I am on my last pair of aligners for Invisalign. An opportunity I cannot pass up has been offered to me, but it will require me moving in the next week to another state. As you can imagine, I have a LOT to take care of between now and then. Fortunately, my new company is paying for my move and a temporary home until I find something. However, I still have to figure out what to do about my Invisalign. I don’t know if I will need to find another Invisalign dentist when I move or not. My dentist mentioned that I will need to wear a retainer after my treatment is done. I don’t know if that is like a regular retainer or if Invisalign does something different. Can you give me some guidance here?
Belinda
Dear Belinda,
Congratulations on the new job! It sounds like you have exciting things ahead of you. If you were in the middle of your Invisalign treatment, I would say that you would need to find another Invisalign certified dentist to continue your treatment.
You are on your last pair of aligners, so unless there have been some complicating factors that you have not mentioned, then I see no need for you to have to find another Invisalign dentist.
Retainers are something just about any dentist can do. Plus, your current dentist is ethically obligated to send them all of your diagnostics and treatment records, including his notes.
Using Your Invisalign Aligner as a Retainer
You may not even need to do that, though. It sounds like you are going to be very busy so I want you to focus on getting your new life and home set up and not have to squeeze getting fit for a retainer in for that. You can actually use your final aligners as your retainer. Here is how:
- Start by wearing them all the time for a month.
- Then wear them only at night for one to two months.
- Try every other night, testing for movement.
Here is how you test for movement:
If you find it a bit more challenging to put the aligner in after you went to the next stage, that means that the teeth shifted some. Go back to the previous stage for another month or two and then test it again.
4. If every other night works, do that for a couple of months.
5. Try every 3 nights. After each new stage, test for movement.
6. Go to once per week.
7. Try not wearing them at all.
Keep your aligners around even after this for two reasons. First, you can periodically check for shifting of your teeth and use them as needed. Second, the aligners can double as teeth whitening trays. If your dentist offers teeth whitening, they can provide you with the whitening gel and you can wear them without having to have custom trays made, which will save you money.
This blog is brought to you by Lafayette, LA Dentist Drs. Foreman and Thimmesch.