Invisalign treatment is an orthodontic technique that uses custom-made clear aligners to gradually shift your teeth in order to create a straighter smile.

We’ll take 3-D impressions of your teeth, to create custom aligners tailored to your smile. During your next appointment, Dr. Khara will give you your first set of aligners and answer any questions you may have on how to use them. During your treatment period, we’ll invite you back for regular office visits to check in and ensure that your treatment is going smoothly, making adjustments where needed.

If you accidentally throw away your aligners, it’s ok! These things happen. Simply skip ahead to the next aligner. For example, if you lose Tray 14, skip to Tray 15. Tray 15 will fit tightly, but it should fit if you have been wearing aligner 14 for the prescribed 22 hours a day. However, if you lose multiple trays, please give our office a call right away.

Invisalign attachments are chemically bonded to the teeth and so are quite durable. However, if an attachment or two happens to fall off, please make a note of which one(s) is missing and let us know at your next regularly scheduled appointment.

If the attachments or aligners are rubbing on a certain spot creating a sore spot, simply take a nail file and gently file down the plastic that is causing the irritation. Please let us know about this at your next regularly scheduled appointment.

Absolutely! Aligners only cover the teeth and not the gums, you should be able to wear the aligners although your gums and jaw may be sore. If you’re unable to wear aligners during the recovery period for whatever reason, simply wear the same aligner that you were wearing right before oral surgery at night-time (~10-12 hrs/night) to act as a retainer during recovery. Resume full-time wear as soon as you are able to and proceed to the next set of aligners and wear for 1 week each.

Refinements — where we perform a new scan of your mouth so that a new set of trays can be made for you– is a normal part of Invisalign treatment. Even though you wear your aligners as instructed, sometimes we’ll find that a tooth is not tracking properly. We like to correct these issues as soon as possible. So, just like in the beginning, it’ll take 4-6 weeks for the new aligners to be manufactured and shipped to us. During this “Invisalign Vacation”, you will be wearing the very last set of trays at night-time only as a retainer. Just so you know, this will not affect your treatment length as this “Invisalign vacation” was already incorporated in — we got you covered! Please note, if a refinement must be done earlier than planned due to non-compliance/loss of multiple sets of aligners, that we do not lose progress while the new set of aligners are being manufactured.

If Invisalign is not working for you, we’d be more than happy to help you switch to braces– after all, we want you to be happy and successful during treatment! Please be advised, there is a fee to switch from Invisalign to braces, and your treatment time may increase.