Invisalign braces are today’s version of a new and improved orthodontic device that’s used in place of traditional braces. This innovative kind of orthodontic device makes it easier for individuals to straighten out their teeth without the need to worry how they look, since they’re virtually invisible.
You shouldn’t necessarily expect that wearing Invisalign aligners is automatically painful. On the other hand, sometimes patients occasionally experience some minor aches and pains depending on their own unique experience and level of pain tolerance.
At Grace and Bowman Orthodontics in Fort Walton Beach and Niceville, we offer a variety of different treatment options to patients of all ages. If you’re interested in Invisalign, we can help determine if that is the most appropriate treatment option for you. If you experience discomfort throughout any of your orthodontic treatment process, we can offer helpful tips and remedies to alleviate that. Contact Grace and Bowman Orthodontics today to find out more about our treatment options.
Common Types of Discomfort
In order to give you some sort of idea of what to expect from wearing Invisalign aligners, here are a few things you may or may not experience. Each one involves a detailed description of the primary source of discomfort and offers some basic solutions and remedies to address the soreness, including issues like soft tissue irritation, soreness when eating, and tooth movement pain.
Tooth Movement Pain
Nearly half of all individuals who wear Invisalign aligners report that they’ve experienced at least some degree of minor discomfort or pain throughout the course of their treatment. Often, it’s described as tenderness or a sense of slight pressure.
If you do feel some tenderness, it may include all your teeth, or only just a few, or certain areas of your mouth. The discomfort you feel may be directly related to wearing your Invisalign aligners or perhaps only triggered when they’re taken in or out.
Experiencing slight pressure is a clue that your aligners are doing their job. If you’re feeling some discomfort, it’s important to understand that this is proof that your teeth are actually realigning. Experiencing some discomfort isn’t always fun but it is a necessary part of the overall process.
Once you switch to a brand new set of Invisalign aligners is when you’ll likely experience the most pain and discomfort. The difference between your teeth’s current alignment and the shape of the new aligner will be the most obvious once you first begin wearing it. Over time, your teeth will start to shift and correspond to the fit of your new aligner and eventually become more comfortable and relaxed. At this point, your discomfort will noticeably start to go away.
Important Tip: Switch to your new set of aligners before you go to bed. A great help that many Invisalign wearers do is to switch to their new set of aligners just before going to bed for the night. In doing so, they can be sound asleep during the initial hours when their teeth are initially starting to adjust. In fact, this approach will work even better when combined with an OTC (over-the-counter) analgesic to help the wearer relax and become oblivious to any discomfort.
Using OTC pain relievers in order to help ease the pain. Over-the-counter NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory analgesics) can be a great way to help manage the discomfort of wearing aligners. Common products such as Advil, Motrin, or generic ibuprofen can all work well to help alleviate pain. When taken just before inserting the new set of aligners, these OTC drugs are excellent at numbing the biggest area of pain while also helping to stimulate natural pain receptors in the body.