tray is not so tight and easy to remove etc. If i take a tray out for 2 hours and replace i dont really notice any tightness as if the teeth have moved back, things feel the same so i come to the conclusion that its not worth worrying about 19 hrs, 20 hrs or 22 hrs as long as things are progressing well just get on with it. Now i wouldnt advocate only wearing them for 12 hrs a day but if your averaging 19-22 then i wouldnt worry.

[gbaustin]

I am finished with 42 trays. For the first many trays I wore them 20+ hours per day. I experimented with less wear time as I went on. For the last three trays, I only wore them at night. I could tell no difference in tooth movement from the 20 hour days to the 8 hour days. Really.

[Dawna]

gbaustin, weren't you also experimenting with 5 days per tray? So, did you wear them for 8 hours, and then change to a new tray every 5 days?? Your ortho is ok with that??

I'm on a 10 day rotation, so I started exactly the same time as Kris (July 31, 06) and I am just finishing up tray 26. I make sure I stick to at least 21 hours towars the end of the 10 days, and really aim for 22-23 for the first few days. I also start a new tray at night and try to not take them out for more than 10-15 min at a time for the first day. HTH!

[prettybutterfly]

I feel the same way as most of you guys! In the beginning I wore them as much as possible now I'm a lot more relaxed about it and only wear them for 19-20 hours average and I don't do extra days at all. I became more layed back about it after an ortho visit. I was in the waiting room and the patient before me, a guy in mid 20's was telling the ortho how often he goes drinking or dancing all night long and always leaves his invisalign at HOME!!!! And the ortho kinda just knodded with her head without saying a word. THen I thought is was more ok to leave them out a bit longer and not stress about the hours they spend in the mouth!! I'm now on no. 15 and things are going great. I'm so loving invisalign.....super expensive but worth every penny!

[sophiebomb]

I'm on a 22-hour schedule too. Some days, I don't have for less than 23 hours and others, less than 20. I figure as long as 22 is the average, there shouldn't be a problem...

[choowee]

I'm on tray two of 11 (bottom).

In the first week, I kept my tray in for 23-22 hours a day. By week two, however, they were much looser, and I stopped worrying about them. Last weekend I had them out for an hour or two at a time... so 18-19 hours with them in on average. This worked fine, b/c the trays were fine going back in. With the second tray, I again tried to keep them in as much as I can at first, and I've noticed no problems, pain, etc.

I agree... I figure most of the important movement is in the first week/ couple of days of each tray session, and the rest of the session can be more relaxed. Take that advice with a grain of salt though, because I'm still new with this.

[diehard]

start how you mean to go on ie trays out for 15 mins for snaks and 30 mins for dinner and tea so trays should be in for 22 hours if you do less you wil most likely get slacker and slacker with them.