Your Invisalign braces fit over your teeth, applying gentle but firm pressure across the surface of each tooth and down to its root, helping to reposition each dental socket until your teeth have reached the desired alignment. It stands to reason that your Invisalign trays need to fit fairly tightly for them to do their job. But does it ever feel like your trays are fitting a bit too tightly?
Suddenly Uncomfortable
Have your trays always felt a little too tight or is it a recent development? Perhaps your thermoplastic Invisalign aligners sat comfortably snugly over your teeth for however long you've been undergoing treatment, until one day—they suddenly became uncomfortable. This can probably be traced to a specific cause. Have you inadvertently exposed your trays to heat?
Heat Damage
Perhaps you left your tray where they could have been affected by a heat source, like in direct sunlight, or next to a heater. It's plausible that they've become warped. The same can happen if you consume a hot beverage while wearing your trays. The thermoplastic that your trays are made from is durable but isn't intended to cope with temperature extremes. It may have partially melted, making your trays feel uncomfortably tight.
Skipping Ahead
A warped tray cannot be restored. Ask your orthodontist if you can skip ahead to the next tray in your series of aligners, and be appropriately cautious in future to ensure that you don't repeat the mistake. But perhaps your trays have always felt a bit tight—not uncomfortably so, but enough so that removing them to eat is troublesome.
Time of Day
A good rule of thumb is to time the changing of your trays. When you change a set for the next in the series, do so at night, just before bedtime. This allows your teeth to continue their movement while you sleep, alleviating some of the initial tightness of the new set of trays (while remembering that new Invisalign trays will always feel slightly tight). You can also invest in an aligner removal tool. This is a small plastic device that grips the aligner trays and allows you to gain some leverage as you gently slide the trays off your teeth.
Sometimes a tight-fitting aligner tray has become warped and must be replaced. But in other cases, you can overcome any unhelpful tightness by regulating when you switch your trays, and by using a removal tool as needed.
Reach out to an Invisalign braces provider near you to learn more.