I had braces when I was a kid, but nearly 40 years later, my teeth have moved enough that they’re causing problems, so I started doing Invisalign to get them back into place (and will eventually have a retainer to KEEP them in place). My course will be short — only about 3 months — but people have asked a lot of questions about them, so I figured I’d share my experience.

  1. You really do need to wear them 20-22 hours a day. You only take them off to eat.

  2. While wearing them, you’re only supposed to drink water. That means no coffee, tea, etc. unless you take them out.

  3. EVERY time you put them back in, you’re supposed to brush and floss your teeth. That means, for example, if you go out to dinner with friends, you’re bringing a toothbrush and floss and ducking into the bathroom after you finish eating, like a weirdo.

  4. If you remove your aligners, say, for a special event, you will still have the 10-12 clear “nubs” that are glued to the outside of your teeth for the duration of the treatment (these are what allow the aligners to grip the teeth and move them).

  5. Lipstick sticks to the aligners much more than to natural teeth. I have gotten into the habit of compulsively running my tongue along the front of my teeth to clean them.

  6. Starting a new tray is uncomfortable. It’s the same feeling you used to get when you’d go to the orthodontist to get your braces tightened. Your teeth just ache all day.

  7. Hopefully you end up with straighter teeth that last longer than they might have if they were misaligned!