How Does Invisalign Teen Work?
Unlike with traditional braces, the process of getting Invisalign for your teen actually begins by taking a series of very precise measurements of the patient’s mouth. That data is then used to create all of the aligners in their treatment. The benefit here is that because the data is so finely tuned, the aligners essentially act as something of a “second skin” to the patient’s natural teeth.
Every few weeks, your teen will swap out one set of aligners for the next one in the sequence – thus gently moving the teeth into the desired position over time. This will continue for the duration of treatment and in the end, they’ll finally have that perfect smile that they’ve always wanted for themselves.
Note that another benefit of the 3D scanning technology is that you’ll actually get to see what your teeth will look like after treatment is finished before anything actually begins. This is intended to give you the peace-of-mind that only comes with knowing that you’re making the best possible decision for your teen’s oral health.
How Long Does Invisalign Take?
Much like with traditional braces, it’s actually quite difficult to give a hard and firm time frame on Invisalign treatment because every patient is different. Likewise, certain types of dental issues just naturally take a longer time to correct than others.
Having said that, most people wear Invisalign for about the same amount of time they would traditional braces – all by way of a far more comfortable and discreet experience, too.
What Happens if My Teen Loses an Aligner?
In the unfortunate event that your teen loses one of their Invisalign aligners, you’ll want to contact your dental professional right away so that a replacement can be created. If too long of a period of time is allowed to lapse, you may also have to go in for another examination to make sure that the rest of the aligners in the sequence can carry on without adjustments.
Is There Anything That I Cannot Eat While Using Invisalign?
One of the major reasons why Invisalign has become so popular has to do with the fact that there are NO dietary restrictions that a patient has to deal with. This is because the aligners themselves are removable. All you have to do is take each tray out of your mouth, eat whatever you want, and put them back in when you’re done.
Just be sure to clean your aligners at night and brush and floss your teeth after every meal, of course.
Are There Any Food Restrictions?
Again – there are absolutely no food restrictions to speak of, which is a large part of the reason why Invisalign has become so popular in such a short amount of time. Just be sure that your teen removes the trays whenever they’re eating absolutely anything, or whenever they’re drinking anything that isn’t a glass of water.
How Much is Invisalign for Teens?
This is again a difficult question to answer because of the amount of money you’ll pay varies wildly depending on the patient. The longer you need treatment, the longer the sequence of trays will be.
Having said that, most people find that Invisalign works out to be roughly the same cost as traditional braces. When you consider that within the context of all the other benefits you get, it’s clear that this is a situation that is more than worth making in a lot of cases.
The Benefits of Invisalign: Breaking Things Down
As outlined above, maybe the biggest benefit of Invisalign for most teens is that they can continue to enjoy all of the foods they love without restriction. When it comes to traditional braces, there are certain types of foods teens should avoid to prevent damage to the fragile bracket and wire. These include hard foods like candies and even chewy food like pizza crust.
With Invisalign, all you have to do is pop the aligners out of your mouth before a meal and pop them back in when you’re done.
Likewise, most teen patients, in particular, love the fact that there are no wires or brackets to speak of with Invisalign. Not only does this help avoid unnecessary delays in treatment because there is nothing that can break, but they also don’t have a mouth filled with metal that can potentially cause pain as well.
Invisalign is also a popular choice for teen athletes because they can continue to play all the sports they love. They should always wear a mouth guard for extra protection, although to be fair they really should have been doing this in the first place.
Finally, people love that Invisalign aligners can easily be removed for a special event. If your teen is headed out for a graduation or a school dance, they don’t have to worry about Invisalign being seen in every single photo taken that night.