Eating and drinking with clear aligners

Take the aligners out for anything you eat, and for any drink that is not plain water. Put them in their case, not a napkin. Brush your teeth before they go back in; if you cannot, rinse your mouth and the trays with water and brush at the next chance. Every minute with the trays out counts against the hours your orthodontist or dentist prescribed, so long meals and all-day sipping are the habits that cause most trouble.

Meals

Take the aligners out before you eat, put them in their case, and brush before they go back in; the American Association of Orthodontists (AAO) and Invisalign give the same instruction. Because the trays come out, no food is off-limits. That is not a reason to leave them out for long stretches: every snack is time out of the aligner.

If your teeth are tender in the first few days of a new tray, foods that need little chewing, such as soup, mashed potatoes or applesauce, can help. That is about comfort, not a special diet.

Drinks

The problem with a tray in is that it holds the drink against the teeth. A sweet or acidic drink sipped slowly with trays in does more harm than the same drink finished in one sitting with the trays out.

Acidic drinks and brushing

Brush before the trays go back in whenever you can, so nothing is trapped under them. If you cannot brush straight away, rinse your mouth and the trays with water, put them back, and brush at the next chance. After acidic food or drink, the American Dental Association's news service suggests waiting about 30 minutes before brushing. Ask your orthodontist how to fit that wait around your wear time. Meanwhile, these habits keep the problem small:

• Have acidic drinks with a meal rather than on their own, so one removal covers both.
• Rinse your mouth well with water as soon as you finish.
• Brush before breakfast if your breakfast includes juice or citrus.
• Ask your orthodontist how they want you to balance brushing time against wear time.

The toothpaste side of this routine is in toothpastes for clear aligner wearers, and cleaning the trays themselves is in how to clean clear aligners.

Everyday situations

Coffee at your desk. Drink it in one go with the trays out, rather than sipping through the morning. Then rinse, brush if you can, and put the trays back.

Snacking. Several small snacks mean several removals and several cleanings. Grouping snacks with meals saves wear time.

Restaurants. Take the trays out at the table straight into the case, not a napkin or a pocket, where they are easily thrown away or lost. Afterwards, rinse or brush in the restroom before putting them back. A long dinner is a long break, so keep the trays in until the food arrives.

Travel. Water is fine with trays in on a flight or a drive. Plan meals around a place to rinse or brush, and keep the case in your hand luggage.

A small kit to carry

• Aligner case
• Travel toothbrush and small fluoride toothpaste
• Floss or interdental brushes
• Bottle of water
• Your previous tray, if your orthodontist has told you to keep it as a backup

Wear time and meals

Aligners are usually worn 20 to 22 hours a day, or as your orthodontist prescribes. If you were told 22 hours, that leaves about 2 hours a day for every meal, drink, brush and clean together. Three meals of 30 minutes, with time to brush after each, can use most of that. The number you were given is the instruction for your trays.

How this differs from braces

Fixed braces stay on while you eat. The American Association of Orthodontists advises people with braces to avoid hard and sticky foods that can break brackets, and to rinse with water after a sugary drink. With aligners, the trays come out, so breaking a brace is not the worry. Decay still is, which is why the teeth need to be clean before the trays go back. And with braces, lunch does not pause treatment; with aligners, a long meal does.

If a tray is lost or damaged at a meal

Do not move on to the next tray to make up the time. Contact your orthodontist right away; they can tell you which tray to wear and whether the loss will extend treatment. A cracked tray, or one that is cutting you, needs the same call. What a normal day of treatment involves is in the process of straightening teeth at home. Mistakes about wear time, rather than one lost tray, are in common errors to avoid with clear aligners.