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Does Invisalign hurt?

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Does Invisalign hurt? There are several steps to the process, and since both my daughter and I have been through Invisalign treatment, I have a lot of insight on this!

One of the most common questions I get about Invisalign® treatment is, does it hurt? I can honestly say that wearing my Invisalign clear aligners never hurt. I always switched to new trays right before bed, so that I would just sleep through any initial tightness. But even the tightness was no big deal. I’m prone to tension headaches, and new aligners never gave me one.

My daughter, who is in her last set of trays, said that she never had any pain from wearing her trays either. She usually didn’t even bother waiting until bedtime to change her trays. My orthodontist said that’s just one of the benefits of young teeth: they move easier.

Sometimes my teeth would feel a little sore if I tried to eat right after taking my trays out, especially in the first day or two with a new set of trays. I fixed this by taking them out about ten minutes before I was going to eat. My daughter says she never had that issue at all.

One thing we both found really uncomfortable was when the orthodontist would need to make a little space between our teeth, to allow for movement. It was kind of like he was flossing our teeth with sandpaper. Luckily that only happened a few times for each of us.

A harder question for me to answer is whether or not braces hurt more than Invisalign, because I’ve never had braces, but I have talked to a couple of people who had braces as kids and Invisalign as adults, and they both said that Invisalign was way easer.

I’ve talked to some of my friends about their kids’ braces. I know that it’s common to go in for adjustments every four to six weeks for braces, and that there can be pain after these adjustments. One friend said her son had to eat soft foods for a couple of days after each adjustment. My daughter and I never experienced anything remotely like that with Invisalign.

So, while I can’t predict what will happen in someone else’s mouth, anecdotal evidence and internet research tells me that braces hurt, especially after adjustments, and my own experience (and my daughter’s) tells me that Invisalign treatment does not hurt!

If you have any questions about how Invisalign felt for me or my daughter, we’re happy to answer them, and you can also check out the Smile Assessment Tool to find out if Invisalign is right for you or your child!

I am a member of the Invisalign Moms Advisory Board. My daughter is receiving complimentary Invisalign treatment as part of this program. All opinions are my own and based on my own and my daughter’s treatment experience. Full disclosure can be found here: http://shout.lt/ggGP.

Abby

Wednesday 4th of November 2020

This is SO helpful! I found a great orthodontist who does invisalign but I still had questions and wanted to hear it from a real person. Thanks, Amy!

Amy Oztan

Thursday 5th of November 2020

You're so welcome!

Debo

Sunday 20th of October 2019

Please can we have a photo of Invisalign fully in place Over all teeth so we can see it for real

Amy Oztan

Sunday 20th of October 2019

Hi! There's a picture of me wearing my aligners in this post: https://amyeverafter.com/my-first-week-with-invisalign/

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